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August 26, 2010

Warren County freeholders approve $890,000 contract to renovate new library branch

Thursday, August 26, 2010
By BILL WICHERT
The Express-Times
WHITE TWP. | Marking an increase of about three times the original projected cost, Warren County freeholders signed off Wednesday on a contract for $890,000 worth of renovations to the upcoming Northeast Branch of the county library system.

County freeholders awarded the contract to Hackensack, N.J.-based Onekey LLC to renovate a former farmers market building on Route 46 in Independence Township. The county last November approved spending another $900,000 to purchase the building.

County Freeholder Director Rick Gardner previously estimated the renovation costs at between $200,000 and $300,000. Following Wednesday's meeting, Gardner attributed the higher price tag to unforeseen expenses.

Gardner said he didn't realize initially the county would need to install an elevator at the building, creating a six-figure cost. The county also is unable to reuse as many of the furnishings at the existing branch as originally anticipated, Gardner said.

"While the appearance of that building looks great, in order to turn it into a library, a fully functioning modern library, it did cost more than what was first indicated to the board," Gardner said. "I'm never happy when we have to spend a lot more money."

Gardner maintained that pursuing that building was a prudent move. The expenses incurred by purchasing and renovating the building remain cheaper than constructing a new branch from scratch, he said.

Residents of the municipalities served by the Northeast Branch pay more than $1 million annually in library taxes and expect a reasonable setting, Gardner said.

"It's really going to be a major plus to the Independence, Allamuchy and Mansfield communities who are the main library users of that branch," Gardner said. "When we're all said and done, this is an extremely substantial building for the dollar value."

The new Northeast Branch is slated to open in early 2011. The existing branch, located farther west on Route 46, would be sold.

At more than 10,000 square feet of total floor area, the new building is nearly triple the size of the existing branch. The parking lot at the new building also has more than 50 spaces compared with spots for 27 vehicles at the current facility.

With more shelf space, staff members also will be able to hold onto books for a longer period of time, county library Director Maureen Baker Wilkinson said Wednesday. The new branch will include a separate meeting room for library programs instead of the current practice of holding events in the middle of the library, she said.

Branch employees also will be provided with a staff room in the new building, Wilkinson said. Without a private area in the existing facility, some staff members eat at their desks or sit in their cars, she said.

"It's not always comfortable eating in front of the public," she said.

Reporter Bill Wichert can be reached at 610-258-7171, ext. 3570, or bwichert@express-times.com. Talk about issues in your town at lehighvalleylive.com/forums.

Posted by tumulty at 7:50 AM | Comments (0)
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Jersey City library patrons, staff ask city to save library budget from cuts

Jersey Journal.
http://www.nj.com
Thursday, August 26, 2010
By MELISSA HAYES
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Paul Valleau may only be 8 years old, but that didn't stop him from making a case - complete with exhibits - for fully funding the Jersey City Free Public Library.

Paul stood on a stool as he spoke at yesterday's City Council meeting.

His first exhibit was a poster with a slogan, "Make a splash, budget the cash," a take off on the library's summer reading campaign.

For another exhibit, he displayed two pictures of several people walking into his local library, the main branch on Jersey Avenue.

"They hold the books I need when I cannot get them at the moment," he told council members. "They help me find the books I need and they even let the top readers in the reading program - that's where 'Make a Splash' came from - go to Liberty Science Center."

His comments drew a standing ovation from the roughly 30 people in attendance.

After the meeting, Paul, a top summer reader, said he felt the need to speak out.

"It's the library. I couldn't resist," he said. "I don't want it to shut down."

Library Director Priscilla Gardner has said the city will only give the library $6 million this year to run its 10 branches. That's down from $7.7 million last year and below the $8 million she requested.

Under state law, the city must give the library $7.4 million, but that includes pension contributions for employees and the library's debt service, which the city pays.

Library patrons, staff members and representatives from the library's various programs asked the City Council to fully fund the budget.

Mary Quinn, principal librarian and manager of the Glenn D. Cunningham Branch, said the economy has placed an increased demand on libraries.

Quinn, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3612, said the circulation was 180,000 in 2008 and jumped to 209,000 in 2009. While 2010 isn't over yet, the circulation to date is 218,000.

She said people borrow books, CDs and DVDs and rely on the library for research and access to computers and the Internet.

After listening to several speakers, Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson asked the administration to make cuts elsewhere. City officials are grappling with an $80 million budget deficit and have said every department will be cut.

"I just ask that we find other means of addressing the budget and not at the cost of services the library provides," Richardson said. "It is vital to the community."

Posted by tumulty at 7:44 AM | Comments (0)
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August 25, 2010

South Plainfield library: Seven-member committee announced to study move

http://www.mycentraljersey.com
By JEFF GRANT • STAFF WRITER • August 23, 2010

SOUTH PLAINFIELD — A bipartisan panel will consider ideas for replacing the borough's outdated, crowded library, the latest in a series of attempts in recent years to address the issue.

South Plainfield library: Seven-member committee announced to study move

The seven members who will serve on the committee were announced during the Aug. 16 Borough Council meeting.

Mayor Charles Butrico, who formed the group, has said he wants it to develop recommendations by Oct. 15.

"We're going to look at everything,'' Butrico said.

The committee's creation follows years of discussion, but no agreement on how to address the facility that library officials have said must be replaced.

"We can't stay in that building,'' library trustees President Eric Aronowitz said about the facility next door to the municipal building on Plainfield Avenue.

At 46 years old, the library's 6,400 square feet force workers to squeeze into small rooms with files and books piled around desks.

But perhaps the biggest drawback to the building is that it has no separate area for community meetings or special activities, forcing outside groups to gather in
the same area as library patrons, Aronowitz noted.

Besides Aronowitz, the group assembled by Butrico includes Republican Councilman Rob Bengivenga Jr., Democratic Councilwoman Chrissy Buteas and library trustee and treasurer Nina Rohrer. The committee also includes two members of the public, Bob Golan and Suzanne Lepore. Golan is listed as a project archivist for the special
collections section at Princeton Theological Seminary's library. Lepore's background was not immediately available.

Aronowitz said that during the past several years the issue has been discussed informally without a solution.

In 2008, the borough held a nonbinding public referendum in which voters rejected building a new $4.5 million facility on the present site. However, a turnout
of less than 12 percent called into question whether the results accurately reflected public sentiment.

In March, the trustees voted to relocate the library to an industrial park in the southern section of town.

But on May 27, the borough's Zoning Board of Adjustment rejected the library's variance application, saying that a lack of sidewalks and the location of several heavy
industries within two blocks was inappropriate for a library.

In mid-July, a committee of borough Board of Education and Borough Council members suggested studying moving the library to the school district's Roosevelt administration building. But Aronowitz has said the required technological upgrades at Roosevelt likely would be too costly.

The new panel's work will come against a political backdrop.

With the date falling about two weeks before Election Day, Butrico noted action on the committee's findings likely would fall to the next Borough Council, which will
be seated in January.

Control of the governing body will be at stake in November, when voters decide on two council seats now held by Republicans, who maintain a 4-2 majority on council.

Donna Egan, a library trustee, expressed support for the panel.

"We need to get as many ideas out there as possible. I think we have to give the committee a chance to get rolling,'' Egan said.

Jeff Grant: 908-243-6612; jgrant@MyCentralJersey.com

Posted by tumulty at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
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Still many challenges ahead for Bridgeton library

http://www.nj.com
Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010,
Joe Green/The News of Cumberland County

BRIDGETON — Although city library advocates are bringing improvements meant to keep the facility going, it was clear on Tuesday that much remains uncertain.

Save the Library! (STL!) and the 501 (c) (3) group Friends of the Bridgeton Library are hoping for a $150,000 grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust (NJHT), the application for which was recently approved by City Council. But STL! and Friends must match two-thirds of that, or $100,000.

The library Board of Trustees at their regular meeting Tuesday clarified that the NJHT grant would pay only for continued structural work to the library’s older portion - the former Cumberland National Bank built in 1816. It would go specifically to work on the outer walls, along with perhaps windows and the front door.

Funds previously raised by STL! and Friends helped pay for roof repairs and some of the outer wall work. Roof repairs and HVAC work are also aided by part of a $1.8 million bond approved earlier by the city.

Although they commended the groups for their work, trustees noted that funding for library programs and interior building problems would be a concern. Scarce city funds may make that another challenge.

Should NJHT award the grant, trustee David Price wondered, would the resulting work leave only normal maintenance?

The answer was no. STL!’s Sally Garrison and library director Gail Robinson said much more work is needed, but that the roof, HVAC and outer wall work would provide much-needed stability.

Samuel Serata, a local attorney appointed by Mayor Albert Kelly as the mayor’s alternate to the board, was concerned that, despite efforts to fix the structure, funds to keep up with operating costs would be lacking.

“The important thing is things are being stabilized,” Garrison said after the trustees went into closed session Tuesday. “The urgency isn’t as great as it was...We can implement more things as more money comes in.”

Garrison said the old bank portion needs much interior work, including painting, floor covering and the like.

Efforts are aimed at making the early 19th century building at least partly energy efficient, she said.

The library’s newer portion, built in 1967, may need new carpeting, ceiling tiles, lighting and other improvements, she said.

Her group has assembled a campaign aimed for now at raising the $100,000 needed for the NJHT grant.

That includes a mailing campaign to residents here and in surrounding communities.

Requests are even being sent to other parts of the country, Garrison said. Organizers will also solicit from area businesses, she added.

Events like the recent Jazz Cabaret and the upcoming Celtic Concert, along with possible lectures and others, would also generate funds.

“And we would just continue to look for funds wherever we can find them,” Garrison said.

She also noted that, because of the poor economy, the groups may not have to have all matching funds on hand at the time the NJHT makes a decision on awarding the grant.

Garrison explained that scheduled fundraising events, pledges and other aids can suffice, at least to a degree.

The trustees approved a resolution backing City Council in its support of STL! and Friends in pursuing the NJHT grant. But they made clear the city should not be held responsible for coughing up any matching funds the groups may fail to raise.

Also on Tuesday, the trustees elected Jackie Huster their new president. Huster replaces Donna Longo, who resigned from the board in the spring.

The trustees delayed electing a new vice president in place of Sherrie Rizzo, who had been former Mayor James Begley’s alternate. They did so at least in part because another recent appointee, Nelson Santiago, was absent, and they wanted to keep the position open to any member considering it.

Posted by tumulty at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
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Orange library reopens after lead paint fix

http://www.nj.com
Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 6:10 AM
Aliza Appelbaum/For The Star-Ledger

ORANGE — After shutting down for two months to clean up chipping lead paint found peeling from the walls, the Orange Public Library has reopened in time for the new school year.

