What library?

I do believe the $3  to be true but if you are unsure about your facts you should check with the employees to get your facts straight.  

As for being safe for the most part it is because it is above street level.  Everytime I have been there I have felt safe and welcome the staff are awsome.  As for unsafe places Homewood and the Hill are unsafe as well should that be the criteria for closing branches?  If so close them too.... look at the crime reports Sq Hill has its share of crime as well and and Oakland... there have been a lot of muggings in that area perhaps we should just shut down the whole system if you are concerned about the safety of the staff then they could just go on unemployment....

As I said before Hazelwood needs it's library warts and all!

 The shutting of libraries is a disgrace.  Education and libraries should be the highest priorities for our city, region and the country.  If we can keep the Penguins, Steelers, and Pirates we should be able to find a way to save our libraries.

Oh, quite the contrary. I live in the inner city. My mother was a librarian who raised six kids on her own. I'm so tired of the nastiness and finger pointing. The librarians are some of the smartest, hard working people I know, not to mention underpaid for the many roles they are asked to perform.

I understand your frustration, and it's too bad they've had to blend out of necessity. Maybe you can expand on exactly how CLP has mismanaged funds. I'm just not seeing the evidence of that.

I suggest you write a letter to the Mayor.

Then I am even more shocked that you live in the inner city and still support the rich fat cats raping us.  Your mother should be commended...raising 6 kids having any sort of occupation is wonderful.  Library science is almost a lost science, and I am proud that my daughter has chosen that as a minor in college.  I have financial documents that prove CLP mismanagement, and not only have I written to the mayor, I've written to city council, county council and our state reps....long before this became the hotbed of the issue it is right now.

My father was a union carpenter, and he taught us the value of banding together.  But he also was a philosopher, and taught us that "Against power, truth is not enough."

eartotheground:

By the way, before I leave. I am not in favor of layoffs or reduced salaries, just common sense.  Closing these branches could conceivably SAVE library jobs

 I'm sure that the 30 people slated to lose their jobs after the branch closings will find your contention that it is prudent to close libraries but somehow not to layoff staff or reduce salaries very comforting.  (And quite possibly, very confusing.)  These are the very staff who volunteered for salary cuts via furloughs (see Seattle Public Library) to save the neighborhood branches. 

lucille:

I suggest you write a letter to the Mayor.

What should the letter say, exactly?  He's  made it fairly clear in recent days that he has no intention of helping the libraries financially.  Maybe if they disguised themselves as campaign slogan displaying trash cans they'd get his attention?

 Well written arguments and points, but very flawed logic and mis-information.

1.  CLP is no where near the size and breadth of NY Public, Boston or even Cleveland.  Part of the problem is that many of our comparable "benchmark" libraries are parts of consolidated or regional systems incorporating urban and suburban libraries.  No argument that CLP's Director should be making in the 100K range, but should the entire "real" management team be almost equally high paied non-librarians while the rank and file are grossly underpaid by local and national standards?  Except for the Deputy Director, none of the decision making players are librarians.  Why is the IT Director (who sadly isn't very competent) and the HR Director, the Facilities Mgr., and the PR Director making library policy decisions.  Why has the library's administrative functions grown oveer the past 10 years while the service staff has been reduced by 25% in the same time frame?

2.  No argument there, but the message was never given the weight the situation required, it was always subdued.  The library failed to think of creative staffing steps to maintain branches, or to bring the city on board earlier.

3.  Agreed.

4.  Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is the Regional District Library Center, there is no other library service center here.  Those functions paid for out of district monies are completed by Carnegie Library of Pgh. employees; ILL, shipping, the vans and their fuel, the labor used to sort materials, and even some of the unique reference materials bought by the Carnegie as the District Resource Center.  It also includes the monies used for County wide databases; Carnegie is the pass-through.

Maybe the Carnegie hasn't been mismanaged, but it certainky hasn't been well managed or efficiently run.  Its line staff including librarians and branch managers are underpaid, while its executive functions are overpaid and overstaffed.  The Carnegie doesn't commit as many dollars as it can or should to direct library services.  Perhaps with an audit, should be a recall of the library's director and board.

 Well, as I said yesterday.

1. Closing these libraries is the right fiscal thing to do (regardless of salaries, mismanagement or whatever else the library as done wrong to this point)

2, They WILL close, and JOBS will be saved down the line. If you are fiscally unhealthy, you have to toss some ballast and gain some altitude.

3. It is no different than the US government closing branch post offices in many of the same communities around Pittsburgh. It doesn’t mean no one uses that PO, just that it has come to a point that continuing to operate it LOSES MONEY.  It was suggested that I refrain from making comparisons between the public and private sector, but it is the SAME MONEY. Both are using the same US currency.

4. Although I have said repeatedly that I emphasize with those affected, only insults are hurled back in their frustration. Can't you possibly understand that your wanting to hold on to these branches affects all the rest of the City residents and the overall health of CLP? Or, is it just about you? Maybe some of the larger thriving branches should close so you can have what YOU want? Can you spell S E L F _ _ H  if I spot you some letters?

