American LibrariesSearch American Libraries  |
||
Site Navigation
Left Sidebar ItemsOnline Features
|
||
Cedar Rapids Slashes Library Budget by 8%The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, city council passed a budget March 7 that cut $367,000 from the library’s budget—an 8% reduction.Director Lori Barkema said the library would likely address the cut by eliminating Sunday hours, closing the West Side branch, buying fewer materials, or a combination of those measures. “We’re just trying to piece together enough areas” to meet the new budget, she told American Libraries. Barkema explained that residents recently voted to change Cedar Rapids’s form of government—it’s now run by a city manager rather than five commissioners overseeing individual areas—and the switch revealed major fiscal deficiencies. “What we’re seeing is fallout from the previous system,” she said. “They didn’t know how badly the city was run.” She stressed that “Every department of the city is going to see budget cuts,” noting, “I do think the library is taking a larger share of the cut.” The budget cuts to the library and other city departments are the first step in getting the city in fiscal order, Barkema observed. “This is a process of educating the community and the city manager and the city council,” she said. Barkema said she was gratified by the community support demonstrated at the council meeting: Some 15 people spoke in opposition to the cuts—not only representatives from the board of trustees, Friends group, and foundation but also patrons that she didn’t know were in the audience. “We didn’t realize we were having this effect on people,” Barkema said, adding, “Sometimes you have to go through this for people not to take you for granted.” Posted March 9, 2007. |
Right Sidebar
|
|
