Kids, Tots to Feel the Pain of San Jose Public Library Cuts
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By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 03/24/2010
Students will feel the sting from cuts proposed for the San Jose Public Library (SJPL) for this coming year.
With a deficit of $116 million, the city of San Jose, CA, has asked the public library system to prepare for a 35 percent cut to its $29 million general fund—or approximately $9.4 million starting in July, the beginning of its fiscal year. For students and even preschool-age toddlers, the loss will be tremendous.
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Public access computers at the Almaden branch of the San Jose Public Library. |
“We’ll still be doing storytimes, but half as many as before because we’ll have one children’s librarian for every two branches,” says Jane Light, SJPL’s library director, who says that each branch currently runs about four storyhours a week. “Plus prep for these will be more centralized, so there will be less creativity.”
With 1,000 or so after-school students coming to one of the 18 branches each day to read or catch up on homework until pick-up time, the new reduced schedule will impact them as well.
“They’ll only have two days when they can come in and do homework,” Light says. “That means we estimate about 500 students a day will have no place to go in the afternoon that’s supervised.”
At a time when library usage across the country has increased, cuts being made to public libraries are especially hard. School districts, too, have cut or completely eliminated school libraries, putting even more strain on public branches. When these libraries are then open fewer hours, students and patrons of all ages have less access to books, media, computers, and research materials.
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The Cambrian branch of the San Jose Public Library. |
While the 35 percent cut hasn’t been formally decided, as San Jose’s City Council doesn’t vote on the budget until mid-June, says Light, some cuts are almost certain, as the promise of additional revenue has not materialized as much as the city had hoped. And now San Jose’s mayor has asked for union employees to consider a 10 percent compensation cut, which would include librarians. For many, says Light, it’s going to be a hard decision.
“If employees decide to make concessions, we might be able to back off the more severe cuts,” says Light. “But because we’re all unionized, and there’s seniority, it’s not like do I cut my salary and save my job, but do I save someone else’s job.”
