Libraries in the News

The cost to repair the Louisville (Ky.) Free Public Library from August’s flash flooding has surpassed $7 million, with full use of the building not expected until late spring, Director Craig Buthod said. The amount is $2 million more than previously estimated. Three of five new boilers on order were installed last week, and on November 9 a large crane set a new chiller in place. The boilers are providing “the first heat we have been able to generate” since the flood, Buthod said. Read more…

Declining property tax revenue has prompted the Sonoma County (Calif.) Library to schedule a 10-day shutdown over the holidays to help achieve a $1.7 million budget cut. All 13 libraries will be closed from December 24 to January 4, with more than 200 library workers and managers furloughed for that period, Library Director Sandy Cooper said. The website and online services will shut down as well. Read more…

The New York Public Library, with its landmark headquarters at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, is a marvel of big numbers. It is undergoing a $1.2-billion makeover in preparation for its 100th birthday. Built from 1899 to 1911, it cost $9 million, contains 530,000 cubic feet of white Vermont marble and 125 miles of shelving, and opened with an inventory of one million items. Here are some little-known highlights of this fabled institution. (A pair of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s slippers, anyone?). Read more…

If the Anchorage, Alaska, city council approves the $7.4-million budget for next year that Mayor Dan Sullivan has proposed, the libraries will have lost 13% of their city funding in just two years. Loussac Public Library Director Karen Keller said she’ll likely be cutting the hours of the smaller branches to reduce costs. A group of about 80 people gathered at the Loussac Library November 10 for a town hall meeting to offer up ideas on how to change that. Read more…

About 200 library staff and trustees from across Massachusetts gathered outside the Statehouse in Boston November 4. Holding signs and chanting, “Don’t close the books on our libraries,” the librarians hoped their demonstration will help stave off further budget cuts to the state library system next year. Last week, Gov. Deval Patrick cut nearly $800,000 from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners budget, and more cuts are planned. A simultaneous rally was held in Bridgewater. Read more…

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