The remediation cost $43,000 and came from the library’s budget, said John Mason, Orange business administrator.

Built in 1901, the Orange Public Library at 348 Main St. is Essex County’s oldest and is registered as a national historic site. Lead-based paints were in common use in buildings constructed before 1978, said Vincent DeFilippo, Orange health inspector.

“The concern was that the paint might be coming down to the floor and that a kid might be exposed to it,” DeFilippo said.

After the Orange health department got a call that there was chipping lead paint in the library, inspectors visited in May to determine the severity of the problem, DeFilippo said. A contractor, Paterson-based Alpine Painting and Sandblasting, treated the library walls by covering up the harmful lead paint with a coat of lead sealant paint, he said.

Several sites in the building were then tested by doing a dust wipe, to see if there are any lead particulates left in the dust, he said. Though the library did not pass on the first try, the wipes eventually turned up clean last month, and the library was able to reopen July 12

Posted by tumulty at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)
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Bridgeton eyes $250,000 for library repairs

http://www.nj.com
Published: Friday, August 20, 2010, 6:22 PM Updated: Friday, August 20, 2010, 6:34 PM
Joe Green/The News of Cumberland County

BRIDGETON — City officials and residents have set their sights on a possible quarter million dollars for repairs to the endangered public library on Commerce Street.

City Council this week authorized applying for a New Jersey Historic Trust (NJHT) grant to that end. Penny Watson of the library preservation group Save the Library! (STL!) said her organization would try to raise $100,000 to match a $150,000 NJHT grant.

STL! partners with simpatico group Friends of the Bridgeton Library to raise and disperse funds for library structural work, programs, materials and the like.

Fundraisers have recently helped pay for badly-needed repairs to the facility’s roof and ongoing repairs to the east wall of the older section, which was built in 1816 and was once home to Cumberland National Bank.

A $1.8 million bond approved by city council has also aided the roof repairs.

Council had to authorize applying for the NJHT grant because the library is a city building. Money raised by STL! would then go to Friends, an official 501 (C) (3).

Norma DeNoble, a member of both organizations, said STL! as of Friday had a little more than $33,300 in its coffers, while Friends had a little more than $19,000.

She and other members said fundraising efforts, including a mail campaign, are ongoing. They held a Jazz Cabaret last Friday and plan a Celtic concert for February or March, among other efforts.

“It’s tough because people don’t have much money right now,” DeNoble explained.

“If the library could generate its own money, that would help...That’s our vision for the future.”

DeNoble mentioned, as other members have before, that they hope to someday rent out rooms in the library facility, which is composed partly of the most recent section dating to 1967, and partly of the 1816 former bank.

Self-sufficiency, at least to some degree, is a goal, DeNoble added, “because things aren’t going to get better for a while, and the library is going to (continue) to be threatened.”

Members of both library benefit groups want to keep the facility fully staffed and continue to provide benefits for employees. The library’s board of trustees recently decided to reverse an earlier move to reduce almost all full-time staffers to part-time and drastically reduce hours.

They intend to revisit the issue in December as they hope city officials will continue to pay for the full-time employee benefits. Funds raised and distributed by STL! and Friends have been mentioned as another possible contributor to that end.

Meanwhile, STL! has been selling T-shirts and bookbags sporting the group at the city’s Outdoor Market on Fridays. It’s also been selling used books at area businesses for donations.

“We’ve sold quite a bit there (at the Outdoor Market) over the summer,” Simons mentioned. “But we’re looking to do more in the community, during other events.”

Simons said the recent Jazz Cabaret turned a profit of a little more than $100. But DeNoble said the event concerns much more than dollars.

“It’s a good will thing for the city,” she explained. “And it keeps the library in people’s minds.”

Council this week also authorized applying for an NJHT grant to study possible uses of the former city hall on Commerce Street, including library functions.

Officials didn’t specify how much that grant may provide, nor did they say whether they had any particular plans in mind. The old city hall, built in 1930’s, is vacant and has also been deteriorating.

Posted by tumulty at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
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August 18, 2010

DISPATCHES: 'Vocies' deserves library space

Wednesday, August 18, 2010
http://www.c-n.com
By Hank Kalet, Managing Editor
South Brunswick Post

Library shelves should be open to all books.

It’s a simple statement, but it offers us our best chance of safeguarding intellectual freedom.

I bring this up because of the recent controversy surrounding a rare, out-of-print queer-themed anthology. The book, “Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology,” was pulled from library shelves in the Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Burlington County at the Burlington County library system after complaints from a conservative activist that the book was “vulgar.”

Vulgar, in this case, is code for homosexuality.

The book, edited by Amy Sonnie, was called the “first creative resource by and for queer and questioning youth of every color, class, religion, gender and ability,” by the national Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. The book, the organization says on its website, “presents a collection of experiences, ideas, dreams and fantasies expressed through prose, poetry, artwork, letters, diaries and performance pieces.”
Randy Meyer, writing for Book World, said the writers “all embrace a queer youth culture that is about gender, race and class as much as it is about sexuality.”

”The voices are raw and sometimes unpolished, and the language is passionate, powerful and only occasionally graphic. What holds these selections together is the writers’ urgent need to define themselves in their own terms.”

That rawness and passion apparently was too much for the book’s critics in Burlington County (the book is not in the catalogue of libraries in Middlesex and Mercer counties).

”It’s pervasively vulgar,” Beverly Marinelli told Packet Group reporter Geoffrey Wertime, who covered the story for the Register-News.

She told Mr. Wertime she was upset by an image of two men who appeared to be having sex and other vulgar themes. Burlington County Library Director Gail Sweet said the photo as inappropriate for children and offered “child pornography” as an explanation for the county’s library board’s decision.

Brandon Monokian, of “Revolutionary Readings,” which is doing staged readings of material from the book to draw attention to it, says the book has been targeted because it is by and for gay and lesbian teens.

”I think they’re taking these voices and then silencing them,” Mr. Monokian told us. “It’s not a book people go and read for fun. It’s a book people read because they need to read it, and I think they’re taking away this great resource for kids who might be questioning or going through a hard time in their life. I think it’s a really amazing resource, and it’s a shame a small group of people could take that away from a group of people who really need it.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey says the issue goes beyond any particular book and is about intellectual freedom.

”We can’t start removing books that one group or an individual has objections to because then our library shelves would be empty,” Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, told us. “Libraries have to be places that expose people to a diversity of ideas and views, and they shouldn’t be places that restrict or limit access to information or ideas.”

The book’s removal on grounds it may be vulgar — again, according to whom? — raises questions about what other books could end up on a conservative hit list or any list of books some interest group might deem offensive.

Consider the list of books that have been targeted in the past: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain; “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger; “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee; “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut. Authors as varied as Anne Rice, Judy Blume, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner and Ray Bradbury have been on the wrong end of the censor’s pen.

Each of these books raised significant and often difficult questions about the larger culture — about race relations, gender roles, sexuality, war, etc. — questions that demanded answers, but that too many at the time were unwilling to consider. Instead, fear ruled, and the books were banned.

That’s what has happened with “Revolutionary Voices.” The impulse to remove books we do not understand from the shelves of school and public libraries — or to keep them from being published in the first place — is an affront to our freedoms and incompatible with our democratic values.

Hank Kalet is managing editor of the South Brunswick Post. E-mail, hkalet@centraljersey.com; blog, www.kaletblog.com; Twitter, @newspoet41; Facebook, facebook.com/hank.kalet.

Posted by tumulty at 6:33 PM | Comments (0)
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Somerville approves merger with Somerset County library system

nj.com

Aug. 17, 2010

Tiffani N. Garlic

SOMERVILLE — After a lengthy, conflicted discussion, Somerville officials approved merging the borough’s library with the Somerset County system.

Borough Mayor Brian Gallagher fully supported the merge and encouraged the council to decide immediately.

Tuesday’s 4-1 vote came after the Public Library Task Force, assembled by Gallagher five months ago, evaluated the library’s viability in the wake of cuts that prompted the institution to close on Mondays, eliminate 1.5 positions and furlough workers one day a week.

According to the panel, the merge would remedy severe cutbacks in staffing, hours and programming, while adding significant resources to Somerville’s Library.
Gallagher called not merging with the county a “disservice” to residents.

“Shame on us,” he said. “We have an option, we have an out, we have a way to make our library better. We should be running to the county.”

Though the majority of councilmembers initially favored allowing residents to vote on the merge via a referendum, they were swayed by public comment.

Jane Williams, a member of the taskforce, warned the council against missing an opportunity to save the library.

“A referendum for something that we know is a win-win? I don’t get it. Look at our landfill, how many years have you debated on things like that and what do we have? Still a very vacant lot,” she said. “I don’t want to see (that happen to) our library and our educational system because it’s the future of our children, and all of us too, that’s in our library.”

Herb Hall, also a member the library taskforce and library treasurer, urged the borough to be decisive for the residents and think about the employees.

“My concern with the referendum is the fact that we’re running the library on the backs of the employees,” he said.

“If the referendum goes down then you’ve either got to raise taxes or get the money from someplace or start gutting more functions,” he said, fearing for the continuation of a children’s and reference sections.

Councilman Dennis Sullivan was the sole dissenting vote.

“I’ve trusted the public in this town for many years. They’re intelligent, educated, they take the time to study issues and make informed decisions,” he said. “I trust the public to make the right decision on this referendum and I would continue to support a referendum on November’s ballot.”

Due to contract obligations, officials said the earliest the change would take place is Jan. 1.

Posted by tumulty at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)
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August 16, 2010

Editorial: Preserving the libraries

http://www.nj.com

August 15, 2010,
The Times of Trenton

Editorial
Trenton Mayor Tony Mack's push to reopen the city's branch libraries on a part-time basis is to be commended. The mayor has offered the city libraries $350,000 to fund a limited schedule from 3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays at the four branches permanently closed because of massive budget cuts.
Mayor Mack has assembled the funds from cancellation of several professional services contracts. He is also in discussions with two private donors who have expressed an interest in helping the struggling city maintain library services.

This is all to the good. And the mayor's aim of reopening the libraries during that after-school window addresses a critical need.

"We cannot afford to close our libraries and shut the door on our children's educational resources," Mayor Mack said. "Children need constructive after-school options, which include visiting their libraries."

He's right on both counts: Libraries offer an incomparable educational resource as well as a safe haven for reading, research and the vast array of resources that extend well beyond books.

But even a third of a million dollars will not cover the libraries' fixed costs very long. As Library Executive Director Kimberly Matthews explained, that sum may constitute a reprieve of just a few months.

It's a dire situation, but there are a few brightening spots.

