Providence Board Cedes Control of Branches to City

Providence Board Cedes Control of Branches to City

The nonprofit entity that has run the library system in Providence, Rhode Island, for the last century voted April 23 to transfer control of the city’s nine branch libraries to the city. The nonprofit organization, Providence Public Library, will retain control of the downtown Central Library for now, but Mayor David M. Cicilline is likely to give a newly formed nonprofit group, Providence Community Library, control of the nine branches.

PPL Board Chairman William Simmons applauded the decision, saying in an April 23 statement that it “establishes the necessary relationship between Providence Library patrons and their elected officials responsible for funding the library services.” The board stipulated that the transition would be complete by the beginning of FY2010 on July 1.

Providence Community Library, which announced its interest in taking over the branches in January, has played a role in the discussions throughout the process. PCL stands ready to acquire control of the nine branches, with a vision to “incorporate the community,” PCL President Marcus Mitchell told American Libraries. Mitchell cited contentious relationships with the city administration, council members, and the community as a cause for PPL’s decline. In 2005, layoffs at PPL led library staff to unionize, and public dissatisfaction with the board caused Providence citizens to urge bylaws reform, a first step to a more accountable and open board. “Trust was gone,” said Mitchell.

But PPL spokeswoman Tonia Mason cited monetary problems as the cause for ceding branch-library control. “Funding is at the base of this,” she told AL, going on to emphasize that despite the fiscal circumstances, it seemed unlikely that officials would have to limit access to the Central Library as previously reported in the press.

Funding for PPL had been provided by the city and supplemented with private endowments, some of which date back to the end of the 19th century. Flattened city budgets and a declining endowment as a result of the economic downturn have recently strained the library. The endowment has provided for about $1 million or more per year in subsidies, a level that Mason says is not sustainable. However, she added, a shift in focus for PPL would leave the organization poised to serve libraries statewide, which has always been part of the group’s twofold mission.

Mitchell told AL that PCL’s funding would be a combination of city funding, grant and aid money from the state, and corporate sponsorship from Fortune 500 companies, the specifics of which he would not share. His group’s plan also includes two professional fund-development staff positions. “Ultimately, we wanted to show the community we could do this,” he said.

The PPL board’s decision to give up its management of branches but continue to run the Central Library leaves library control split within the system, a model that neither PPL nor the city thinks is ideal. “I don’t know that breaking up the system makes sense,” said Mayor Cicilline said in the April 24 Providence Journal. Mason echoed the mayor’s comments, noting that last December the PPL board said the same thing but nonetheless recommended the split as a way to create a sustainable system.

Splitting up control of the library was one of two plans the mayor proposed. The other put full control of the entire library system in the hands of the city. The PPL board is awaiting the mayor’s full proposal before deciding whether to give up control of the Central Library as well. The Central Library is not part of PCL’s nine-branch plan, but Mitchell told AL that the group was revisiting that idea.

As a first step in the process of turning over control, PPL was legally obligated to began issuing layoff notices to its roughly 120 employees to allow for the transition. Mitchell stressed that PCL was making efforts to ensure no staff would be displaced.

Posted on April 28, 2009..