Hidden library faces extinction

I would not want to be a member of Lynchburg City Council right now — or, for that matter, any city’s city council.

Nor would I want to be Lynchburg City Manager Kimball Payne.

For these are the times that try municipal budgets, and our city is no different. In the ongoing tug of war between revenue and expenses, revenue is losing badly. Some things, and somebodies, have to go.

What makes this unpleasant, of course, is that every city department and service is the most important thing in the world to those who work at providing that service. No one is lining up for the chopping block.

Having said all that, though, I offer you the case of the Lynchburg Public Library’s downtown branch in City Hall, one of the possible cuts.

On the surface, this would seem a likely target for extinction. After all, the main library is just a couple of miles away at The Plaza, the hub of the GLTC bus routes. It has more books than the entire city could read in a year if the citizens did nothing else. It has computer terminals, and a reference department, and DVDs to rent. So with the municipal budget gushing red ink, what’s the harm in putting this second-string library out of its misery?

Then I talked with Lynchburg Public Library director Lynn Dodge and with Marilyn Martin, head librarian downtown, and I began to wonder.

For one thing, the downtown branch occupies a space in the basement of City Hall. Thus, the city pays no rent for its use, and no special utility money. Besides Martin, the staff consists of two librarians already relegated to part-time status.

While the potential savings, then, would seem small — the city estimates a savings of about $81,000 — the hassle factor is through the roof. All of the books on the branch library’s shelves, all the movies, all the magazines, would have to be moved over to The Plaza and catalogued. All of the furniture in the branch building would have to go somewhere, along with the five computers.

Oh, and did I mention that in times of economic downturn, libraries — like pawn shops and liquor stores — get busier?

“People can’t afford to buy books, or subscribe to magazines, or subscribe to the newspaper,” Martin said. “They come here to find it.”

“That’s the killer,” added Dodge. “We already have a hiring freeze, and our staff is stretched thin. We’re thinking of cutting back on our own hours. This (closing the downtown branch) doesn’t help.”

A veteran city employee, Dodge is a good soldier.

“I know that things have to be cut,” she said. “Nobody wants that to happen to them.”

Especially the woman who recently used a computer at the downtown branch to apply for a job at McDonald’s online. Or the retired men who come in to read the newspaper. Or the attorneys who take advantage of the branch’s law library.

It’s a good-sized space, actually, with an impressive collection of newspapers and periodicals and a comfortable feel to it. Nevertheless, this branch remains a mystery to many Lynchburgers.

“In some cases,” Dodge said, “the people who know about it love it, but they don’t want anyone else to know about it. It’s their little secret.”

The last time I checked, the city was actively encouraging people to live and work downtown. That’s why Lynch’s Landing was formed, to help fill the yawning void left when the downtown retail stores bailed out a few decades ago. That’s why the city ponied up to help the Bluff Walk project get funded.

In order to attract new blood downtown, however, a certain quality of life has to be demonstrated. For many people, a library within pleasant walking distance is a definite perk.

I’m not saying the downtown library branch should be completely exempt from sacrifice. That wouldn’t be fair. But it doesn’t seem to make sense to clean out a perfectly good (and, essentially, free) space only to overload the already-stressed main branch.

This might be an opportunity for a little creative compromise, perhaps using main library employees and volunteers to keep the downtown branch open a few days a week.

Or something.

Glad it’s not my decision.