First and foremost, Mayor Mack is obviously interested in making library services available throughout the city.

Second, there is the possibility of a major donor or two committing funds to restore those services at least on a limited basis.

And there are the efforts of the revitalized Friends of the Trenton Public Library, which has organized a fund-raising campaign to support the shuttered branches.

Finally, people are beginning to understand how vital public libraries are despite the proliferation of the internet. The vast blast of information crowding the web is often uncurated and unfounded; it's no match for the guidance of a librarian toward undisputed references and reliable sources.

The value of a computer as a tool for job searching, reports or communication cannot be overestimated. Yet, especially in cities such as Trenton, a home computer is beyond the reach of many families. Again, this is a service libraries provide.

Far from a creaking collection of dusty books where patrons are shushed, the library has adapted to technology and incorporated the best of those advances in its offerings to the public. From story times to community meetings and classes to internet accessibility, the Trenton Public Library has changed mightily since Benjamin Franklin purchased its first 50 books 260 years ago. Yet its aim remains exactly the same: To serve the residents of Trenton.

We salute all those who are attempting preserve that purpose.

Posted by tumulty at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
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Overdue books

http://www.philly.com
Philadelphia Daily News
Editorial
Aug. 13, 2010
LAST WEEK, when the city of Camden announced it might shut down its entire library system, we're sure more than one person on this side of the river thought that no matter how tough things are, "at least we're not Camden."

What made Camden's announcement more sickening than just another budget-cut story was the fact that it was already planning for the disposition of 187,000 items from its collection- books and other materials would be sold or destroyed. That really hurt, and underscored that to close a library means not just closing a building, but trashing books, computers and other valuable assets. It was so shocking that it seemed calculated to provide the kind of theater that is usually required for last-minute rescues. And sure enough, this week, the state of New Jersey announced that the city's library system would be allowed to join the county system, although it is unclear if all three of the city's branches will remain open.

Clearly, the arguments for keeping Philadelphia's library system intact - a debate aired when Mayor Nutter proposed closing 11 branches in 2008 - probably goes double for Camden, where nearly 40 percent of its citizens are below the poverty level; the median income is $24,000. (Twenty-three percent of Philadelphia's population is below the poverty level, with a median income closer to $37,000.)

There another thing the two cities have in common: Its libraries are not just book receptacles. People are employed to keep them open, and those salaries drive a big part of the cost of those services. For example, in Camden, census data says that for every dollar spent on operations, like staff costs, the library spends 6 cents on materials. Philadelphia's spending on materials is double that, but that's just 12 cents for every dollar that's spent on operations and salaries. Those who want their services but insist on cutting the size of government should keep in mind that you can't have it both ways. *

Posted by tumulty at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
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N. J. Legal Services plans cuts; residents can find help at the library

http://www.philly.com
Aug. 14, 2010
By Edward Colimore

Inquirer Staff Writer

State aid cuts have forced the New Jersey Legal Services System to order staffing reductions that it says will deny free legal help to thousands of low-income residents this year and next.

The nonprofit will lay off 100 workers, including 50 lawyers, by January, and its affiliate, South Jersey Legal Services, serving the seven southern counties, will furlough a quarter of its attorneys.

So where can residents turn for assistance?

Try the library.

A New Jersey Courts program is training librarians to help patrons find legal forms and instructions so they can represent themselves.

Librarians won't replace attorneys or provide advice, state officials said, but will assist those who can't afford legal representation or don't want to pay for it in small-claims cases.

"This is in no way the answer," said Melville D. Miller Jr., president and general counsel of Legal Services of New Jersey. "But a small percentage of people can benefit."

More complicated matters will always require lawyers, he said. "As the saying goes, 'A man who represents himself has a fool for a client.' "

People "with significant legal problems have all kinds of impediments to representing themselves in court," Miller said. "Add the limitations of those in poverty - education, language, and fearfulness of government institutions - and most people cannot represent themselves."

Legal Services of New Jersey has been hampered by state budget cuts and dropping contributions for several years. State funding was cut by one-third or $9.7 million for fiscal 2011.

Since 2007, the staff, including attorneys, has dropped from 725 to 550 in March and will drop to 450 in January. By then, the number of lawyers will be down 36 percent, to 225.

The aid reduction meant a loss of $1.8 million for South Jersey Legal Services, resulting in 27 planned layoffs out of a staff of 90. The agency already had trimmed its budget by $1.1 million because of plummeting revenues on interest-bearing accounts.

Statewide, interest income for Legal Services fell from $3.7 million in 2007 to less than $400,000 last year because of a drop in economic activity. Private donations and United Way grants also decreased.

"Things were already lean before, but these cuts will force us to reduce our level of client service drastically," said Douglas Gershuny, executive director of South Jersey Legal Services.

His agency expects to handle 3,500 fewer cases in 2011 compared with this year.

Those cases "will include families losing their homes to foreclosure, eviction or mortgage scams, those improperly denied unemployment benefits or food stamps, victims of domestic violence, and others denied or losing some other basic life necessity because they couldn't afford a lawyer," Gershuny said.

Gary Boguski, president of South Jersey Legal Services' board of trustees and former president of the Camden County Bar Association, said the Legal Services cuts are the largest he's seen in 22 years on the board.

"This is by far the worst funding crisis we've ever experienced," he said. The "board, management, and staff will be undertaking the painful process of deciding areas of law and representation that [South Jersey Legal Services] can no longer provide."

Those cuts "will profoundly hurt the communities we serve, especially in these harsh economic times when they need us most," added Gershuny.

As the state slashes the budget, the cooperation between the New Jersey Courts, Legal Services, and libraries has become especially important.

"In this age of doing more with less, all government agencies seek partnerships that can more effectively serve the public," said Judge Glenn Grant, acting administrative director of the New Jersey Courts.

"This partnership will allow library patrons to gain information and insight into court policies and procedures at their local libraries, so they can proceed with their case informed and prepared for court," he said.

The judiciary's website, njcourts.com, has been providing a self-help resources center.

"More and more people are going to court without a lawyer because they cannot afford one, or they decide to handle the case on their own, or some other reason," said Nancy Gramaglia, the court's manager of litigant services, who has conducted several training sessions for librarians.

"Often, the first place they try is the library," she said. "Librarians are specialists who know how to connect people with information, so we are asking them to help us serve self-represented litigants."

David Calvanico, librarian at the Mount Laurel Library, who attended the New Jersey Courts workshop, said he had noticed an increase in legal queries in the last three years.

"I can't give legal advice, but I can point to statutes," he said. "We'll be better equipped now to handle the questions."

Other librarians agreed they would do what they could to help. "We just have to be careful not to cross the line," said Nancy Polhamus, reference librarian at the Mullica Hill Branch of the Gloucester County Library System, where an October workshop for librarians will be held. "We'll help them find information, not practice law."

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Contact staff writer Edward Colimore at 856-779-3833 or ecolimore@phillynews.com.

Posted by tumulty at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)
Category:

Camden library saga has lesson

http://www.nj.com
Gloucester County Times

Friday, August 13, 2010
Struggling to make budgetary ends meet, Camden Mayor Dana Redd sharply cut funding to the city's libraries. Library board members said last week this would force all three branches to close.

"No library in Camden," where Walt Whitman is buried, became a national story to illustrate local budget woes. The cuts prompted a flurry of councilmanic mania (see Philadelphia's recent history in this regard). Some activists insisted the sky would fall if any of the branches were closed.

Enter Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Capelli to save the day, offering the services of Camden County's library system to run the city libraries.

Good idea. Why didn't somebody think of this years ago? If Camden joins the county system, city property owners will have to pay a county library tax. But this tax is small enough that converting the Camden Library to the county system can solve the problem without putting financial stress on anyone.

Camden may not get to keep all three branches or their current staffing, but that beats no library at all. On the other hand, when an impoverished city has an architectural gem like Camden's main library on Federal Street, every effort to help maintain it should be made.

From a larger perspective, this library issue in a neighboring county no money to run an independent municipal service that is basically duplicated at a regional level illustrates the folly of absolute home rule for New Jersey's 566 municipalities. Too often, locally originated services are kept on long after they stop making fiscal sense. Gloucester County has seen this with holdouts to countywide police dispatching.

Countywide 911 service, for fire and ambulance calls, too, has saved money and allowed rapid installation of state-of-the-art equipment.Independent libraries in some Gloucester County municipalities have top facilities and stable finances. But in others, what the county system provides is far superior to the part-time, poorly stocked excuses for libraries they once had.

Whether or not Mayor Redd exaggerated the library funding crisis to push Camden into a Camden County system merger, as some allege, is immaterial when that is the right solution. It also reminds everyone in New Jersey of the value in regionalized services.

Posted by tumulty at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
Category:

http://www.philly.com
Aug. 15, 2010
By Karen Heller

Inquirer Columnist

The central branch of the Camden Free Public Library has a broken bathroom and water fountain. The second-floor ceiling is partially collapsed and the rug, severely stained. The lighting, especially on cloudy days, is abysmal.
The last new books arrived in March when the library ran out of funds and ceased paying utility bills. The 187,000-volume system has never been automated. Books are hand-stamped and checked out as they were 30 years ago. The sole van, to shuttle books and equipment to two smaller branches, has been busted for three years.

And yet, on a summer afternoon, this dilapidated institution is busy, vital, full.

Sixteen men engage in robust, near-athletic games of chess. The children's book department, decorated in Honeypot yellow and Tigger orange, hosts regular programs. In a city where many residents are without computers, the Federal Street branch's 19 terminals are in constant use, more than 2,200 visitors monthly looking for jobs and checking e-mail - and that's with the library closed on weekends. Librarians routinely assist residents with research projects, school papers, GED test prep, employment hunts.

The Federal Street library is one of the few free, safe, cool, conveniently situated sources of support, entertainment, and advancement in Camden.

The central branch is what libraries used to be in most towns, and what giant bookstores like Borders have become in the suburbs.

And in Camden, a small city with brutal big-city problems, there's nothing close to a Borders.

There's very little of anything.

"This," says librarian Wen Gu, "is an oasis in the desert."

And now the Federal Street library faces the very real threat of closing forever this fall.

Camden is one of the poorest places in America, where almost everyone is employed by the county, city, or state, or dependent on their support and services. The $28 million deficit is more than the city collects in annual tax revenue.

New Jersey, battling its own fiscal crisis, has drastically reduced aid to cities like Camden. In turn, the city was forced to slash funding everywhere, $14 million from police and $7.5 million from fire. The libraries were axed to the bone, a funding reduction of 70 percent.

Last week, Camden County's separate library system offered to manage the city's system while extending borrowing privileges to its residents at county locations.

But few Camden residents have cars. And it still appears likely that two of the three branches will close, including the largest, the heavily used Federal Street branch.

