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All Dorothy Perrine’s 11-year-old niece Sherron, with a ninth grade reading level, wanted for Christmas was books. A lifelong library devotee who passed her thirst for knowledge onto her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, all of who frequent the Queen Memorial Branch, 1201 S. 23rd St. Perrine of 19th and Federal streets was all too willing to oblige.
"She just loves to read and use the computer," the child’s aunt said.
For the next five months at least, kids like Sherron will still be able to utilize the many services offered at Queen Memorial and Fumo Family Branch, 2437 S. Broad St. — both were slated to close Jan. 5 as casualties of Mayor Michael Nutter’s budget tightening for the fiscal year 2009. But a dramatic Jan. 28 turnaround has Perrine and others rejoicing: Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity Don Schwartz announced the Nutter administration would keep all 11 libraries open through June 30. This follows a Jan. 30 decision by Judge Idee Fox who refused the City’s request to rescind her earlier judgement to keep the libraries open, stating the closure of any city buildings must meet with City Council approval by the mayor. The Nutter administration is appealing Fox’s ruling in appellate court but no decision had been reached by press time.
"It certainly is something that the library and city administrations agreed upon," Free Library of Philadelphia spokeswoman Sandy Horrocks told the Review. "The hearing is not until Feb. 25 and there is a possibility we may not hear until a month or two later before any decision is forthcoming from the court because the appellate court can take as long as it wants to reach a decision. So instead of changing hours when we get the results of the appeal, we wanted to be consistent for our customers who use the library through the fiscal year. And so we are keeping everything open through June 30."
This is music to the ears of Perrine and Fumo Branch patron Samar Barouki and her daughters Tamar and Sarah from 15th and Ritner streets.
"I think that’s a good idea. He’s [Nutter] looking at a one-term session otherwise. Who would vote for him again if your kid could not go into a library and learn?" Perrine said.
Less concerned with politics and more interested in what the library system has done for her 10-year-old Tamar and 6-year-old Sarah, Barouki, from Venezuela, said her oldest has been attending the after-school program LEAP, which stands for Learning Education and Play, at Fumo since she was 6. The program has helped Tamar with reading, math and English, since the latter is not Barouki’s first language. With Barouki not being able to afford a private tutor, closing the Fumo branch would impact her daughter’s learning.
"It’s a big problem for me. My daughter needs help with her homework," she said.
Tamar added, "I love the library. It’s really fun and helpful. I know almost everyone [staffers] here and they are all very nice people. It’s really special to me and it’s part of my family."
Hakima Achouri from Algeria, 5-year-old daughter Hind and 3-year-old son Zakaria also utilize the Fumo branch for reading and computer.
"I like this library because there are many things to learn here. There are many books. I hope they keep it open all year — forever," the resident from Eighth and Porter said.
Keeping the libraries open has not come without a price, Horrocks explained, adding library services across the city have been trimmed so the 11 can stay open. Emergency closures on a daily basis and late openings have been taking place throughout the city because there’s just not enough staff to go around with 111 employees having been laid off with anticipation of the 11 closing, she said. The spokeswoman said she did not have the records accessible to cite specific emergency closures or late openings in South Philly. Supervisors at each branch make the decision to close or open late depending on their staffing needs, taking into account employees who maybe called out that day.
"They have to make the determination when they open whether they have enough staff. It’s based on staff," Horrocks said.
To compensate the 11 that were supposed to be shut down by now, employees have been pulled from mainly the central branch and regionals: Northeast Regional, Northwest Regional and West regional.
"We are being very unstaffed everywhere. We are not giving good library service to anybody because we’re forced to pull staff to open doors," Horrocks said.
The court ruling after the Feb. 25 hearing date will determine the final fate of the branches but one thing is certain as of now.
"We will not be keeping facilities open six days a week in a couple of weeks. We can’t keep this [emergency closures and late openings] up. We will go down to between three and five days," the spokeswoman said, adding no date has been determined for the decision.
In Perrine’s opinion, children and seniors are the ones who will suffer the most from any cutbacks, temporary or permanent. Echoing the concerns of many citizens who attended a series of Town Hall Budget meetings held by Nutter in January, the lifelong Point Breeze resident feels the mayor has other options besides shuttering libraries in the parts of town that need them most.
"There are people in city government who don’t do their jobs who can be cut in these big positions to save a kid’s future," Perrine said. On any given afternoon, Perrine thinks Queen Memorial has a good 100 kids in there after school. "I don’t think those kids would be able to go anywhere else for education and reading programs. You cannot expect young children, 10, 11 years old to travel across town to get to a library. "It’s a safety thing. You don’t want your kids out there on the street, especially when it’s dark out at 6 o’clock. It’s bad enough as an adult being out there," she said.
