FEATURES –July/August 2009

All Booked Up

The recession has people flocking to libraries, but local cities are being forced to cut their budgets. Will there be a happy ending?

By Kristen De Deyn Kirk

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Hampton Library Director Robert "Robin" Carpenter can't escape what's going on around him. Just outside his office in Hampton's main library, workers are painting walls, removing carpet and rearranging furniture. The building is a bit noisy and messy, so Carpenter closes his door when he wants to talk.

He hasn't allowed the controlled chaos to stand in his way. He gets his work done, and so do the patrons around him. While the much-needed renovation (after a 22-year lapse in updating the constructed-in-1987 building) could have scared visitors away, it hasn't. In fact, Carpenter estimates he's seen at least a five percent increase in door traffic over the last year. Folks aren't necessarily visiting to see the library's new look: They're much more interested in getting help with job searching and saving money.

"Hampton isn't a wealthy community," Carpenter says. "Some people don't have a computer at home. If they've been laid off and can't use a computer at work anymore, they come here. We're bridging the digital divide."

The library director sees people writing resumes and going online to apply for jobs. "Some employers no longer accept paper applications and resumes," Carpenter notes.

"I know even our own city has you apply for everything online now."

The Hampton Library director started seeing an increase in visitors about a year ago, as the word "recession" popped up more and more on the news. The number of visitors per month is about 50,000 between the main library and the three branches, a significant number considering Hampton's population is only 140,000.

Librarians who used to be microfiche masters are now also web wizards. "They can still help someone doing a research paper about MacBeth," says Carpenter. "And they can show them how to work (Microsoft) Office, get online and apply for that job."

Jim Rettig, the outgoing American Library Association (ALA) president and current University of Richmond librarian, says patrons have always flocked to libraries during recessions. What makes the phenomenon different this time is the Internet.

"In 73 percent of cities, the only place to get online for free is the library," he shares. "Sometimes, librarians are teaching skills as basic as how to use a mouse."

Rettig jokes that the newest round of "Library Love" is all he's been talking about with reporters since last August. That, and the fact that many city and state governments also love libraries, but they can't currently afford to lavish their heart's desire withmoney. Instead, they take away things they've gladly given in the past.

A mystery: Will there be enough money?

ALA's Office for Library Advocacy found some bad news when looking at national funding trends.

"At the state-funding level, the outlook was downright gloomy," writes ALA Public Information Officer Jennifer Petersen in a press release.

She noted that 40 percent of states faced declining state funding for public libraries in fiscal year 2009, and 20 percent of those states believed more cuts were on the way. And the Southeast has been the hardest hit.

Hampton Roads' libraries were in the middle of the budget approval process as this issue of Hampton Roads Magazine went to press, and while the final chapter hadn't been proofed, the ending didn't look to be a happy one. Norfolk Director of Libraries Norman Maas expected his budget to drop by $145,103 to $8,543,597—a 17 percent decrease.

Last fiscal year, he had eight full-time and 52 parttime positions vacant. The timing of a hiring freeze couldn't have been worse.

Patronage at Norfolk's 12 libraries has been steadily increasing.

In fiscal year 2004 (July 2003 through June 2004), 822,850 people visited a Norfolk library. For this past fiscal year, the library expected to welcome about 1 million visitors. That number would probably have been even higher if the main library's book collection had been available from December to March, when it was being relocated.

Computers and the World Wide Web drove the increase. In fiscal year 2007, public computer usage totaled 208,535 hours at the Norfolk libraries. For this past fiscal year ending in July 2009, officials expected the final number to jump to 460,000 hours. Good thing that the Norfolk libraries increased public computers from 214 to 387 during the last two years.

Four years ago, library officials conducted focus groups and asked what people wanted from the library. You've already guessed the answer, right? What officials didn't guess at the time was that more people coming into the library for computers would also mean more people borrowing materials.

Call it impulse borrowing.

"Our circulation jumped 30 to 40 percent," says Maas.

The other day he watched a woman carry out 16 books from a branch location.

"She told me she needed me to keep on buying books," says Maas. "I told her I was well aware of that."

Fortunately, the director experienced only a small materials budget cut last year. It totaled about $8,000, less

than 1 percent of the overall materials budget.

Unfortunately, the barely noticeable cut was possible only because deep cuts were made elsewhere.

"We have job openings at every level and every branch," says Maas.

Those who remain on staff have their hands full. Maas believes they keep their spirits up despite feeling some stress, knowing that their abilities to guide a patron to a job-hunting book or an employer's web site is much appreciated. They can also be grateful for the fact that the city didn't layoff employees. (Maas notes that city employees did, however, take a 1 percent pay cut.) And soon, Maas thinks he can begin filling many of those open positions. If the budget he last saw was approved, most of the positions that were open would be refunded. The bad news, though: Some city positions were "permanently frozen." Maas doesn't want to say it; he refuses to whine. But that translates to "eliminated." He'll lose three full-time positions that were vacant: Two children specialists and a staffer to work the Treasure Truck, which gave away free books to children.

"Revenues are lower for the city because of lower taxes due to lower home values, so things get cut. We'll park the truck for now," says Maas. "They can still get books at the library, and we've kept the hours in our library branches so that we stay open. That's the most important thing: To be open. I think we've prioritized right."

For the rest of All Booked Up, pickup our July/August 2009 issue wherever magazines are sold.

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