"No matter what we do, we're just going to run out of money," says interim library director Jerome Szpila. "If we don't get any more, we'll scale down to one location by the end of October."

Camden's Centreville library, open five years, is most likely to be rescued. Dana Redd announced a new Mayor's Friends of the Library Fund with all proceeds marked solely for Centreville.

But that branch, while in sterling shape, contains far fewer books than the central location and is much smaller. It's two miles from downtown, five miles from some neighborhoods, and accessible by only one bus route with limited evening service.

That's not true at Federal Street, close to multiple routes, PATCO, and vital government services. The library, as it so happens, is adjacent to the county courthouse and prison, which are in sore need of expansion.

In Camden, the criminal justice system is one of the few enterprises that's thriving.

"How come they have money for prisons, but they don't have money for libraries?" asks resident Karen Johnson. "The libraries are life."

The irony is lost on few: Close a free service assisting residents with learning, locating work, paying bills, and improving the quality of daily lives to make more room to combat crime.

The pattern is being played out across the state. On Saturday, Trenton closed four of its five libraries, laying off 14 employees, keeping open only its central branch. Newark's slated to shutter two branches, and close Mondays and Tuesdays for the remainder of the year, with Saturday service solely at the central location.

The tragedy is that these choices are occurring in the land of plenty. New Jersey's median household income is among the highest in the nation, second only to Maryland's, while it's hard to find places poorer than Camden. Though the state, like most of the country, wrestles with severe financial issues, its $29.4 billion annual budget is higher than that of Pennsylvania, and it serves a population two-thirds the size.

If there's money for prisons and courthouses, somebody - Gov. Christie or South Jersey political boss George Norcross - ought to be able to find $500,000 somewhere for the library. Otherwise you're investing in the past, not the future, not stability, safety, or growth.

True, the old Federal Street library is dim, decaying, a ruin: a mirror of its city. But the place is vital and necessary and, like so little else in Camden, lovingly used.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by tumulty at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)
Category:

Editorial: Camden's reality check

Editorial
http://www.philly.com
Aug. 14, 2010
Faced with a staggering fiscal crisis, Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd has made tough choices to help the distressed city stand on its own feet.

In the first big test of her leadership, Redd this week averted a potential catastrophe by brokering a workable solution to save the city's three libraries.

A day later, Redd unveiled her first budget - an austere spending plan that cuts funding for all city departments. It also calls for raising taxes in the city for the first time in two decades.

Redd has not specified how many city employees may lose their jobs under the proposed $138.8 million budget. But it seems likely that some layoffs will be imposed in the police and fire departments.

The painful labor cuts will be accompanied by a property-tax increase that would add about $56 to the average homeowner's annual bill. Even that modest amount may pose a hardship for Camden's mostly poor residents.

It is a watershed moment for the state's poorest city, which has previously relied upon state bailouts. Those days are over. There's a new governor in Trenton. And the state is no longer flush with cash to write an extra check to keep the city afloat.

Camden returned to local control after eight years under state oversight when Redd took office in January. Unlike her predecessors, Redd appears to understand that Camden must find ways to live with less - without unduly jeopardizing public safety or the quality of life.

Gov. Christie has made it clear that he favors an independent Camden. That should be the goal, but it will take time. Meanwhile, the city may require additional help in some areas - and the state should be willing to step in.

A poster child for distressed cities, Camden made national headlines with an announcement that its three libraries might be closed because of budget cuts. The move would have meant that residents of the city of 79,000 would have to go outside the city limits to borrow a library book.

Details for the county takeover of Camden's libraries must be worked out, but the idea makes sense. It calls for city residents to pay a modest annual levy to Camden County of about $12 for the average homeowner.

The county has not ruled out closing one of the branches. But it must make sure that city residents still have easy access to a facility that serves their needs.

Camden has a long way to go to stand on its own. But with Mayor Redd's more fiscally responsible approach to running the city, it should only be a matter of time before it can do that.

Posted by tumulty at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
Category:

August 13, 2010

State restores some funding for libraries at last minute

http://www.nbs.gmnews.com
Aug. 12, 2010
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer
Don’t get her wrong, Patricia Tumulty is grateful that some of the massive cuts in state funding to libraries across New Jersey were restored during last-minute adjustments to the state budget.
But problems still remain.

“We still have about a 50 percent cut from the year before,” said Tumulty, executive director of the New Jersey Library Association [NJLA]. “We live to fight another day.”

The NJLA planned to meet with library officials from around the state this month to discuss how they will deal with their remaining funds.

“We’ll discuss how much we have and what services we’ll be able to provide,” she said in a recent interview. “Our core services and library loan drive and some of our databases will be able to continue with this level of funding. But it’s still a big cut. We’re certainly very happy to get the funding, but there are many, many other challenges facing our municipal and county library leaders.”

Library officials had originally been faced with a 74 percent cut in state funding under Gov. Chris Christie’s original budget, from $14 million to $3.6 million. The loss of state funds would also have meant the loss of at least $4.5 million in federal matching funds. But legislators restored $4.29 million before the budget was adopted last month, leaving a pot of $7.97 million this year for libraries around the state, Tumulty said.

“It’s a very difficult cut for us to take,” she said. “But we certainly feel we’re in a much better place than we were in March.”

And she credits the public for helping to keep more of the state funding. More than 80,000 postcards protesting the cut were hand-delivered to legislators, who were also blasted with emails, she said.

“It was a wonderful grassroots effort by the public,” Tumulty said. “We are so proud they really value their library services. They really understand the value of libraries. We’re hoping the public response will keep us from getting a significant cut next year.”

Had the original cuts gone through, the intra-library loan system, various databases and Internet access for patrons would have been lost.

“These had very serious service implications for us, particularly since so many people use libraries to apply for jobs online,” Tumulty said.

Municipalities also provide funding for town-owned libraries, and the amount of funding a town provides is based on a state formula that requires one-third of a mill (one-tenth of a cent) for each $100 of assessed valuation to be given to the library, or $33 for each $100,000 of assessed valuation in a town.

The NJLA supports a new bill in the state Senate that would call for a dedicated municipal library tax outside of the state cap on municipal expenditures, Tumulty said.

Posted by tumulty at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
Category:

August 12, 2010

Keep libraries open in Camden

http://www.cournierpostonline.com

OPINION

August 12, 2010
Whoever runs the libraries, the most important thing is that they continue to exist.

Last month, Camden Mayor Dana Redd announced that the city library system would only be given $281,667 in the budget year that began July 1. That's less than a third of the $905,000 budgeted to the Camden library system last year.

All three public libraries in Camden -- in Fairview, Centerville and downtown -- faced potential closure by the end of 2010. In fact, they could still face that sad fate if a rescue plan for the county library system to take over were to fall apart.

Sure, there's reason to be skeptical. As Camden residents made clear to the city council Tuesday, they're worried the county library system will close one or two of the three libraries. With so many city residents not owning cars, closing any of the branches would take away library access from many Camden residents.

And there's grounds to wonder if the sharp cut in funding for the city libraries and speculation that all three libraries would close, followed by the county's quick offer to help, wasn't a political maneuver of some kind.

Whatever the case, none of it changes the fact that the best thing for city residents is for the libraries to remain open. If having the libraries join the county system and cutting some employees is the way to do that, then it should be done.

A community needs libraries. A community like Camden especially needs libraries. They are a safe place where learning can happen, where kids can entertain themselves, where adults who don't have computers at home can access the Internet.

The city, coming out of state takeover, is staring at a financial mess. The budget Redd proposed Tuesday for the current fiscal year calls for spending $138.8 million. Even raising property taxes for the first time in eight years will still only bring in about $21 million in revenue. The rest is to come in the form of regular and transitional aid from the state. To get the $54 million in transitional aid, the city must show it is making every effort to cut costs and generate new revenue. Furloughing city workers, which is being done; cutting across the board including the library and even police to the tune of $14 million (in a city where more cops, not fewer, are needed); and raising the municipal property tax rate slightly is a way to demonstrate that.
Considering all of this, the city is right to negotiate terms for the county system to take over Camden's libraries. One term the city should try to get in an agreement is that all three branches stay open, even if for limited hours each week.

As author Archibald MacLeish once wrote, "What is more important in a library than anything else -- than everything else -- is the fact that it exists."
Camden's libraries must continue to exist. The people of Camden, especially the children of Camden, need them.

Posted by tumulty at 9:42 AM | Comments (0)
Category:

Trenton libraries could open for limited hours

nj.com
Thursday, August 12, 2010,
Meir Rinde

TRENTON - Mayor Tony Mack wants to reopen the city's four branch libraries for four hours every afternoon beginning Sept. 13, he said in a press release yesterday.

The four branches are scheduled for a long-term closure beginning this weekend because the cash-strapped city cut $1 million from its annual appropriation for the independent Free Public Library system. The Main Library downtown will remain open.

Under Mack's proposal, the branches would be open for children during the critical afternoon hours of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., when young people tend to get in trouble. The branches are Cadwalader, Skelton, Griggs and East Trenton.

If enough money is available, the open hours could be extended, though Mack said private donations to make the plan possible have not yet been committed.

"We cannot afford to close our libraries and shut the door on our children's educational resources," he said. "In a unique town like Trenton, children need constructive after-school options which include visiting their libraries," he said.

"I will not allow our children to fall prey to other means of self-entertainment such as crime and delinquency," he said.

The plan would have to be approved by the library board, which includes a city representative but is an independent body. The board members include water department official Eric Jackson, who serves as president, and Rodney Lofton, superintendent of schools.

The library's executive director, Kimberly Matthews, could not be reached for comment last night.

Mack said he wanted to see the libraries remain at least partially open not only for children, but also for adults who use them for job research.

"Keeping the libraries open will allow Trentonians to continue their job search efforts and access resources such as reference materials, newspapers, books, computers, printers, public meeting space, and use of the internet to complete and update job applications," he said.

Posted by tumulty at 9:34 AM | Comments (0)
Category:

August 11, 2010

Camden budget calls for tax hike and layoffs

By DEBORAH HIRSCH • Courier-Post Staff • August 11, 2010

CAMDEN — Mayor Dana Redd Tuesday introduced a $138.8 million budget for fiscal year 2011 that raises taxes for the first time since 2002, cuts library funding by more than half and likely will require layoffs.

It was not the budget, however, but a resolution to negotiate an agreement for the county to take over the city library system that prompted more than an hour of public outcry from dozens of angry residents.

The city's library system was the first to feel the impact of this year's funding woes, drawing national attention when board members announced they would no longer be able to operate past Dec. 31 given such a dramatic drop in annual funding.

