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All Free Library of Philadelphia branches are closed two days a week as standard operating procedure since the City’s budget took a hit, but one local outlet has been shuttered a third, prompting many to wonder why, as well as to fuel resident concerns that more branches may follow.
Since Dec. 7, the Fumo Family Branch, 2437 S. Broad St., has been dark Thursdays in addition to Saturdays and Sundays because of a shortage of security guards in the Free Library system, Sandy Horrocks, Free Library Vice President of Communications and Development, said. Regulations instituted in February require branches to have four staffers, including one security guard, at all times.
“Every branch has to have a guard in order to open. The guard is not only security, but custodial. In order to have clean and safe libraries, we have to have guards,” Horrocks said.
The good news is the Thursday closures are short-term, as more guards are being hired, she said.
“We’re waiting for more guards. This is absolutely 100-percent temporary,” she said of the closure, while adding eight guards — which the system as a whole is down — are expected to be hired and in place early in the new year.
The shortage of guards stems from the City’s budget crisis that came to light in 2008 when Mayor Michael Nutter went public Nov. 6 with his plan to close 11 branches citywide. As a result of the cuts, 115 positions were slashed from the system, everything from librarians to guards.
“We’re very short-staffed, but trying hard to keep everything open as best we can,” Horrocks said.
Of the 11 libraries on Nutter’s hit list, two were local: Fumo and Queen Memorial, 1201 S. 23rd St. The closures were deemed necessary to combat the budget crisis to the tune of $108 million for the 2009 fiscal year. Public outcry from residents and elected officials prevented the shutterings, but not without a price by way of reduced hours, program cuts and emergency closings.
“[Libraries] took this $10 million cut and we’re doing the best we can with the resources that we have,” Horrocks said of the City’s budget adjustment. “Getting 10 percent of our budget cut was huge. Nobody wants to close libraries. It’s not our intention to close anything. We want to be open. That’s what we do. We’re not trying to be hurtful.”
Not having enough bodies to go around has meant emergency closings all over the city this past year. These random, unannounced shutdowns will continue as needed into the new year, per library officials, and that worries Kim Massare, a resident of 10th and Wolf streets.
“I understand that the budget is causing these problems. In these tough economic times, citizens need their libraries more than ever. They are coming to the library more than ever to utilize career service programs. And yet in these tough economic times, the libraries are forced to close,” Massare, president of the Lower Moyamensing Civic Association, said.
To find the most suitable way to reach the largest number of citizens, the system’s staff devised a five-day week and paired branches so people could use an alternative location when their closest branch was closed. Of the six local sites, three are open Mondays through Fridays, while three are open Tuesdays to Saturdays. Fumo is coupled with Thomas F. Donatucci, 1935 Shunk St., while Whitman, 200 Snyder Ave., is paired with Charles Santore, 932 S. Seventh St., and Queen Memorial is grouped with the South Philadelphia Branch, 1700 S. Broad. The pairings allow each branch to provide six-day service. Staffing was the starting point in determining the schedule that launched Oct. 5.
Of the six local branches, Fumo is the only one closed an extra day because of no guard. Horrocks said the branch was not singled out, but was at a loss to explain why that site took a hit.
“It’s not that any particular branch is being picked on,” she said.
Other affected locations forced to operate on the four-day schedule are Cecil B. Moore and Lillian Marrero, both in North Philly, and McPherson Square near Kensington.
“It just seems a little strange to me that, out of all the libraries in South Philly, this one is closed,” longtime Fumo Branch user Loretta Lombardi, from the 1500 block of Porter Street, said.
Massere agrees: “Why is it our branch that is having to go without? I don’t understand it.”
A retired elementary- and middle-school teacher of 42 years in Philadelphia and New Jersey, Lombardi knows the importance of libraries, especially to students.
“It’s something they need as part of their educational tool,” she said.
Lombardi frequents the branch a couple of times a week for business and pleasure. A macrobiotics counselor the last couple of years, she does online research at the facility.
“I find it really convenient,” she said of the location. “The librarians are very helpful in finding information. I have always used the library. It’s just a nice leisurely place to go and relax and read. As a taxpayer, I would like to see one great benefit continue for the community.
“It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity.”
