Outside of a grid listing the hours of operation, the above screenshot is all you'll find on the library's webpage.
On the one hand, I greatly admire the way in which a group of volunteers stepped up to reopen their library, even though it's on a limited basis and with reduced services. On the other hand, I can imagine people who don't have an understanding of library operations or an appreciation of a library's value to its community saying, "Gee, the world didn't come to an end, did it?* We should have done this a long time ago."
[*A comment recently been made to me in reference to the elimination of maintenance of effort. "I'd say the jury's still out on that one," I replied., "depending on where you live."]
Central Falls Bankruptcy Crisis: Volunteer power. (Providence Journal, 8/17/2011)
Excerpt: Adams is chairman of the library trust and Shannahan is a former library director. They recruited a group of teenagers and senior citizens to staff the library on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to 5 p.m. Operating under its original name, the Adams Memorial Library, for now the trust’s $200,000 building endowment is being used to cover operating expenses. But Shannahan said that money cannot be used for salaries. Hence a volunteer staff.
“Welcome to YOUR library,” a banner festooned over the door announced, with a half-dozen pleas in two languages for volunteers taped to the doors.
On Monday, despite sometimes heavy rain, the library saw a steady stream of visitors, though off the 150 or so a day it has been averaging since the reopening.
[snip]
Besides eliminating the paid staff, the loss of city funding severed the library’s connection to the Ocean State Libraries network. When Flanders decided the city couldn’t afford its $13,000 bill for six months of OSL membership, the organization cut the library off .
It was like giving the library a massive case of amnesia, [my emphais] Shannahan said. The OSL [Ocean State Libraries] computer system was where the library kept the list of its card holders and the books in its collections. Without OSL access, Shannahan said, they don’t know who has a card or what books they have.
It would take more than money to rejoin OSL. Under the network’s rules, a city Central Falls’ size would need a full-time library director with a master’s degree, a full-time children’s program director and a part-time circulation manager. Without money from the city, Shannahan said, the slimmed-down, all-volunteer Adams Library doesn’t have a prayer of complying. The plan is to be local and independent for the foreseeable future, he said.
Related post:
Central Falls may reopen its library in the fall. (7/6/2011)
Central Falls Rhode Island closes its public library. (7/6/2011)
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