Camden's strained budget will bear more bad news as Redd cuts 24 percent from all departments in order to close a $28 million projected shortfall. She said city employees will likely face layoffs and demotions, though she has yet to reveal any specifics.

That's left city workers in nervous wait. Nonuniformed employees are already in the midst of 26 days of unpaid leave. Earlier this year, council also ended payments for employees who opt out of health insurance coverage and required, as mandated by state law, contributions to health care costs.

"This fiscal crisis is real," Redd said. "This is not a great day, but we're going to get through it."
The budget includes $46.6 million in state aid and assumes that the state will provide an additional $54 million in transitional aid. In order to qualify for that aid, Redd said the city had to show that it made every effort to cut costs and generate revenues.

In Camden's case, that includes a tax increase -- something that had been prohibited since the city was put under state control in 2002. That legislation was revised in January, releasing the city from most oversight two years earlier than planned. Under the current "economic recovery" phase of the act, the mayor may raise taxes up to 3 percent, regardless of the state's imposed 2 percent cap.

Even a 3 percent tax increase, however, will hardly make a dent in the city's funding shortage. Local taxes last year generated about $20.6 million. The increase would generate an additional $631,000, according to budget documents. The annual cost to an average homeowner would be about $56, said Business Administrator Christine Tucker.

Residents could face another tax from the county if the library becomes part of its system. Normally, the public would have to vote to join the county system, since the public voted to create the original city system. But Redd said the revised state takeover act allows city council to approve such a change, which she proposed as a walk-on resolution Tuesday. Council members, with the abstention of President Frank Moran, unanimously approved the measure.
Tax increase aside, library supporters lambasted council for even considering giving up control over the library system and handed over a petition with about 1,000 signatures.

Robin Guenther, the children's librarian at the downtown branch, said joining the county seems like a good way to ensure residents have access to libraries, but that doesn't mean anything to families who have no way to get to branches outside of the city. Even if the county continues to operate Centerville, Camden's newest library, Guenther noted it would take more than an hour on two buses for those traveling across town.

"No parent is going to take their child on an hour-and-a-half trip to get a library book," she said.
Several library staff members echoed Guenther's fears that the county would shut down both the Fairview and downtown branches.

Residents "need their own building," said Irma Martinez, a senior library assistant at the Centerville branch.

"Everybody can have their part of Camden except for the people that live in Camden," complained East Camden resident Nancy Smalls.
Attempting to calm the crowd, Moran pointed out that council was merely authorizing negotiations and would have to give formal approval again once a specific plan was presented.
"Not one council member wants these libraries closed but we can't afford to run the libraries as we have in the past," Moran said.

Though Redd did not detail how the city would cut salary and wages, she pointed out that the police department budget would drop by $14 million and fire by $7.5 million. An additional $4 million would come from operational expenses. A freeze on nonessential spending will remain in place.

Because the city depends on additional state aid to close budget gaps, it typically does not adopt its budget until nearing the end of the fiscal year. Council members adopted a $178.1 million fiscal year 2010 budget in May. The city later received grants that raised appropriations to $185.1 million. Redd said the current budget could likewise increase if grants come in.

Posted by tumulty at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
Category:

LIBRARIES FACE GRIM CHOICES

http://www.nj.com
Branch closings, layoffs etc.
Monday, August 09, 2010
By MELISSA HAYES

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City Library Director Priscilla Gardner is feverishly working on a plan to keep the library system alive.

With a 17.5 percent cut in state aid and $1.7 million less from Jersey City this year, things are looking grim.

The library laid off 36 part-time staff and security guards, and closed two branches during the last budget cycle in an effort to curb costs. The main branch on Jersey Avenue reduced its extended night hours from five days to two. But more cuts lay ahead.

"Now we're going to have to close branches, we're going to have to reduce more hours and we're going to have furlough days at the library just like the city is having furloughs," she said.

Gardner said city officials told her last week she will have $6 million to run the library's 10 branches. That's down from $7.7 million last year and far below the $8 million she requested.

"We cannot make it on this budget," she said.

The library employs 115 full-time staff and some could lose their jobs under a plan Gardner is devising.

Gardner declined to give details on the furloughs, layoffs or service reductions saying she first wants to give her proposal to the City Council. Any staffing reductions would have to be approved by the state Civil Service Commission.

Gardner, who has been with the library for 41 years, said she has seen demand for the library grow from 40,000 registered users to 189,357 as of Friday.

She said that demand is even higher during the tough economy when people rely on the library to provide free access to best selling novels and movies. The library also serves as a place for students to research and job hunters to seek help.

"They don't have computers, they can't afford computers," she said of many library users. "They come in, they use the computers, they use the Internet. They're searching for jobs."

Posted by tumulty at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
Category:

Jersey City library faces branch closings, layoffs

Published: Monday, August 09, 2010, 9:45 AM
The Jersey Journal
http://www.nj.com

Pamela Suchy

The Jersey City Free Public Library is facing a budget crisis.

Jersey City Free Public Library is facing serious choices regarding the need to shut down branches and lay off employees just to stay afloat, The Jersey Journal reported.

The library laid off 36 part-time staff and security guards, and closed two branches during the last budget cycle in an effort to curb costs. The main branch on Jersey Avenue reduced its extended night hours from five days to two. But more cuts lay ahead.

Jersey City Library Director Priscilla Gardner said city officials told her last week she will have $6 million to run the library's 10 branches. That's down from $7.7 million last year and far below the $8 million she requested.

Posted by tumulty at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
Category:

County takeover looks set to save Camden's libraries

http://www.philly.com
Aug. 10, 2010
By Matt Katz

Inquirer Staff Writer

Camden's libraries, which received national attention last week when it appeared that budget cuts would force them out of business permanently, are to be saved.

Camden City Council is expected to approve a resolution allowing the Camden County library system to take over the three facilities without a citywide vote, officials said.

"After learning that the library board's only solution was to close our libraries, I knew I would not let that happen," Mayor Dana L. Redd said Monday.

Details are to be worked out, but city residents would pay an annual levy to be part of the county system, Redd said. The arrangement would "expand library services for city residents," she said.

Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. did not rule out closing one or more of the city branches and laying off all employees under the plan.

The announcement came at a news conference in City Hall with county officials and representatives of the Camden School District, but without members of the city's library board of trustees, who had been preparing to shut the libraries after Redd cut funding by about two-thirds last month.

With less than $300,000 in its coffers, the board had said that it would have to close the 105-year-old library system, which receives more than 150,000 annual visits, by the end of the year. It would lay off all 21 employees and donate, sell, or destroy the libraries' 87,000 books.

Such a move would have been unprecedented by a multi-branch system, according to the American Library Association.

Board President Martin McKernan, reached on vacation Monday afternoon, said he knew nothing of the mayor's new plan. At the news conference, Redd said, "We have talked to" McKernan.

"The mayor has not contacted me," McKernan said. "My hope would be that the library continues to provide the same level of service that it has been providing."

Frank Fulbrook, a library board member in the audience at the news conference, called the county takeover a land grab.

For more than a decade, there have been rumors and reports that Camden County officials sought to put an expanded county jail or courthouse on the site of the library's main branch on Federal Street downtown. The current jail and courthouse, both in need of expansion, are adjacent to the library.

"This was all a cynical ploy," Fulbrook said. "The county and mayor manufactured a fiscal crisis for the city libraries by giving us only $281,000, knowing we would have to shut down."

Redd's offer to the board for fiscal 2011 initially was about $281,000, $108,000 less than mandated by the state for municipal library aid.

Correspondence between Redd and McKernan shows that the mayor never offered the full amount, but she said more money would be provided if required to meet state regulations. It is unclear if the full $389,000 would have enabled a branch to stay open and the system to remain under city control.

Camden County Freeholder Ian Leonard, who lives near the main branch, rejected the idea of a land grab. This is simply "about a municipality wanting to join the county system," he said.

Leonard said city residents would have access to new courses, classes, and more books and that the fee assessed on all Camden tax bills would be minimal. "This is as basic as it gets in terms of shared services," he said.

But the downtown branch, along with a tiny branch in Fairview, could still be in jeopardy. The city's newest library, in Centerville, is least likely to close, since Camden County spent $4 million to build it a few years ago, and it is the centerpiece of a public housing project that Redd championed.

The mayor singled out the facility in her remarks Monday, and when announcing a new Mayor's Friends of the Library fund, she said the money would go only to the Centerville branch.

That could set up a geographic fight. Situated in the southern part of the city, the branch is five miles from neighborhoods such as Cramer Hill. Fulbrook said the downtown branch must be saved because it is most accessible by public transportation in a city where many do not own vehicles.

Uncertainty over the libraries comes as Redd intends to make 24 percent budget cuts across the board. Her budget, which will be introduced to City Council late Tuesday afternoon, could bring layoffs to the police and fire departments.

Camden's $28 million deficit is larger than the amount of money it collects annually in taxes, Redd said. And, though the city previously has survived with last-minute money from the governor's office, the state's own fiscal emergency and Gov. Christie's tight approach to spending mean "the days of Trenton bail-outs have come to a screeching halt," Redd said.

Once City Council, which generally supports the mayor's plans, approves joining the county system, the county library director and city officials will work on details. Camden would become the 27th municipality in the 37-town Camden County to be part of the county library system. Its residents would be able to borrow books from any branch; currently, they have to pay for borrowing privileges there.

In addition to teaming with Camden County, the mayor said she wanted to find public places, such as community centers, that could provide free Internet access. Many Camden residents do not own computers, so they look for jobs and submit applications online at the library.

Redd said she hopes the city school district can secure funds so that its libraries can stay open after school for students.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contact staff writer Matt Katz at 856-779-3919 or mkatz@phillynews.com.

Posted by tumulty at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
Category:

Warren County negotiating building purchase to house library headquarters in White Township

htp://www.express-times.com
Sunday, August 08, 2010
By BILL WICHERT
The Express-Times
WHITE TWP. | Nearly a year ago, Warren County freeholders shelved original plans for a new library headquarters to re-evaluate the project costs.

In January, county officials anticipated releasing revised plans within six months.

As conditions remain cramped in the headquarters in Belvidere, county officials are eyeing a vacant commercial building along Route 519 in White Township to house the new headquarters. The 15,000-square-foot building would nearly double the space of the current facility.

"There's still many issues that need to be hammered out," county Freeholder Director Rick Gardner said Friday. "It's really going to be a very positive asset if we can make this happen."

Gardner said county officials are negotiating with the property owner but remain far apart on the sale price. If a deal is struck, the property owner would renovate the building to accommodate the library headquarters before turning it over to the county, Gardner said.

Although a price tag for the overall project has not been defined, the county may be able to save more than $10 million by purchasing the existing structure rather than building one from scratch, Gardner said.

