Ask City Council to demand a budget that saves the system while a patron-driven process takes place.
Join us ! Call City Hall, write letters, leaflet and come on
June 3, Thursday –Library Support Rally 5:00 – 6:00 P.M. the Library Budget Hearing - 6:00 P.M. –? City Hall

What’s happening at your Boston Public Library? Layoffs, branch closings & more… Despite overwhelming public support for libraries, with all circulation up 30%, The Board chose to close four branches and make devastating cuts at the central library at Copley, citing a 3.6 million dollar budget gap.

What are they not talking about? Their plans include massive layoffs of Boston citizens who work for the library, reducing book inventory (including 190,000 at Copley), reducing book delivery, closing the newspaper & microtext departments and eliminating specialized reference and research resources.

How this will affect the system: The library is already understaffed. It is true that more and more information is available electronically, but this makes library staff more important, not less. More information mean more unreliable sources – A librarian is one you can trust. Branches will have trouble staying open and keeping the material you need and want. Janitors and other staff will have trouble keeping up with the demands of their jobs. There will not be the staff to run the new library branches and services said to replace the branches that will be shut.
Loses to our communities: The people who work at the Library are Boston residents who have children in our schools, volunteer in our community, and care about what happens to the library system. While the library lays off front line staff, more staff positions are being created in management, which means that fewer services will be provided to the general public. The front line staff will join the mass of unemployed people who need our library system but will not have their services. What do we want? We want a 21st Century library. We want a real vision that includes the input of community members, students, workers, and trustees. Ask City Council to demand a budget that saves the system while a patron-driven process takes place.

Join us ! Call City Hall, write letters, leaflet and come on
June 3, Thursday –Library Support Rally 5:00 – 6:00 P.M. the Library Budget Hearing - 6:00 P.M. –? City Hall