From Friends of The Seattle Public Library:
As you may know, your neighborhood branch Library’s hours at Columbia, Beacon Hill and New Holly will drastically change if the Mayor’s proposed 2010 budget passes.
The proposed budget eliminates 17,160 public service hours per year and would impact your neighborhood branches directly with the closure of the Columbia, Beacon Hill and New Holly neighborhood branches on Friday and Sunday plus a reduction in hours – all year round. Columbia, Beacon Hill and New Holly neighborhood branches would be open after six only twice a week.
Among many other services, hour changes will impact story times, night classes, community meeting room availability and homework help programs. Your neighborhood’s access to The Library’s free public computers and free Wi-Fi will be another lost resource that many community members without a computer or internet access depend on.
The good news is that Councilmembers Burgess, Harrell and Licata are committed to preserving the hours of operations at all neighborhood branches of The Seattle Public Library.
On November 2nd Seattle City Councimembers began discussing four options to partially restore the 5% reduction in the endorsed library budget. None of the options will prevent another one week furlough in 2010, but the best choice, Option A, does preserve Library hours in your neighborhood branch at their current level and prevents the loss of 27 library staff positions.
The Friends have launched a final email campaign targeted at Councilmembers Clark, Conlin, Drago, Godden and Rasmussen to urge them to join Councilmembers Burgess, Harrell and Licata in preserving our present neighborhood Library hours. More info.
Under the Mayor’s proposed 2010 budget, Columbia, Beacon Hill and New Holly Libraries would be open after 6 pm only twice a week. Photo/do communications, inc.
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i wrote my letter thanks
Thank you so much Rainier Valley Post for getting the word out to your neighbors using the Columbia, Beacon Hill and New Holly branches.
Thanks to all Rainer Valley Post readers who send an email.
Best wishes,
Jennifer Johnson-Fong
Vice President, Friends of The Seattle Public Library
Blog: http://friendsofspl.wordpress.com
Web: http://www.friendsofspl.org
Facebook: http://www.causes.com/friendsoftheseattlepubliclibrary
I am so glad we passed that huge library levy so we could remodel all of our libraries and then reduce the hours.
So they’re only reducing services at southend branches? Hmmm…
No they are reducing hours at all but 5 branches scattered all over the city. Read about it here. http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=about_history
And Laurel p there is a serious difference between capital budgets and operating budgets.
No, it’s not just southend branches affected by the proposed hour reduction. Almost all of the branches are on the list for cuts.
thanks Heather – maybe we should pass levies that adequately fund both – why have a supersized capital budget and then an operating budget that is not sufficient to maintain the new facilities funded by the capital budget? Maybe the levy should have been for both?
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