Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh faces closures and cutbacks

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh asked its Oakland patrons why they love their… The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh asked its Oakland patrons why they love their library.

People wrote their answers on a once-blank white board: “Libraries=Freedom,” “Because you can get a $100,000 education for free” and “Libraries are a hallmark of every great civilization.”

One person even wrote, “It saves me a lot of money on textbooks.”

The poster, put on the second floor of the library’s main location, is part of the “Protect your Library” media campaign, which library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes said is aimed to raise awareness and rally support from Pittsburgh communities in spite of cuts in government funding.

As Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh administrators cut jobs and close branches, the library in Oakland should remain relatively intact. The library’s board of trustees announced it will reduce services and cut opening hours, along with other cutbacks, beginning Jan. 2.

The Oakland branch will not face any radical changes, Thinnes said. Patrons of the main library can expect fewer hours of operation, services and, possibly, a loss of some familiar staff faces. But four of the 19 branches — Beechview, Lawrenceville, West End and Hazelwood — will be closed, based on how easily communities can access other branches through major bus routes.

The Carnegie Library administrators are still considering the new hours of operations. They will determine which hours will be cut by looking at the times of highest traffic in each branch.

Some branches might close on Mondays to preserve Saturday hours, Thinnes said. But for now, evening hours are primarily being considered for cuts. The main location’s hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Jake Pawlak, a senior political science and economics major at Pitt, said he does think cut backs in hours and services will affect him significantly.

“I study there in between classes sometimes, or sit in the periodical section to read The Economist or The Atlantic,” Pawlak said, “But we have a decent-sized, top-notch library right across the plaza.”

Pawlak said he prefers to study at the Hillman Library.

The Carnegie Library ordered a report from the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, to make cost-effective service-cut decisions. The report recommended cost-benefit analysis and review of attendance of past programs to determine which service cuts will affect patrons the least.

Thinnes said that night-time adult programs are likely to be cut first. These programs mainly include cultural and musical events hosted by the Carnegie Library.

The Carnegie Library is expecting a $6 million deficit by 2014, at current levels of funding. The goal of the board hopes to cut expenses by $3 million and increase revenue by $3 million by that time to counteract the deficit, Thinnes said.

She said it was hard to say whether current efforts will be enough. The Carnegie Library faced a similar financial crises in 2002 when the state budget cut funding to all public libraries in the commonwealth by 50 percent. Library administrators handled that predicament in a similar way — by cutting hours and staff, Thinnes said.

Before 2002, the Carnegie Library had no problem keeping its main branch open 65 hours per week to meet state public library requirements, said Thinnes. Since the cuts, however, the hours at the Oakland branch have hovered around 63. As a result, the board of trustees continually petitions the state to retain Carnegie Library’s state funding.

“The state gives us mandates, and then they don’t give us the funding we need to meet the mandates,” Thinnes said. “And we’re not alone. Many other libraries across the commonwealth must petition.”

The current trouble stems from shortcomings in two of the library’s main sources of funding, according to Thinnes. Carnegie Library competes for the majority of its funding with eight other organizations that are considered public assets by Allegheny County’s Regional Asset District. They include Phipps Conservatory, the Carnegie museums and the Pittsburgh Zoo. The county’s 1-percent sales tax generates this Regional Asset District funding, which accounts for a wavering 70 percent of Carnegie Library’s budget, Thinnes said.

Although Regional Asset District funding declined for Carnegie Library over the last several years, the library recently secured a victory with the release of the Regional Asset District’s preliminary budget for the next year. The Regional Asset District’s board of directors decided that, because the services of the library are free —unlike the Carnegie museums or Phipps — it would not change the library’s funding levels. This came after some negotiation between the library’s board of trustees and the Regional Asset District’s board of directors, Thinnes said.

State subsidies, which provide 20 percent of Carnegie Library’s funding, have fallen drastically, Thinnes said.

The city of Pittsburgh, meanwhile, provides $40,000 of funding to the Carnegie Library, Thinnes said. This was the amount of city-contributed funds agreed upon between Andrew Carnegie and the city of Pittsburgh at the turn of the 19th century. It stands today and comprises less than 1 percent of library’s budget.

Although unpopular and unwelcome, Thinnes said that some closures could actually benefit the library system. The board of trustees had been discussing the possibility of closures for several years before the current crisis was evident, she said.

“It’s hard if you’re living in a community with a closing branch,” Thinnes said. “But may be good for the long term health of the library system.”

She cited the population decreases within Pittsburgh over the last 50 years. Proportional to the current population, Pittsburgh does not need 19 branches, Thinnes said.

Concerning the proposed job cuts, Thinnes said there are virtually no safe positions at any branch in the library system. She expressed concern for her own job.

“I’m always worried,” Thinnes said. “It’s a very stressful time.”