Boston Public Library Budget Would Keep All 26 Branches Open

Library board OK’s $39.34m budget. (Boston Globe, 3/24/2011)

The Boston Public Library’s board of trustees approved a budget yesterday that would keep all 26 branches open, but shutter the central location in Copley Square on Sundays. Trustees voted 4 to 2 to accept the $39.34 million spending plan. It must still be approved by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the City Council. Changes could also come from the state, which funds the library and has not finalized its own budget. The spending plan would avert layoffs and keep doors open at four branches that had been slated to close last year, a proposal the Menino administration abandoned in the face of neighborhood opposition.

As stated above, Mayor Thomas Merino must still approve the library board's budget, and he has gone on record as saying, "I believe we have too many branches."

Stay tuned.

Related articles:
Library to host budget roundtables.  (1/14/2011)
Boston Mayor:  "I believe we have too many branches."  (1/11/2011)
$350,000 in State Funding Keeps 4 Boston Public Library Branches Open Thru June.  (1/5/2011)
Residents fight to keep 4 neighborhood branches open.  (10/26/2010)
Editorial takes library officials to task.  (9/11/2010)
BPL on the ropes.  (7/1/2010)
Four library branch closings delayed.  (6/22/2010)
Boston Magazine profiles Amy Ryan, Public Library President.  (6/5/2010)
State funding at risk.  (4/29/2010)
Library board votes to close 4 branches.  (4/10/2010)
Recommendation to close 4 branches (among other cuts).  (4/8/2010)
More than 100 gather to fight possible branch library closings.  (4/4/2010)
The Skinny on Boston's branch libraries.  (4/1/2010)
Library measures data published.  (3/31/2010)
Don't close the book on us. (3/29/2010)
Citywide Friends of BPL to Hold Demonstration.  (3/28/2010)
BPL Budget News Available at Website.  (3/25/2010)
A Small Branch Makes a Big Impact.  (3/24/2010)
Friends of Boston Public Library Host Read-in to Support Tax Increase. (3/14/2010)
Emotions Reach Boiling Point in Boston Public Library Discussion. (3/13/2010)
The Boston Public Library Dilemma, Continued. (3/12/2010)
Boston Speaks Up for Its Libraries. (3/10/2010)
Boston Public Library Branches to be Ranked in Consolidation Plan. (3/9/2010)
Boston Public Library Anticipating Budget Cuts in 2011. (3/2/2010)