Pennsylvania Budget Forces Phoenixville Library Cutbacks

The Phoenixville Public Library Board of Trustees approved operating budget cuts for 2010 at its November Board meeting. “These cuts were extremely difficult,” said Board President Susan Meadows, “but the library was forced to address an $80,000 shortfall.” With significant cuts to: the state library subsidy, the educational improvement tax credit program, Access PA [state reimbursement for serving customers outside the library’s service area] and county funding, all established in late October, and an increase in health insurance costs, the library had no choice but to make deeper cuts in its operating budget for the current fiscal year by cutting staff and hours of operation.

After a review of current programs and services it became necessary to vote for a solution that allowed the library to balance its budget while still maintaining quality access to information for the Phoenixville community. One full-time and two part-time staff positions will be eliminated. The collection budget will be cut, part-time hours of some of the staff will be reduced, and the library will be closed on Wednesdays [effective November 25]. “Every day is busy at the library, but statistically Wednesday is our slowest,” said Executive Director John Kelley. This closure will also affect children’s programs. The library’s new hours will be Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 9AM-9PM, Friday & Saturday 9AM – 5PM.

“The funding of libraries is very complex,” said Kelley, “because the library draws from many different sources to make its budget.” Kelley continued by saying that public libraries are primarily funded by a local source and then they supplement this amount with state, county and private funds. Kelley continued, “We are fortunate to have the Phoenixville Area School District as our local government funding source. They approved a small funding increase for the library for the current fiscal year. This was commendable for them as educational leaders in our community, and very helpful for the library’s programs and services. Unfortunately the state cuts were too steep to change the outcome for this year,”

Library circulation is up almost 14% over the past 2 years with circulation approaching 300,000 items annually. Phoenixville is the third busiest public library in Chester County. “We average some 130 holds a day on our materials, and people are standing in line to use our computers. For the month of October, there were 65 educational children’s programs, including outreach, with nearly 2,500 people in attendance. The adult programs drew over 250 people,” said Kelley.

The Board is very concerned over the impact that this funding cut will have on the Phoenixville community, and will continue to seek new revenue streams for the operation of the library, while attempting to strengthen existing ones. “While our hours of operation will be less, our quality of service and educational programming will continue to be strong,” Kelley emphatically stated. He continued, “It is my hope that if our funding situation improves we can restore some, if not all of these hours. In the interim, inter-library loan borrowing and sharing of some resources among the County-wide System member libraries will increase as we, and other county libraries, will be buying fewer materials.”

Future state, county and local government funding sources for the Phoenixville Public Library and all Chester County libraries will depend significantly on the public’s voice for support through letters, phone calls, e-mails and personal visits to our state, county and locally elected officials starting now, for fiscal year 2010-2011.

Click here for the list of Phoenixville Area School District Board members.  Click here for the Chester County Commissioners.  Click here to find your State legislators.