Editorial: Save Carnegie libraries

City residents gathered in Oakland yesterday to protest the closings and mergers of numerous… City residents gathered in Oakland yesterday to protest the closings and mergers of numerous Carnegie libraries.

Because of a declining population, stagnant contributions from the city and rising costs and structural deficiencies, the Carnegie Library System of Pittsburgh faces a serious budget shortfall. To keep functioning without cuts, the system needs an extra $1.5 million next year and $5.1 million by 2014, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

It’s difficult to find this money, especially in a recession, so the system is likely to close the Hazelwood, West End, Lawrenceville and Beechview branches. The Carrick and Knoxville branches will be merged, while the Mt. Washington branch will move to Virginia Avenue.

Suzanne Thinnes, communication manager for the Carnegie system, said that should the libraries close, the books will be sold, distributed to other local libraries or donated to children’s charities. It’s not as if books will be burned, but they will be less accessible to Pittsburgh residents. If you’ve ever wondered why people don’t read more, here is one reason.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wants to donate $1 million annually to the Carnegie system from the revenue generated by his proposed 1 percent tax on college tuition. This might seem more noble if the city had not kept its Carnegie system contribution locked at an annual $40,000 — the amount originally requested by Andrew Carnegie in 1890. Because Carnegie did not technically include an inflation adjustment provision, Pittsburgh never increased the contribution.

How’s that for a “fair share”?

Thankfully, City Council President Doug Shields is stepping up. He wants the city to give a $1.2 million grant from its operating budget to the library system over the next two years.

It seems logical that a bad economy would drive more people to libraries, but the branches targeted for closing operate in neighborhoods with declining populations. This has raised the average cost per visit. For instance, a visit to the West End branch costs $9.60, and the other targeted branches are somewhere near $5 per visit, according to a CMU study. The Oakland branch still averages only $2.20 per visit.

Unfortunately, some of the closings are happening in the neighborhoods that need libraries the most. The main branch in Oakland is comprehensive and historic, but practically speaking, Hillman is next door. And residents in West End or Hazelwood might not be able to compensate with a lost free book by Google searching it. Libraries provide many families’ only Internet access.

These branches need to stay open, and they need their deficiencies addressed — such as partial- or non-compliance with federal handicap standards and a lack of air conditioning. It is likely that remaining residents use these libraries less because of such shortcomings.

Nothing is free, though. The money has to come from somewhere. As students, we support the education provided by public libraries. If Ravenstahl were truly serious about saving the libraries — and not just filling city pension coffers — he would narrow his tax proposal to one-sixteenth of 1 percent to generate solely the revenue needed for the Carnegie system.

The entire higher education community would find this motive and percentage much more palatable.

Or instead of the city outright rejecting the Pittsburgh Public Fund offer of a $5.5 million donation for 2008-10, the city should bargain for $8.5 million.

Again, this would generate the per annum amount Ravenstahl wants to give to the Carnegie system, and, at a little more than half of the traditional past donation, it is still a fair compromise for the Public Fund.

The Carnegie System serves the community, and it deserves community support. When the residents demonstrated on Wednesday, some brought their children along. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quoted a 6-year-old saying, “I like the library because I like books, and I like science books.” Pittsburgh, especially the educational community, should help this kid keep his science books.

But that still doesn’t mean this sympathy should get conflated with funding city worker pensions.