Carnegie Library’s financial situation still looks grim

An inscription outside the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Main branch reads “Free to the… An inscription outside the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Main branch reads “Free to the People.” But for the library staff, keeping the place running is far from free.

The Carnegie Library released its 2010 annual report this summer, stating that it costs a total of $23,926,662 to run the library system. Fifty-seven percent of that amount goes to employees’ salaries and benefits.

Jordan Romanus, a volunteer with Our Library, Our Future — an initiative organized by CLP to raise awareness about the need to provide financial support for Carnegie Library — said that this year, the library received just enough financial help to get by.

But now people invested in the library are taking the financial matter into their own hands. They approached City Council with a petition for a referendum on a library tax, and are working on various initiatives to ensure Carnegie Library continues operations.

“Things are looking grim,” he said, referring to the library’s financial situation.

The situation got so out of hand that Pittsburgh City Council and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl stepped in during 2010 and provided an emergency fund to keep everything running smoothly.

“We are only able to do this temporarily,” Councilman Patrick Dowd, who serves on CLP’s Board of Trustees, said. “The city has its own issues. It’s not a permanent solution.”

And internal solutions have likewise stopped providing answers to the library’s plight, such as cuts at the library.

Romanus said that the library has cut services, hours and workers to try and solve the fiscal problem.

“The library has cut all it can,” Suzanne Thinnes, communications manager at Carnegie Library, said.

Thinnes said that since 2003, 200 weekly library hours have been cut, along with 200 full-time and part-time positions.

In order to find solutions to the money problems, the library has held open community workshops to discuss plans that community members have had for the library, as well as solutions that City Council members have had to help the library’s funding.

“One man said he was unemployed, and if it weren’t for the library, he wouldn’t have had access to Internet or books,” Dowd said about one community meeting that he attended. “He wouldn’t have had a hope of getting a job.”

Currently, the Public-Private Task Force on Sustainable Funding for Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh — a group of city officials have set out to explore sources of long-term funding for Pittsburgh’s system of neighborhood libraries. — They have come up with six solutions for financing the library.

One is an initiative that asks citizens to vote “yes” on the local Nov. 8 ballot that will include a referendum for a $250,000 special tax on all taxable real estate in Pittsburgh. That is $2.09 per month on $100,000 of assessed value. If passed, the referendum will go into effect Jan. 1, 2012.

“The centerpiece is the voter initiative,” Dowd said. “It’s immediate. If we are successful here, we can say, ‘Look, this is important.’ The tax dollars will come back many times over.”

According to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s website, Andrew Carnegie did not endow the library system. He provided money to build the original library, but did not provide a fund for ongoing operations.

The library system has had to continue to look for ways to build an endowment to ensure that lack of funding will be taken care of, should it arise again in the future as technological updates continue to weigh heavily on the system’s budget..

Thinne said that online resources, such as eBooks, can be expensive. After so many uses, the library eventually has to repurchase eBooks because, unlike physical books, they are not a one-time purchase. Certain publishing companies require that purchased eBooks be repurchased after it is lent to readers so many times.

The library’s website lists some of the programs and events that it offers to communities. It has computer training, language classes, technology help, free Internet, study rooms and a vast collection of books.

“Carnegie Library is an extremely valuable asset to the Pittsburgh community,” Romanus said.

Dowd agreed. “It doesn’t matter who you are, everybody is free to go to the library. It’s the most democratic institution,” he said.