"We cannot overlook the opportunity to save the taxpayers that type of money," Gardner said.

Freeholders Everett Chamberlain and Angelo Accetturo did not return calls Friday seeking comment. Maureen Baker Wilkinson, the county's library director, did not return a call Friday.

Gardner said he did not know who the property owner is, but said the county had been dealing with real estate broker Frank Anderson, a Blairstown Township committeeman. Anderson did not respond Friday to a voicemail and an e-mail seeking comment.

County officials had been planning to construct a building beside the county's Wayne Dumont Jr. Administration Building on Route 519 in White Township but backed away in August 2009 when the estimated cost drifted toward nearly $30 million.

Posted by tumulty at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
Category:

Camden libraries may be saved

http://www.courierpostonline.org
George Mast
Aug. 10, 2010
CAMDEN — City library services will be spared through a possible merger with the Camden County library system, officials announced Monday.

After Mayor Dana Redd announced funding cuts last month, city library board members said they had no choice but to eventually shutter all three of the libraries here: Centerville, Fairview and the main branch on Federal Street.

But, that plan was stayed Monday, when officials announced a possible takeover of the libraries by the county system.
Camden County Freeholder-Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said it hasn't been decided whether all three branches would remain open or what would happen to the city's 21 library employees.
Related
Camden Library Press Conference
"At this point we're still looking at what will happen," Cappelli said. "The plan is still being put together.
"We can't guarantee that all three (branches) will remain open, but we can guarantee there will be a county library system in Camden."
City Council members will need to introduce and pass a resolution allowing the change.
By entering the county system -- which has six branches throughout the county -- Camden will be relieved of any funding obligations. Last year, the city provided about $900,000 in funding to its libraries, not including the cost of employee benefits.

But Camden residents will face a county tax of about 4 cents per $100 of the assessed value of a home. All 26 municipalities in the county library system face the same library tax rate.
On Monday, Redd played up the merger, noting city residents will now have access to a "wide range" of resources at all the county branches.

Redd said she is also in discussions to get residents full access to the library at Rutgers-Camden. Residents now have limited access to the university's library.
Decrying the merger plan was Library Board Trustee and community activist Frank Fulbrook, who called it a "cynical ploy."
"We should maintain our independence," he said.
At Camden's main branch on Federal Street Monday afternoon, a few patrons leafed through newspapers inside the welcome relief of the air-conditioned building. All 15 of the library's working computers were being used.

In the front of the library, two men sat with their elbows on a table, leaning over a chess board.

Library Director Jerome Szpila said he supports joining the county system because it will preserve some access for city residents.
"The most important thing is the residents of Camden and whether they have library services."
Damaris Allen, who was at the library Monday with her 6-year-old grandson, said she was glad to learn all of three of the city's branches wouldn't be closing.

Camden Library Press Conference
"(The children) need the experience of having a library." She hopes the Federal Street branch will stay open because of its access to public transportation.
Plans to close the city's libraries began last month after Redd responded to the library board's annual budget request with a letter and a check for $281,667, about a third of what the city allocated last fiscal year.

At the time, Redd said the city could only afford to pay the minimum required by law, which should have been about $389,958.
In the following weeks, the library board announced plans to first close the Fairview branch in September and use the proceeds to keep the branches in Centerville and on Federal Street open as long as possible -- probably until the year's end.

Redd said Monday additional information about the city's libraries would be released as the plan with the county is finalized. Officials at the American Library Association believe Camden's library branches would have been the first in the U.S. to close entirely.
Camden Free Public Library is a major hub for many residents and draws 150,000 visits a year.
Reach George Mast at (856) 486-2465 at gmast@camden.gannett.com

Posted by tumulty at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)
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August 6, 2010

Camden preparing to close library system

http://www.philly.com
By Matt Katz

Inquirer Staff Writer

Camden is preparing to permanently shut its library system by the end of the year, potentially leaving residents of the impoverished city among the few in the United States unable to borrow a library book free.

At an emotional but sparsely attended meeting of the library board Thursday, its president, Martin McKernan, said the city's three libraries cannot stay open past Dec. 31 because of severe budget cuts by Mayor Dana L. Redd.

"It's extraordinary, it's appalling," McKernan said.

All materials in the libraries would be donated, auctioned, stored, or destroyed. That includes 187,000 books, historical documents, artifacts, and electronic equipment. Keeping materials in the shuttered buildings is a fire hazard, officials said, and would make them vulnerable to vandalism and vermin.

"They don't want to see our children grasp a future, but go down the toilet," said Jean Kehner, who described herself as a Camden resident for 76 years.

Redd is facing a $28 million projected deficit stemming from reductions in state aid and a long-standing lack of taxable property. She is planning deep cuts in all departments, and she told McKernan last month that she would slash funding to the 105-year-old library system by about two-thirds.

Because not even one of the three libraries could stay open in 2011 on such limited support, all 21 employees would be laid off, McKernan said.

Redd left open the possibility that the libraries could be saved.

"The citizens are first, and the libraries are on the top of the list as we struggle through our budget," Redd said. "I was elected during challenging times to find solutions. I understand I may be a target of a number of comments, but I have to construct the budget."

She said she was not responsible for the closings. "That is a decision of the library board."

There is little, if any, precedent to permanently closing an entire library system, experts said.

The American Library Association could only cite one other example, the Hood River County Library in Oregon, which closed its one location this summer. A measure on the ballot this fall would create a new model of funding and reopen the library.

"It's tragic," said Audra Caplan, president of the national Public Library Association. "We are the only institution in this country that provides access to information and materials for free, which is huge right now."

There is still hope for library users and employees. City Council must approve the mayor's fiscal year 2011 budget, which contains the reduced library funding. It will be introduced Tuesday. Library board member Frank Fulbrook has suggested that city officials lay off one police officer and one firefighter to save enough money to keep one branch open.

Discussions are also under way that would allow the Camden County library system to take over at least one branch.

But because the people of Camden voted on Nov. 4, 1903, to establish a library, another vote might be required to disband the library and join the county system. Victoria Rosch, New Jersey associate state librarian, said only voters can close a library. Otherwise, "the trustees by law have to take that money and somehow provide library service," she said.

In another indication of a possible lifeline, Redd said for the first time on Thursday that the city was legally required, in accordance with a state formula, to give the library nearly $390,000 this year. Previously, she said only $282,000 was available.

McKernan said he did know about that new figure, and July correspondence between him and the mayor confirmed that. Still, he said he did not know if the additional $108,000 would be enough to keep even one branch open part-time.

In a city where less than a third of people have high-speed Internet service in their homes, according to the research group CamConnect, libraries allow people to go online, do schoolwork, and look for jobs. Closing the three branches would end the more than 150,000 annual visits - along with the daily chess games and children's book readings. During extreme weather, the facilities provide a respite for the homeless.

On Thursday at the main library in downtown Camden, Gabrielle Simmons, 21, applied for a job on the Internet while her 3-year-old son, Cameron, squirmed on her lap.

Simmons is an unemployed single mother who relies on the library to apply for jobs; many workplaces now only accept online applications. She was busy Thursday applying for a job at Old Navy in the Cherry Hill Mall.

Next to her sat Timothy Thomson, 32, who was laid off from Verizon last year. He comes to the library twice a week to check out self-help books and apply for jobs. Despite having a bachelor's degree from Rutgers-Camden and recently completing culinary training at DeVry University, he said, he's still having trouble finding work. And now, he might lose his library.

"They sit there and say they're trying to make Camden better," he said. "They should find somewhere else to find funding because . . . you're closing off opportunity to people."

In a back room, children's librarian Robin Guenther presided over a reading with two dozen children. She said so far this summer, about 600 children have come in for story and crafts programs.

"Why isn't Camden worthy of a library? How can you tell Camden, one of the poorest cities in the country, that they don't deserve a library?" she asked.

Even closing the libraries would be a pricey proposition. The libraries contain historically valuable materials, including phone books dating to the 1880s and newspapers on microfilm from the 1870s. If the library board chooses to save the microfilm, it would cost as much as $11,000 a year. And if the library cannot find a donor for all of its books, it is considering renting seven Dumpsters for $6,230.

In 1904, Andrew Carnegie donated $100,000 for the first library to be built in Camden. That sum might be enough to save the library more than a century later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Matt Katz at 856-779-3919 or mkatz@phillynews.com.

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Trenton's public library needs the public's help

http://www.nj.com
Friday, August 06, 2010
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Letters to the Editor

The Friends of the Trenton Public Library is as dismayed and disheartened as the rest of our community to learn that funds are no longer available to keep the city's four neighborhood branches in operation.

Although the library administration was able to forestall branch closings 18 months ago by working with the state librarian to develop a creative solution, we understand that the city budget shortfall this year -- caused in large part by the governor's decision to withhold Trenton's in-lieu-of-taxes payments -- makes it impossible to keep the four library branches open. Since staff salaries and operating expenses come from city appropriations, closing the branches also means that library staff will lose their jobs, go to part-time hours or be demoted. These are the people who run the summer reading programs for our children and help patrons learn new computer skills, draft and update resumes and undertake job searches.

Even if we cannot realistically raise the $2 million it would take to keep the branches open, we can raise money to continue current programs, implement new ones and donate our time and effort to supplement the hardworking staff at the main library. The Friends plans to work with the library administration to develop programs to restore a library presence in the neighborhoods as well as expand services at the main branch. We will be recruiting volunteers to deliver library materials to patrons confined to their homes, conduct English as a second language (ESL) classes, and supplement services now performed by library staff such as teaching computer skills, helping with job searches and children's programs and scheduling and facilitating community-oriented events and workshops.

Beginning in September, the main library at 120 Academy St. will be open evenings, Monday through Thursday, as well as Saturdays, to better accommodate city residents' schedules. In addition, portions of the building that were formerly closed will be reopened. This will include a new computer lab and a spacious reading and research room for patrons of the Trentoniana collection.

Remember that Trenton can trace its library history back to pre-revolutionary times, when we became the first community in New Jersey to set up a library using Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Cadwalader's Library Company of Philadelphia as a model. When Thomas Cadwalader left Trenton to return to Philadelphia in 1750, he gave our city a farewell gift of 500 pounds to establish a library. Many other New Jersey communities followed Trenton's example until 1879, when the state's first free public library act was passed. In 1901, the Trenton Free Public Library was incorporated to serve the city's residents, and it has continued doing so to this day.

It was during the 2008 budget crisis that the Friends of the Trenton Public Library was reactivated as an advocacy and fundraising organization dedicated to supporting the Trenton Public Library in its mission to serve Trenton's residents. We are still here working to make sure the library can continue its proud history and tradition of service into the future. But we need help. We are counting on current and former city residents whom the library has served over the years to contribute whatever and however they can. Cities, especially, need strong and dynamic libraries to provide the myriad services a diverse population requires, and an active Friends group is critical to maintaining a library's health and success.

