Council’s budget plan aims to avert cutbacks to DC library hours, book purchases
The DC Council is considering giving the city’s libraries a $4.2 million budget bump after officials warned the pandemic threatened library closures, reduced hours and fewer new books.
Council members will give an initial vote tomorrow (Tuesday, July 7) on Chairman Phil Mendelson’s budget recommendations, which include an extra $2.7 million to keep libraries open seven days a week and $1.5 million to keep buying new books.
DC Public Library (DCPL) leaders originally said the city’s proposed fiscal year 2021 library budget was nearly a million dollars short because of COVID-19 and the planned reopening this fall of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library after its three-year, $211 million renovation.
“Needless to say, this is not a testimony that I imagined I would ever prepare, certainly not just a few months short of delivering the city’s largest and most complex library project in 50 years,” said DCPL executive director Richard Reyes-Gavilan in his June testimony to the council.
The coronavirus pandemic deprived the city of roughly $1.5 billion in revenue in fiscal years 2020 and 2021, which DC Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed covering by dipping into reserve and federal relief funds and freezing employee pay and hiring. Her 2021 budget proposal allocated $67.9 million to public libraries — a small increase from DCPL’s current $67.3 million budget.
But Reyes-Gavilan said that boost wasn’t enough to cover the $912,000 budget gap caused by increased costs from staffing the MLK Library and complying with social distancing at all branch libraries.
Some DCPL branches reopened with restrictions last week, allowing no more than 50 people per 1,000 square feet and closing each branch for an hour a day for sanitizing. More branches are expected to reopen July 13 at reduced capacity.
But cleaning surfaces, enforcing mask-wearing and preparing for increased sick days means staffing is stretched thin. “To ensure that we have staff coverage at our locations, an option being considered is the elimination of 12-hour service days in favor of eight-hour service days,” DCPL spokesperson George Williams told The DC Line in a June 16 email.
The library was also planning to close all branches on Sundays and eliminate four full-time job vacancies to ensure staff coverage and bridge the budget shortfall. Williams added that some branches might close if their buildings made social distancing too difficult.
The budget bill shared by Chairman Mendelson Monday night allocates $2.7 million “to restore library hours” as part of the DCPL’s “mission of providing environments that invite reading, learning, and community discussion.”
The bill also includes $1 million in fiscal year 2021 capital funds “for library general improvements that may be required to comply with social distancing guidelines.”
Paper cuts
Reyes-Gavilan originally warned that the proposed DCPL budget would cut $450,000 from the $5 million collection budget for new books. Williams said this would add to the “strain” libraries are already under to provide enough digital books to patrons while publishers continue their expensive licensing chokehold over e-books.
The $1.5 million collection budget bump proposal up for a vote tomorrow would more than cover the gap, which had presented a particular problem considering how popular e-books became during the pandemic.
“Since closure on March 16, there have been 341,721 OverDrive checkouts (the Library’s e-book vendor), which is 39.74% higher than last year,” Williams told The DC Line.
The nearly half-million-dollar reduction would equate to around 18,000 fewer books purchased, according to Reyes-Gavilan.
The council’s Education Committee, which oversees DCPL, wrestled with how to address the budget shortfall during its June 25 committee markup.
“We are going to be relying so heavily on access to our digital material, in particular at the library,” said Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen. “I certainly hope we can continue working with the full council to find additional resources that are needed there for collections.”
Future votes and book lockers
If members do not approve the budget increases, patrons could begin to see cuts to collections and operating hours in October, DCist reported.
Mendelson’s proposal exceeds the $1.1 million urged by the Ward 3 Democratic Committee in its written testimony submitted last month.
“The District of Columbia is arguably the most important city in the United States. It is the center of government and a hub of higher education,” wrote Mary Alice Levine, Ward 3 Dems second vice chair. “Yet some of DC’s students and some of its schools need much more support than they get.
“It is important to have library resources at hand in one’s own neighborhood,” Levine added. “DC should not be reducing educational resources.”
At-large Council member David Grosso, who chairs the Education Committee, acknowledged the important role libraries play in communities across the District in a June email to The DC Line. But he cautioned that COVID-19 “makes a return to normal library operations uncertain.”
In a June 3 meeting, DCPL Board of Trustees members said they took “great pride” in staying open seven days a week after the DCPL budget bounced back from the Great Recession seven years ago, and lamented the prospect of reducing hours again. Members discussed boosting library branches’ Wi-Fi signals to reach parking lots and installing book lockers to help serve patrons after hours.
DCPL staff haven’t studied either option yet, spokesperson Williams said.
The DCPL Board of Trustees will present more details on the 2021 budget during their July 22 meeting.
Very informative, thank you!
Libraries are such a crucial resource during the pandemic. Since socializing during covid is dangerous., libraries have to take up the slack.