Library board fights change to hours

By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
   CRANBURY — The Cranbury Public Library board of trustees says the Board of Education must give them three months written notice before limiting the public library’s daytime hours.
   ”The Board of Education, in reducing the library’s operations by 15 hours per week, is terminating the existing tenancy and attempting to establish a new tenancy,” a press release from the board of trustees states. “New Jersey law requires that three calendar months written notice must be given to the library.”
   On Sept. 23, the school board voted to limit the public library’s hours Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for an evaluation period of one year. During that time a library consultant could assess the situation and provide recommendations, he said.
   Since the library is housed in the school’s property, school officials ultimately have the final authority on how the library operates.
   However, library representatives saw the limited hours as a burden on their employees, alienating to their patrons and jeopardizing a reciprocal borrowing agreement it has with other libraries throughout the county.
   ”We feel the hours they’ve set up we can’t function with,” said Library Director Marilyn Mullen. “The calendar is unworkable.”
   The school board made the request due to concerns over security issues and in an effort to expand teaching in the facility, which will help their standings from state evaluators, who look at how the library is used to help with core content standards.
   ”Our mission is a little different,” Mr. Haney said. “Children, when they use the library, need to share with each other. They need to be able to laugh about a book. They need to love literature.”
   The board of trustees is requesting a meeting with the Township Committee and the school board at a to-be-determined location on Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m., where subcommittees or representatives from the three organizations will be able to discuss the matter further.
   ”We’re just opening the negotiations,” Ms. Mullen said. “This meeting would be to try to throw out ideas. Let’s work for the good of the whole town.”
   Ms. Mullen said at the meeting that she hopes all parties will discuss recommendations made in an assessment that was recently completed by library consultants hired by the public library.
   Some of the issues the assessment discusses are a shared bathroom between the public and students, easing traffic through the facility and remodeling certain areas inside the building to keep the school children segregated from patrons, Ms. Mullen said.
   But the public library wouldn’t want to invest any major funds in a project like a renovation, if ultimately the only feasible option is to relocate, she said.
   ”We’re hoping for the Township Committee to understand that there’s a problem,” she said. “We have to put money into this to solve it. We do have to look to the future.”
   Mr. Haney said it’s possible they will consider recommendations made in the assessment but would like another consultant to specifically analyze the library with respect to it being a shared facility with the school.
   As for their request for a three-month notice, Mr. Haney said, the school board disagrees with library representative’s position that they are “tenants-at-will,” but is also seeking further legal advice on the matter.
   The school board contends that a presentation about cutting the hours made by Mr. Haney to the board of trustees on Aug. 14 was their notice.
   ”In following good faith we went directly to the board,” Mr. Haney said. “That’s even stronger than a written request.”
   The school board will discuss the board of trustees’ request for a meeting at its Tuesday meeting.
   ”The school wants to fulfill its mission,” Mr. Haney said. “It’s our responsibility as educators to advocate for the students of this district.”