Concord Mayor Considers Closing Library to Save Money

Concord Mayor Considers Closing Library to Save Money

Library boosters in Concord, New Hampshire, are decrying reports that Mayor Jim Bouley has been talking about shuttering the city library to narrow Concord’s projected FY2010 budget deficit of up to $4.8 million by $1.7 million. The library is one of the few services funded by the city that is not mandated by law.

“Everything is going to be affected—library, recreation, police, fire,” Mayor Bouley said in the March 24 Concord Monitor. “You could cut the whole library and you still don’t come close to the numbers you need to meet the deficit.”

“In these economic times, the library is crucial to our community,” CPL Foundation President Tenley Callaghan told the Monitor. Noting the increasing number of users conducting job searches and updating resumes at library workstations, she asked rhetorically, “Do you really want a capital city without a community library?”

As of 2007, the answer to that question was a resounding no, according to a library needs assessment study (PDF file) conducted by J. Stewart Associates and Nolan Lushington. The report documented the desire of Concord citizens for a new downtown library facility, and a task force is scouting locations and formulating fundraising strategies, according to library Director Patricia Immen.

Emphasizing that the city manager is examining how every municipal department can help close the deficit, Immen told American Libraries, “It’s a very difficult situation across the country, and the fortunate thing is there has been so much national press about libraries and the value of libraries, how libraries are getting so much busier in this economic downturn.” Anticipating that the budget crisis would probably not be resolved before midsummer, Immen added, “We trust our city council and the community to do the right thing.”

Posted on March 27, 2009. Discuss.