Proposed Budget for Anchorage Library Means Layoffs, Service Cuts

14 positions could be lost; materials could be cut 12 percent

Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 10/28/2009

• Library system could lose 13.5 % of already lean staff
• Tech budget could be down more than 76%
• Support from local newspaper

Anchorage Public Library (APL), AK, like many others, faces budget cuts in the next fiscal year. Mayor Dan Sullivan’s proposed budget for APL would mean a loss of 14 positions (four of them currently vacant due to hiring freeze), as well as reduced hours, materials, and equipment purchases.

The staff loss represents a 13.5 percent reduction in staffing, APL director Karen Keller told LJ. Sullivan’s plan calls for a total reduction of 200 city jobs, according to the Juneau Empire. APL’s governing body, the Anchorage Assembly, must approve a budget by November 17.

APL’s budget was already cut midyear, so the proposed amount for FY10, which begins in January, represents a nine percent annual drop, from $8.1 million in January 2009, to $7.7 million in July, to $7.3 million January 2010.

(These figures exclude intergovernmental costs, over which APL has no control, or any services provided by another city department, such as facilities and landscaping maintenance, financial and communications services, insurance, and more. Costs jumped from $3.3 million January ’09 to $3.6 million in July and will decrease to $3.3 million in January ’10.)

Impact on services
APL would have to make other significant adjustments if the mayor’s budget is passed, said Keller. Two of four branches (one other is closed) would be reduced to four days/week, one reduced to three days/week, and one opening later two days/week.

The central library, the Z.J. Loussac Public Library, would remain open seven days/week but with some services curtailed. "We have already had to reduce telephone reference hours and access to our Alaska Collection library due to a hiring freeze that was instituted in July at the main library," explained Keller. The collection budget would be reduced by 12 percent.

The capital budget (primarily used for technology/computers), already cut in July, would be reduced by 76.2 percent in one year. Luckily, said Keller, most equipment had been updated within the past year or so. However, if the budget were not reinstated after "things improved," she said, then the library’s capital budget would be seriously compromised.

Community support/future plans
APL has the local media on its side. "The Assembly should take a close look at the mayor's proposal and make sure that share has the least effect on library services," the Anchorage Daily News editorialized. "And if prospects improve and first quarter budget revisions allow, let's restore what we can."

Anchorage citizens have an opportunity to address the Anchorage Assembly with their concerns. A public meeting is scheduled for November 3.

They also will have a chance to weigh in on the future of APL on November 10 at a town hall meeting held at the Loussac library. There they can learn more about APL’s Prospectus, an APL-commissioned report that compares APL to other like libraries. (Among the conclusions: APL needs more Internet computers, bandwidth, outlets, staff, materials, and training.)

They also can take an online survey, sign up to be notified about future meetings, and contribute thoughts about the future direction of APL.