Now, setting aside the debate on the branches for a moment, what really intrigues me reading these posts are the numerous comments about this IT director. Since I have not worked for the Carnegie in some years, would someone like to elaborate on this a little more? It seems the consensus is not in favor of him, I just wonder why so many people feel so strongly about one individual.

Well, I can't speak to the competency of certain individuals, but I do take exception with point 2. I read the papers, I follow the news, and I watch city council hearings--one would have had to be living in a cave not to know this was coming. So to say the city needed to be brought on board earlier, doesn't ring true to me.

eartotheground:

 

 4. Although I have said repeatedly that I emphasize with those affected, only insults are hurled back in their frustration. Can't you possibly understand that your wanting to hold on to these branches affects all the rest of the City residents and the overall health of CLP? Or, is it just about you? Maybe some of the larger thriving branches should close so you can have what YOU want? Can you spell S E L F _ _ H  if I spot you some letters?  

 

Thanks for the spot on the letters.  I think I can take it from here.  If I could spell it out, it would say, "Hey, Hazelwod residents.  Would you please just shut up so that Squirrel Hill will get healthier?"

Additionally, you say that you haven't worked for CLP for some years.  I work there now.  Trust me, please, when I tell you that holding onto these branches, which are busier now than they have ever been, does not affect the overall health of the CLP system financially and will weaken it as a service organization.  The overall budget for the system is over $21 million dollars.  These branches cost less than $300,000 each to run.  Public library service is incredibly cheap--and is held cheaply by elected officials.  These branches do not need to close, either from a fiscal or service standpoint.  That is not speculation.  And, they will not close if the elected officials quit their posturing and get their priorites straight.

For Mark A.:

1. CLP is much closer in size to the large library systems than to your "average" library.  Apparently that was not clear in my earlier post.  If you look at salaries being paid to library directors, the $70-80k ones are not for heads of library systems.  They are for individual libraries.  Large ones, but still individual ones.  If your complaint is that none of the people in administration making the big money is a librarian, I'm certainly not going to disagree with you there.  I feel that library administration is overpaid and library staff is underpaid at many libraries.

....

4.  I'm aware that CLP staff perform the duties of the District Library, but the actual duties and their costs are funded for the county, not for CLP.  Also, the monies used for the county-wide databases come from several different pots; a lot comes from the state through the District library, some from other funding sources, and the money arrives at different points in the year.  When I was referring to people losing databases earlier, I was referring to the 57% cut in funding that POWER Library will be taking in the state budget, although the county database fund will also be taking a hit.  (Please make sure to tell your local librarian what databases you find most helpful, and make sure he or she lets her EREC representative know.)

So overall, there are two issues people seem to be discussing here.  One is the actual funding of libraries and the state budget cuts, which if people are interested, the expected changes can be found here: http://pala.affiniscape.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=239

Regardless of what library they use, people might want to note that cutting things like interlibrary delivery funding and state-wide electronic databases (that would be fancy librarian talk for Internet access we pay for to Magazine and Periodical articles) by more than 50% is probably going to hurt.

My comments are pretty much along the line that when you take as much of a cut in state funding as public libraries are, there are consequences.  Whether or not folks agree with where the cutting comes, people need to at least realize that it needs to come from somewhere and not blame the libraries for the situation.

The second issue is the management of CLP, which I really can't answer to at all.  I'll leave that up to other people.

Again, as I have stated in prior posts, you all seem to be missing the main freaking point- THEY ARE CLOSING LIBRARIES! In case you don't realize it, that is a BAD THING. I don't care about politics and budgets and all that other crap, although I do know that they are essential to run a library. HOWEVER, indirectly our city is asking for help, and as its' residents, we should step up to our task, not bicker about what people do at libraries or what organizations do what. Who cares? I can guarantee you that the patrons of the soon to be closed libraries do NOT.

 Warsaw,

You are correct that most foundations prefer to give for special projects rather than operating costs.  However, they have been known to make exceptions to this when they really want to get behind something.

blckngldbun11:

Again, as I have stated in prior posts, you all seem to be missing the main freaking point- THEY ARE CLOSING LIBRARIES! In case you don't realize it, that is a BAD THING. I don't care about politics and budgets and all that other crap, although I do know that they are essential to run a library. HOWEVER, indirectly our city is asking for help, and as its' residents, we should step up to our task, not bicker about what people do at libraries or what organizations do what. Who cares? I can guarantee you that the patrons of the soon to be closed libraries do NOT.

So the patrons don't care about the budgets, and the budgets are essential to run the libraries.  Without the budget to run the library, you have to cut library staff, materials, and services.  That can include branches.  Do you see the problem here?  You're getting involved too late in the process.

Kim S.:

 Warsaw,

You are correct that most foundations prefer to give for special projects rather than operating costs.  However, they have been known to make exceptions to this when they really want to get behind something.

I agree. I didn't say that, someone else did.