The public outcry against the closing of the Clara Barton Branch of the Edison Public Library has paid off.
Township officials announced last week that the facility, which was slated to close in June, would remain open at least through the end of the year. The town will reallocate $100,000 in the municipal budget to fund the operation, and Township Council President Charles Tomaro appointed himself and council member Melissa Perilstein to serve as liaisons for ongoing discussions about the library.
“The township heard us, but we need to work together to keep the library open for years to come,” resident Sue Malone-Barber told about 75 residents who came to a May 13 meeting at the Clara Barton First Aid Squad building to form committees charged with saving their library.
Malone-Barber and residents Glenn Dowd and Denise Skibar relayed to their neighbors what they had learned from talking with township officials since a May 4 meeting on the library. Township officials had informed them that expenses for all three of Edison’s libraries were $5.7 million. The state gave the township approximately $100,000 last year for the library system, but proposed funding cuts this year will bring that amount down to $50,000.
“The remainder of the library budget is funded by the township,” Skibar said.
The residents leading the meeting also explained that the state requires towns with more than 100,000 residents, such as Edison, to employ seven librarians and have 20 full-time employees. Edison employs approximately 66 full- and part-time library employees. The library is also required to be open 60 hours per week in order to qualify for state funding, though Malone-Barber noted that there is nothing in the statute mandating that a given branch be open 60 hours.
Members of the Edison Public Library’s board of trustees and the mayor had held a meeting on May 4 to discuss the Clara Barton Branch closing, announcing that the closing would take effect on June 30. Tempers flared and emotions ran high as residents questioned the board’s decision, which they said they had learned through newspaper articles during the prior week.
Trustees said libraries across the state are being forced to make cutbacks and close facilities because Gov. Chris Christie is cutting funding for library services by 74 percent. Libraries will thus lose $3 million in state aid. Some 250 of the state’s 302 libraries will lose their free access to the Internet, and 124 libraries will lose their websites or access to them, as of July 1.
Judith Mansbach, director of the Edison Public Library, said at the May 4 meeting that the board took an “honest and realistic approach when looking at multiple factors which affected this decision [to close the Clara Barton Branch].” The library board said the branch’s operating costs are about $100,000. The branch has an annual circulation of 36,330 items whereas the Main Library’s is 300,373 and the North Edison Library Branch in 255,618. Costs per circulated item in 2009 were $2.11 for Clara Barton, but only 76 cents for the Main Library and 39 cents the North Edison Branch.
However, residents said the numbers are not a fair comparison, due to the difference in populations in the various areas of Edison.
Also, the Clara Barton Branch has $60,000 in pressing maintenance needs, officials said. Library board member Lisa Krauze displayed photographs that show water damage, mold and mildew, and leakage in the mechanical room. She noted that repairs are needed to the drainage system, access ramp and roof.
Saving the Clara Barton Library
The residents formed two committees, one to raise funds for the library branch and another to promote community outreach and bring more people to the facility.
Residents said one thing the township could look at is providing Clara Barton with the same number of popular books that the other two libraries receive, and bringing more programs to the branch.
Malone-Barber invited Graham and Becky Gudgin of the Friends of the Edison Public Library to the meeting to see how they could go about raising money for the program.
Graham, president of the organization, explained that the group promotes public support and use of the Edison libraries, provides financial assistance to enhance library collections, materials and equipment, sponsors library programs, holds special programs and events to raise funds for the library, and promotes literacy.
Gudgin said the Friends organization could establish a separate fund for the Clara Barton Branch.
Resident Esther Nemitz said the township has put in a request to the state to see if $71,456 in funds granted by the state Department of Community Affairs for the Clara Barton Neighborhood Preservation Program could be reallocated and used for the library.
“It was part of a $525,000 grant, which would have been given to us over a five-year period,” said
“We have received funding for the past two years, and rather than the money go toward homes, we want to see if it can go toward the library,” said Nemitz, who is vice chairwoman of the Neighborhood Preservation group.
Nemitz said Township Engineer John Medina was compiling a report to see if the $71,000 would be sufficient to take care of the maintenance needs of the Clara Barton facility. She also said they would discuss the contents of the report at the next Neighborhood Preservation meeting on May 20.
Tomaro said the council is expected to vote on a resolution in favor of allocating the $71,000 for the library at a special meeting May 19.
Residents led by Kellie Minn have created a Facebook page called “Save Clara Barton Branch Library,” which was put up after the May 4 meeting. The page has grown to over 200 members.
The annual Clara Barton Library Children’s Day will be held May 22 from 10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., with crafts, stories, the Bugtown Follies Puppet Show, contests and more. For more information, call 732-738-0096.