Springfield's city libraries have been on a roller coaster ride in recent years, with dramatic lows (the shutting of three neighborhood branches by the Springfield Library and Museums Association in 2003) and thrilling highs (the citizens' movement that same year that led to the city taking control of the libraries from the SLMA).

While not all the damage suffered under the SLMA has been undone—notably, Mason Square still doesn't have a full branch, six years after the SLMA secretly sold that neighborhood's branch building to the Urban League—the system has enjoyed a general sense of security since it was taken from the private organization and put under public control.

But that sense of security has been shaken by recent budget recommendations put out by Mayor Domenic Sarno. Faced with deep cuts in local aid, the Sarno administration is looking to cut more than $4.5 million in city spending over the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30. While the cuts are spread across city departments, the Library Department faces the highest percent cut: 10.76 percent, for a total of $455,000. The majority of other departments face cuts of less than five percent.

To library supporters, the cuts are a major setback after all the hard-won advances the system has made in recent years. "To cut us back further after we made some marginal progress is a slap in the face," said City Councilor Pat Markey, former chair of the city's Library Commission.

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Sarno's proposed cuts would be a hard blow to the city libraries, Markey said. In a Feb. 6 letter to Sarno, Markey and fellow councilor Bruce Stebbins protested the mayor's recommendations, calling the libraries an efficiently run department that "stretches its $4,229,000 city budget just about as far as is humanly possible.

"While a cut of $455,00 would be difficult for any department to bear, it is particularly tough medicine to visit upon a department which already has a small budget and which operates without any discernible fat," they wrote.

In their letter, Markey and Stebbins pointed out that cuts in city funding could also jeopardize the libraries' ability to get money from an important state funding source, the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners. This year, Springfield's libraries received about $350,000 from the MBLC.

The MBLC ties its local support to the amount spent by municipalities on their libraries. If a city or town cuts its library budget at a disproportionately higher rate than the average of cuts made in other municipal departments—as is the case here—its state funding drops as well. That law, Markey said in a recent interview, "basically holds municipalities' feet to the fire," making sure communities do their share of funding their libraries, rather than being overly dependent on the state.

While the MBLC can grant a municipality a waiver, there's no guarantee Springfield would get one, Markey noted. And, he added, with the state budget in its own crisis, there's no guarantee how much funding even the state program will have in the next fiscal year.

Most of Springfield's library budget goes to pay librarians and other staffers, who make modest salaries, said Markey. Because the department has so little fat to trim, he said, "A cut of this magnitude could result in dramatic layoffs."

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Markey and Stebbins aren't the only ones to protest the proposed cuts. The city's Board of Library Commissioners passed a motion outlining the damage the reduction would do to the system and urging the mayor to bring the library cuts more in line with those made to other departments. Library supporters rallied at a City Council committee meeting last week, bearing a Valentine-themed banner reading: "Mr. Mayor, Have a Heart! Library Cuts Unfair!"

Sarno told the Advocate last week that he values the city's library system—just not more than other departments, like police and fire. In his budget recommendations, Sarno suggested cuts of 2.35 percent and 2.38 percent, respectively, from the Police and Fire departments. In both cases, those cuts would come almost entirely by leaving vacant positions unfilled.

"I do believe libraries are important," Sarno said. "But in these dire times, I have to make priorities. And my priorities are public safety."

In other Massachusetts communities, Sarno pointed out, libraries have been closed or are facing closure because of budget constraints. "I want to keep the neighborhood branches open," Sarno said. "I have not told the library officials to shut down branches. All I've told them is to be creative."

The mayor suggested the Library Department look into reducing hours, perhaps cutting morning hours while preserving after-school and weekend hours. Currently, each of the nine neighborhood branches is open 24 hours a week. The central library, at the Quadrangle, is open 57 hours a week.

Sarno said he intends to cut $8 million to $10 million in recurring costs from the current city budget in preparation for the coming fiscal year, when he's been told to expect cuts of at least $13.4 million in Springfield's local aid. "I'm going to redefine city government. What are essential city services, and what services have to be looked at differently?" he said.

To Markey, reducing the cut to the libraries wouldn't have to mean taking an equally large bite out of police, fire, or any other department. While a $455,000 cut would be devastating to a department as lean as the libraries, it wouldn't be too onerous to spread some of that amount over a larger number of departments, across a city budget of more than $530 million, he said.

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While Sarno—no doubt cognizant of the political furor that erupted the last time library branches were closed in Springfield—insists he's not looking to shut down branches, not everyone's on board with that position.

Closing branch libraries might be politically unpopular, said City Councilor Tim Rooke, but it's something the city should consider. He suggested that the main library, which sits on a bus route on State Street, could be enough to fill the city's need in tough economic times. (Rooke did make an exception for the Mason Square library, which, unlike other neighborhood branches, has a private endowment.)

Markey disagrees. "Now more than ever we need branches," he said. In the current financial hard times, "No one's buying books," Markey said. "There's going to be more people needing a safe place to hang out. It's going to be libraries."

Springfield's branch system is a source of pride in the city, and adds considerably to residents' quality of life, Markey added. "It's such a symbol of the good things that the city can do in each neighborhood," he said. "They generate a lot of good will."