We urge all supporters of the Trenton Public Library to visit the Friends' website in the coming weeks and months (trentonlib.org/friends) to find out how to make a donation or to volunteer their time and talent. We will be posting volunteer opportunities, including programs, projects and fundraisers in which supporters can become involved.

In the meantime, to submit suggestions for programs or projects or to obtain more information about our organization and how to join the Friends, please send an e-mail to friendsoftpl@gmail.com. Friends of the Trenton Public Library brochures with membership applications can be picked up at the main library branch and the neighborhood branches while they remain open, or at Classics Bookstore, located at 117 S. Warren St. in Trenton. And to keep up with Friends' activities, please visit us on Facebook -- and become a friend of the Friends of the Trenton Public Library.

Howard Fitzgerald is president of the Friends of the Trenton Public Library.

Posted by tumulty at 7:18 AM | Comments (0)
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Second library removes gay book

By JIM WALSH • Courier-Post Staff • August 5, 2010

A gay-themed book, which was pulled from a local high school's library after a resident objected to its content, has also been yanked from Burlington County's library system.

The county system's decision to remove "Revolutionary Voices," an anthology of first-person works by gay youths, was made quietly in the spring. But it's now stirring an online furor with the release of e-mails on the issue by the county's library director, Gail Sweet.
"How can we grab the books so that they never, ever get back into circulation?" Sweet asked in one e-mail to a library employee. "Copies need to totally disappear (as in not a good idea to send copies to the book sale)."

And when another librarian asked why the award-winning book was being removed, Sweet responded with two words: "Child pornography."
The e-mails were obtained through a public-records request by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which provided them to the Courier-Post on Wednesday.
"We have concerns (over the book's removal)," said Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director for the ACLU-NJ. She said "Revolutionary Voices" had faced no official challenge at the library and the library's commissioners had not voted on its removal, according to information in Sweet's e-mails.
"We're still assessing the situation," LoCicero said Wednesday.

The book was pulled from the county library and from the library at Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly after objections from Beverly Marinelli, a Lumberton woman and a member of the 9/12 Project, a conservative group founded by Fox News Channel pundit Glenn Beck.

Marinelli, who could not be reached Wednesday, has described the book as "pervasively vulgar and obscene."
In an interview in May, she said the book has "some redeeming stories," but that much of it is offensive. At that time, she noted a poem about castration and an etching that she said showed men having sex in front of two Boy Scouts.

Rancocas Valley's school board voted on May 5 to remove the book, which was not required reading for students. By that time, the county library commissioners had "supported (a) staff recommendation" to remove it, Sweet said in an e-mail to Marinelli.

"As the copies that are checked out return, we will take them out of circulation," Sweet said in that April 27 e-mail.

Sweet, one of two library staffers to recommend the book's removal, did not respond to phone and e-mail messages on Wednesday.

The controversy has spurred Lumberton native Brandon Monokian to form a troupe that stages readings from "Revolutionary Voices."
"I did it so people could actually hear the words in the book," said Monokian, an actor who graduated from Rancocas Valley in 2005. "I just think they (the writers) are speaking from the heart."

He disagreed with Marinelli's view that the book showed men having sex. "With that picture, like a lot in the book, different people will see different things."

Patricia Tumulty, president of the New Jersey Library Association, did not address the county library's action directly, saying it was not clear how the removal took effect.
But she noted her group had issued a statement after the Rancocas Valley decision, saying books should not be removed "because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval."
"Libraries do not discriminate against unpopular or controversial ideas," it said. "To the contrary, they select resources so that the library collection meets the needs of everyone in the community it serves."

About 500 book challenges are reported annually to the American Library Association, said Angela Maycock, who oversees the group's Office for Intellectual Freedom.
In most cases, the book is retained, she said. But Maycock said libraries often do not publicize a book's removal.

"The reason they get removed is it's done under cover of darkness," she said. "When public attention is brought to the situation, that's when the books remain on the shelves."
Reach Jim Walsh at (856) 486-2646 or jwalsh@courierpostonline.com

Posted by tumulty at 7:11 AM | Comments (0)
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August 5, 2010

North Hudson campus helps school expand

http://www.nj.com
Thursday, August 05, 2010
By MELISSA HAYES
HD STAFF WRITER

The pile of rubble at the corner of Sip Avenue and Jones Street in Jersey City may not look like much, but Hudson County Community College president Glen Gabert has visions of a "landmark library" and state-of-the-art classrooms and science labs for the Journal Square lot.

Construction is already underway on a new North Hudson Campus at 48th Street and Kennedy Boulevard in Union City, which will replace the convent the college rents in West New York.

Gabert said the college has been planning the facility, which sits next to an NJ Transit Light Rail stop, for over 10 years. The 90,000-square-foot building will have a book store, community center, ceramic studio and classroom space for 3,000 students.

Gabert said the college is seeing more students transferring in from four-year universities, often a sign of tough economic times. But he attributed the college's growth to better outreach and facilities.

"This college has historically under-served the community," he said.

County colleges on average serve 2.5 percent of their county's population, but HCCC has hovered around 1 percent, he said. "The programs are expanding, but I also think the college is coming to be seen as a first choice."

Gabert, who has led the college for 18 years, envisions a variety of other amenities coming to college, including a fitness center, theater, cafeteria and perhaps even a sports program.

"It's very exciting times," he said.

In Jersey City, the college has a 6,000-square-foot library at the main campus. But with enrollment blossoming, there's a need for a new 30,000-square-foot library, Gabert said.

Last year, college administrators projected a 7 percent hike in enrollment, but instead saw a 22 percent increase, Gabert said. Enrollment will hit 9,500 in the fall and is on pace for 11,000 students by 2012.

To accommodate the growth, the college will cut the ribbon on new classrooms and labs this summer on Enos Place in Jersey City, a block from the main building at 25 Pathside. The college purchased the building for roughly $1 million and spent $3 million on renovations, Gabert said.

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No need for favorites in South Plainfield library talks

http://www.c-n.com
Opinion
August 5, 2010

South Plainfield needs a new library — that, apparently, is virtually indisputable. The current facility is overcrowded, underserviced and just plain insufficient for modern-day needs.

But leave it to local government to take its own sweet time on a meandering journey to a solution.

The borough has been grappling with this particular problem for years, with various plans floated and ultimately rejected. The latest gambit was a move supported by library trustees to lease space in a light-industrial section of town, a proposal rejected by the zoning board because of traffic concerns and the absence of sidewalks in the area.

Now comes an idea from a shared-services panel of school board and Borough Council members for the library to set up shop at the school district's administration building — the Roosevelt building — on Jackson Avenue. It's a preliminary concept, but supporters say there's plenty of space inside and for parking, and its central location is a plus.

The head of the library trustees, Eric Aronowitz, didn't sound thrilled, however, noting concerns about the age of the building, potential asbestos issues and the ability of a small staff to cover a facility spread across more than one floor.

There's nothing surprising or troubling in those initial reactions. What is disturbing, however, is to hear Aronowitz discuss potential meetings with local officials. While the shared-services panel wants to talk to Aronowitz, the trustees president suggested he'd be more inclined to meet with a different panel being put together under Mayor Charles Butrico to specifically address the library issue. But Aronowitz added that he wasn't ruling out a meeting with the shared-services group.

What's the problem here? Who cares from where the idea comes? Why wouldn't Aronowitz simply meet with both groups and anyone else who's listening and trying to help? Does there really have to be a preference between Panel A and Commission B and any other group throwing in their two cents?

South Plainfield needs a new library, and there is little reason for this not to be a united community effort. That doesn't mean everyone will agree. But the process certainly doesn't have to degenerate into some sort of a political battle. Yet there's already a history of that with the library — don't forget the 2008 "Democracy Week" vote orchestrated by Republicans to overturn a Democrat-supported plan for new library construction. And after all, South Plainfield is also the town that managed to turn a quest for the most effective truck route through the community into a bitter partisan war.

Posted by tumulty at 2:18 PM | Comments (0)
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August 4, 2010

Somerville considers options for joining county library system

Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 12:08 PM Updated: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 2:36 PM
Amanda Peterka / Messenger-Gazette
nj.com
Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010,
Amanda Peterka / Messenger-Gazette
SOMERVILLE — Now that the library task force has recommended that Somerville join the county library system, Borough Council is trying to figure out exactly how that could be done.

The council instructed Borough Attorney Jeremy Solomon to look into the official process on municipal libraries joining a county, and he reported back at Monday’s council meeting with the news that there doesn’t seem to be much in state law to go by.

“It falls into that perfectly gray area,” as Mayor Brian Gallagher described it.

Somerville Public Library at 35 West End Ave. was set up by referendum in the early 1900s, but Solomon said that the council could choose to join the county system through another referendum, in which the public would vote on the issue, or through the passage of an ordinance or resolution, in which public officials would make the decision.

There is no law that says exactly how it should be done, but there are examples of libraries doing it each of the above ways, Solomon said.

Borough Council members said that they would discuss the library at the next council meeting on Aug. 18. Before then, on Councilman Dennis Sullivan’s request, the mayor will reach out to the county library system and ask that county representatives be present at that meeting.

In July, a task force formed to evaluate the Somerville Public Library recommended that it join the county system. The move would cost Somerville taxpayers less, increase the programs and hours of operation at the library and potentially increase staff, task members said.

Posted by tumulty at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
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Bernards Library strives for balance even when cuts are made

http://www/recordnewspapers.com
By CHARLIE ZAVALICK, Editor

BERNARDS TWP. – Robert K. Fullagar got a surprise recently when he went to the township library to read U.S. News and World Report magazine.

It wasn’t there any more.

The 35-year resident of Basking Ridge was upset, even more so when he noticed the liberal Mother Jones magazine still on the racks.

“Our tax dollars are going to support this far left publication,’’ the Spruce Street resident said on Thursday, July 22.

Not that he wants Mother Jones removed. “If people want to read that, that’s fine,’’ he said. “But we have to maintain a balance here.’’

While the library has cancelled its subscription to U.S. News for financial and other reasons, the subscription will actually continue through October, library officials subsequently said.

What factors determine which magazines are removed when cuts are made?

Ruth Lufkin, supervising reference librarian in Bernards, said numerous things are taken into consideration, including patron use and costs. The library currently carries about 140 magazines, she said.

“We do try to maintain balance but there are a variety of pressures that go into it,’’ she said. “Financially we’ve really been pushed and pushed to provide some of the newer resources people are asking for. We can’t afford as many subscriptions as we had and we do a variety of things to find out what’s earning its keep and what’s not.’’

