Opinion: Watch Out for Library Cutbacks

Resident Patricia McKenna-Bausch questions the Huntington Public Library's schedule.

The Huntington Public Library 2013-2014 budget vote will be held on Tuesday.

 Fellow Huntington residents may want to look closely at the proposed budget and see that even though the budget is increasing, and a higher library tax will be levied on all residents, the HPL Board of Trustees is going to eliminate Friday evening hours as of July 1.

Strangely enough the hours on Saturday and Sunday will be extended by an hour each day, making me wonder why make such a drastic change just to save an hour of facility use. How this is going to amount to a significant cost savings I don't know.

I am afraid that most residents won't bother to read the budget, or vote, and the plan will get approved by default. It will come as an unpleasant surprise when residents go to the Library on the first Friday in July and find the doors locked at 6 p.m.  

  I don't know where the statistics came from that determined there was not enough "actual usage" to warrant keeping the library open Friday night.

In my experience Friday is a busy night at the library. I have gone there with my family most Friday nights for the last 13 years. There are people in every section, at the computers, sitting in the periodical room. There's usually an event in the meeting room, in fact I usually have to squeeze my way in past a crowd going to see a performance.

As a working parent, Friday night is the only convenient time for me to use the facilities. Our two-career family counts on the library being open in the evening. We can't use the library during weekdays, and weekends are usually devoted to family commitments.  Those three hours on Friday night are a small part of the big picture to the library, but they are very important to us.

What happens to all those programs that are held on Friday nights? Those are the only programs we can attend! First they voted to close the library on Sundays in the Summer, now they are closing on Friday nights year round. What will they cut next?   

Despite all the budgetary issues there is still sufficient funding available to station a library employee in the lobby as a "greeter," part of the probably the most asinine use of taxpayer dollars in the Town of Huntington. These unfortunate "greeters" have the useless job of sitting in the lobby and saying hello to people as they come in, rather than performing a useful task inside.

They usually look as completely uncomfortable as they make me feel. Does anyone need to be greeted to use a library? The professionals who work at our library are very helpful to anyone who comes in and asks for help. It hurts my soul to see such capable people misused, and it offends me that the board would see this as a useful function, while at the same time voting to cut service hours.  

  I urge all Huntington residents to turn out on April 16th and vote NO on the proposed budget. Send a letter to the HPL Board of Trustees, c/o the Huntington Public Library main branch, to protest this proposal. You can also email questions about the budget to Michael Bogin, Director of the Huntington Public Library, michael_bogin@thehuntingtonlibrary.org or call 631-427-5165 ext. 202. 

The next HPL Board meeting will be on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 5:30 pm at the main branch. Make your voice be heard!