Library Supporters Testify Against Budget Cuts at Council Hearing

The Silver Spring Library will lose nearly a third of its staff, close the information desk, and see its available collection and services greatly reduced if proposed budget cuts for fiscal year 2012 are approved, library supporters warn.

Speakers representing four library groups testified before the Montgomery County council Wednesday evening, the third of five public hearings on the proposed county budget. A large group of library supporters stood out in the overflowing crowd, wearing bright orange shirts reading "Libraries Matter, No More Cuts."

"We're asking for a zero percent cut this year," said Kathlin Smith, Silver Spring Library Advisory Committee Chair, who testified before the council. 

The total recommended fiscal year decreases funding 9.7 percent from fiscal year 2011. 

Smith said "down county" libraries, including Silver Spring, would be hit hard by the proposed cuts. "We are going to see a significant decline in library services. These types of cuts would have real consequences," she added.

Under the proposed plan, four Montgomery county library branches, Chevy Chase, Twinbrook, Long Branch and Silver Spring will be designated as "neighborhood" libraries. Smith says the reclassification means additional loss of staff, a "virtual" reference desk replacing the current information desk, and a "narrower" collection. 

The cuts will be especially difficult for the Silver Spring Library, whose circulation and foot traffic put it on par with much larger libraries, said Smith. "Silver Spring is fifth in the county for issuing new library cards." The library's staff would also be reduced, from eight to five full-time employees.

Smith reminded the council that this would be the third year of cuts, which total a 40 percent budget reduction if approved.

"If you cut 40 percent, you can't do it without feeling it...it will hurt service, in the fastest growing area of the county. People depend on the library," she added.

Becky Reeve, Membership Chair of the Silver Spring Chapter of Friends of the Library, said library staff is already stretched. 

"They're down to keep-the-doors-open level. People think the library staff just checks out books. We have a multi-ethnic population [in Silver Spring], there is a need for help all the time, people need help applying to jobs, kids need help doing research for school," said Reeve.

Reeve added there are safety concerns as well. Due to the building's age (the library was built in 1957), she said the staff has to check the building regularly. 

"The building's in bad shape--there are leaks in the roof, leaks in children's book's area. We're worried about condition of building and if it will be serviceable till the new one opens," she said. 

.  Smith said the coming new facility is "being offered as an explanation as to why Silver Spring is getting a low-use (neighborhood) classification." 

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) submitted the $4.35 billion overall county spending plan for fiscal 2012 on March 15. The council is scheduled to approve a final county budget in May, with or without recommendations for changes. The approved budget will go into effect July 1.

The last of six public hearings on the county's fiscal year 2012 operating budget will be held on Thursday, April 7, at 1:30 and 7 p.m., at the County Council building in Rockville.