While the library doesn’t conduct a reader survey, she said it does use a “subscription fulfillment service’’ that specializes in work with libraries.

Usage and “the changing interests of the community’’ are also considered.

“Staff members from each public service department assist in making recommendations about what should be kept or dropped,’’ she said.

She added that in the past, “we have reinstated subscriptions if patrons requested and it seemed feasible.’’

She said the library currently has 180 titles, down from 190 in 2009. The annual cost for renewal, excluding newspapers, is $6,514.

When making changes, staff also checks to see what publications are available online so the information remains accessible to patrons.

“I’d have to say the staff goes to quite a bit of effort to make sure we’re not missing some point of view that should be represented,’’ she said.

She added that over time, librarians also “get a sense of what is being actively used.’’

Lufkin said the library is also trying to serve a more diverse audience.

“The population has broadened extensively,’’ she said. “As a library we need to keep up with the times.’’

U.S. News and World Report, she said, had become a bit of “a moving target’’ over the years, going from a weekly to a bi-weekly to a monthly publication.

In 2009, the library paid $44.78 for its annual subscription, much higher than the $15 cost for an individual.

By comparison, Mother Jones magazine costs the library $13.50 for six issues a year. Lufkin said it is the most widely read liberal publication in the nation.

She also noted that the library added the National Review, a conservative new publication.

“We do try to make sure that there is balance in the collection, especially in regard to political opinion,’’ she said. “Our subjective observation was that this title was no longer being widely used by our patrons, thus the decision to let the subscription lapse.’’

According to its website, U.S. News and World Report was born in 1948 as the result of a merger between a weekly newspaper called United States News and a magazine called World Report. It is known for its focus on political, economic and health stories, plus a ranking system of American colleges and hospitals.

Lufkin said other magazines were also cut this year, while a smaller number that people wanted were added.

She said the library hasn’t gotten many complaints over the years due to magazine removals, but “it does come up occasionally.’’

But she said, people usually “realize it isn’t possible to have everything.’’

She maintained that “freedom of information is a hallmark on which we stand.’’

“We do try to have a little bit of something for everyone.’’

Bernardsville Library

If he wants to continue reading U.S. News, Fullager won’t have far to go: The Bernardsville Public Library carries the magazine.

Bernardsville Library Director Karen Brodsky said the library carries about 180 titles. Its title list is “constantly shifting and moving,’’ she said, calling the review procedure a “multi-pronged approach.’’

“Of course money and space is an issue,’’ she said. “We can’t have everything we’d like for those reasons.’’

Brodsky said providing balance is among its key objectives.

But, she noted, Bernardsville does have a few “odd’’ magazines, as several patrons donate subscriptions.

“If someone wants to get a magazine and pay for it, how can we deny it?’’ she said.

The Economist has been paid for by a patron for at least eight years and running, she noted.

Bernardsville seeks patrons’ input by attaching a survey sheet to its magazines to get feedback on a quarterly basis.

“If something’s very popular we do whatever we can to keep it,’’ she said.

Posted by tumulty at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)
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Rutherford Public Library seeks to shut down once a week

http://www.nj.com
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
BY BRIAN ANDERSON
South Bergenite
SOUTH BERGENITE
Rutherford – The Rutherford Public Library could close on Fridays, starting Aug. 20 until the end of 2010, instead of shutting down for an entire week at various times of the year if the library worker’s union agrees to the plan. The library and the union will begin negotiations over health care benefits for all library employees.

The Rutherford Public Library (RPL) Board of Trustees voted to ask the Rutherford Library Association (RLA) to change the furlough plan from entire weeks of closing the library to closing on Fridays at a special meeting on Aug. 2. Additionally, the trustees accepted the union’s offer to open negotiations over health benefits and to continue benefits for another month and a half for some employees who were set to lose benefits this month.

The library budget was cut $430,000 in the council’s introduced budget, which prompted library officials to adopt the furlough program, reduction in service and hours and reduction of five full-time employees to part-time without benefits. The resolution adopted on Monday night would maintain benefits for those employees for another month and a half as negotiations begin.
The library was previously scheduled to shut down for one week at a time from August to November and two weeks in December.

"We need the union to be on board," Library Director Jane Fisher said in an interview after the meeting about how the union still has to approve being closed on Fridays.
Fisher said with the week-long furlough plan a total 30 days of furloughs were scheduled; but the Friday-only plan reduces the number of furlough days to 20. "It does still produce some cost savings," Fisher said.

The board also moved to maintain the current status of all RPL employees who were scheduled to lose their medical benefits until Sept. 15. Fisher said the resolution maintains the status quo while library officials negotiate with the RLA.

Hours will be reduced for four employees, which will make three employees go from full-time to part-time, and will lose their benefits because of the cuts. One who was slated to go part-time found another job before being moved to part-time status.
After about an hour and a half of closed, executive session, the Board of Trustees approved the three motions.

"They are what they are," said Fisher of the motions approved at the meeting.
Fisher said the union approached officials from RPL to begin negotiations over health benefits. She said the negotiations will cover all aspects of health benefit coverage, but could not comment further.

Fisher said library hours could change again, but it depends on if funding from the borough is restored. The furlough plan could also change if the council provides more funding to the library. The council has discussed cutting only $330,000. Agreements with different unions could give Rutherford the ability to give $100,000 back to the library, but that has not been finalized yet.
"We hope it will be more than that," Fisher said.

E-mail: andersonb@northjersey.com

Posted by tumulty at 9:34 AM | Comments (0)
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August 3, 2010

South Plainfield library idea draws cool reception

http://www.mycentraljersey.com

By JEFF GRANT • STAFF WRITER • August 2, 2010

SOUTH PLAINFIELD — A panel of Board of Education and Borough Council members is seeking a meeting Public Library representatives to discuss a proposal for relocating the crowded library from its present location about a mile away to the school district's administration building.

The Shared Services Committee met on June 30 to discuss the Roosevelt administration building site on Jackson Avenue, but made no recommendation, according to panelist and Councilman Ray Rusnak.

"We thought it was relatively centrally located, plenty of room, plenty of parking, already has an elevator; there's a lot of good things. It's just a matter of going into more detail to learn if it's a viable solution or not," Rusnak said.

The meeting came followed the borough Zoning Board of Adjustment's rejection May 27 of a use variance that would have enabled the library to move to an office park in a light industrial neighborhood on the south side of town, about 2 1/2 miles away from the present library on Plainfield Avenue next to the Municipal Building. That idea had met with some community opposition concerning the lack of sidewalks along Montrose Avenue, where the facility would have gone, and the distance from the high school and middle school.
Rusnak said an invitation is being sent to library board of trustees President Eric Aronowitz for Aronowitz and one other trustee to meet with the shared-services panel on Aug. 11, and that Aronowitz should receive it by Wednesday.

Aronowitz, meanwhile, said he hadn't seen the actual Jackson Avenue idea, but said the Roosevelt building might not be the best place.

"The building's a little old," he said. "It's clearly not wired for 21st-century technology capability. I think there may be an asbestos problem when you begin to knock down the walls. We really need a one-story facility because we're a small staff. That parking lot (outside Roosevelt) is very crowded. I don't know how many spaces would be dedicated. There are a lot of things to consider. It's two years older than the current building. You're probably talking about major, major expense rehabilitation. The funds we get are clearly marked for library purposes only. Would the trustees pay for renovations for parts of the building that would be used exclusively by the board of education?" Aronowitz continued.

Still, the library trustee head said he was heartened that officials were taking a more active interest in the issue.

The library has been seeking to relocate for nearly a decade. In a 2008 nonbinding public referendum, voters rejected the idea of building a new $4.5 million facility on the present site. However, turnout in that vote was less than 12 percent, prompting residents and some officials to question whether it accurately reflected the public's wishes.

Rusnak said the Roosevelt site also would offer easy access to a library and its resources by parents of those in the school district's Future Stars preschool program located next door.
Meanwhile, a special panel to be headed by Mayor Charles Butrico still is being formed to address the library matter. Aronowitz said he'd be inclined to meet that group, since he hadn't been approached earlier by the shared-services panel. But he didn't rule out a meeting with the shared-services group, either.

The mayoral panel also would consist of council members, library trustees and two public representatives.

Jeff Grant: 908-243-6612; jgrant@

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August 2, 2010

Rocky Hill Library is searching for public's help

nj.com

Published: Sunday, August 01, 2010,

ROCKY HILL - Battered by stock market turbulence and declining municipal contributions, the library that serves Rocky Hill and Montgomery is, for the first time, appealing for the public's help.

The appeal is needed because the Mary Jacobs Memorial Library Foundation, which opened the library in 1974 and operates the building, is afraid its endowment will sink to an unsupportably low level, foundation president Brenda Fallon said.

As a branch of the Somerset County library system, expenses for the library's staff and materials are funded by taxpayers. But unlike most other municipal libraries, it depends on the foundation to cover other expenses -- "all of the utilities, the lights, the air condition, the heating, the maintenance, the insurance, the landscaping, and any repairs to the building as well," branch director Cindy Mangel said.

The endowment was as high as $3 million a few years ago, Fallon said. The foundation spent about $1 million for a badly needed expansion in 2005, she said, and a subsequent drop in investments, plus spending on building expenses, reduced the current balance to less than $1 million.

Then, earlier this year, Montgomery Township cut its annual contribution in half, to $42,500.

"That was the situation that put us in an upcoming crisis," Fallon said.

Rocky Hill's contribution has remained at $10,000. Without help, the foundation will have to cover the balance of the $187,500 building and grounds budget, eroding the cushion it maintains for big expenses such as roof or parking lot repairs.

"The idea is to raise money for operating expenses, and to build up the endowment for future use," Fallon said. "As with any building, there will be large expenses coming up."

Fallon noted that more than 90 percent of the library's users are from Montgomery.

The Rocky Hill-based foundation built the library as a kind of thank-you to Montgomery during a time when the township was spending heavily to build the school district that serves both municipalities, she said.

Montgomery did agree to help pay for building maintenance, but the hard financial times that the township and the state are going through means library patrons must now shoulder more of the burden, at least for a little while, she said.

"This year we're just going to have to take more out of the endowment than we hoped, unless the users of the library help us," Fallon said. "This is going to be an ongoing appeal to the public, unless Montgomery can reinstate their full support."

The foundation has set up a website, SaveMaryJacobsLibrary.com, with information about the library and instructions on how to make a donation.

To reach the library, call (609) 924-7073 or visit http://www.somerset.lib.nj.us/maryjacobs.htm.

Contact Meir Rinde at mrinde@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.

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