SaveNeighborhoodLibraries

Meeting: March 6 at Beechview Library

2010-01-27T11:39:00.000-08:00

For all grassroots library advocates/supporters:

Saturday, March 6 at 10 a.m.
Beechview library

Info: Judy Gumash, Gumash@cfacts.com

BIG Rally - Downtown Fri., 12/11 at noon

2009-12-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

Please get the word out to your networks, many library supporters work downtown, we're calling on them to join us at this rally:

Friday, Dec. 11
Noon - 1 p.m.
City County bldg., Grant St. downtown
Bring neighbors, co workers, SIGNS

At the rally we will present petitions we've been circulating, we have thousands of signatures from across the city. This will be an opportunity to focus attention on the library issue, which with city council's recent grant, now focuses on finding LONG TERM funding.

Coming up this week

2009-11-22T14:04:00.001-08:00

Monday, Nov. 23 at 1:30 p.m., City Council votes on Library $. It would be wonderful if you're able to join us at the City County Bldg. on Grant St., while we watch the vote happen.

Sat, November 28, 11am – 1pm, at Sq. Hill branch, help us raise awareness of our Save the Libraries efforts.

Plan of Action

2009-11-16T10:15:00.001-08:00

Dear All, What follows are some ideas about next steps and contingencies. We seek input from all who will comment, so we can broadcast to a wider audience and act.

Pretty Up Beechview has run a drink stand for the past 5 Saturdays in front of the Beechview library. Initially we proposed to continue with the stand until we got some resolution of this intolerable position with which we are faced. Including the matching funds we rec'd from the Pgh. Foundation, the money raised for libraries by this effort was around $400. More importantly we have engendered a lot of good will. Sadly, as is apparent to all, there has been no resolution of the question "will you keep our libraries open?".

We feel our best efforts now are not to continue "preaching to the choir" in our own neighborhood and extracting small change for the work, but to continue to search for solidarity with all other library patrons in asking the questions, "what if your library were up for closure, can you tolerate this precedent?"

Not including the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, there are 3 Saturdays before the board's Dec. 14 final vote.

We propose to join together to visit 3 other libraries on these dates, possible sites -

- Squirrel Hill (where we were already invited on the occasion of their book sale, and know we have support from the likes of Community Day School who were at the Main Library Rally on Wed.)

- North Side Federal Street (Another controversy brews here in that the Library seeks to close out and maybe just trash their historical repository of documents in the old Allegheny facility - could someone please bring this issue to the fore ?)

- Downtown, rumor has it that librarians lobbied for the CLP to move into the Barnes and Noble store after it failed, but wouldn't go there for reasons of wanting a less plush, read "homeless unwelcome" facility

- Brookline, renovated, unaccessible by public transit, and untouchable ?

- East Liberty, not yet open but amidst Pgh.'s new improved Urban Green Zone which shelters Shadyside from the common folk.

Further, we have discussed the matter of ceasing with all action if only the board will agree to keep libraries open. We need an appropriate means of thanking them for coming to their senses and seeing reason.

On the flip side, we propose that if closures are not reversed, we will "sit-in" with our children until bodily removed by authorities, in a necessary old-fashioned show of public protest.

sincerely,

Anna

Closing the books: What would shuttered libraries become? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

2009-11-14T05:47:00.000-08:00

Closing the books: What would shuttered libraries become? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Library Board to visit branches - Sat., 11/14

2009-11-13T06:31:00.001-08:00

Please be at your branch, to share your opinion on your neighborhood's need for its library. Note - the bus tour schedule allows for only 20 minutes @ each branch, so please be on time.

Schedule, Sat. Nov. 14:

Lawrenceville branch: 12:30 - 12:50 p.m.
Hazelwood branch: 1:20 - 1:40 p.m.
Knoxville branch: 1:55 - 2:15 p.m.
Carrick branch: 2:20 p.m. - 2:40 p.m.
Mt. Washington branch: 2:50 – 3:10 p.m.
West End branch: 3:20 – 3:40 p.m.
Beechview branch: 3:50 – 4:10 p.m.

Some more articles about the libraries...

2009-11-13T05:32:00.000-08:00

Carnegie libraries struggle to survive

Point Park News Service students look into Carnegie libraries and their struggle to survive.

Here are their stories:

Andrew Carnegie: ‘Free to the People’
Lack of money does not close the book on every Carnegie library
Libraries offer books, yes, but much, much more
No plans yet for Carnegie libraries that close
Readers take to the streets to save libraries
State cuts hurt library

This was also published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Wednesday, November 11, 2009. View it here

News Coverage from the Library Rally

2009-11-11T14:43:00.000-08:00

The many letters from Beechview school children line the Rally site the Main branch of the Carnegie Library

http://kdka.com/video/?id=65071@kdka.dayport.com

http://www.wpxi.com/news/21587850/detail.html

Protests continue against closings of various Carnegie branches - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

2009-11-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

Protests continue against closings of various Carnegie branches - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Artist wanted

2009-11-09T10:56:00.001-08:00

From Lawrenceville resident, Emily Cleath:
I live right across from the Lawrenceville branch and would love to put up a big sign of the Save Our Library ilk with contact info for those using the library to get involved. Any artist(s) wanna donate time to create something spectacular? or at least eye-catching and effective? I'll pay for materials.

Please contact Emily directly: ejcleath@gmail.com

Next Weds., be there or be square

2009-11-04T16:01:00.001-08:00

Library Rally
Weds., Nov. 11 (it's Veterans' Day)
at 1 P.M.
in front of the Main library on Forbes Ave. in Oakland

We're hoping for a big crowd of supporters from across the city. Since it's Veterans' Day the kids won't have school, please bring them, your friends, your neighbors, your signs, your voices.

Beechwood Elementary School - 4th Grade Play - THEY CARE!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

a few Fridays ago the kids at Beechwood Elementary put on a
play about how much their library means to them. I am sure
children and parents all over the city share similar feelings.

Handouts for parents trick or treating tonight

2009-10-31T09:31:00.000-07:00

I made up a simple word document. I got 6 of the message below on a page. I printed up a bunch & will give them to adults accompanying kids tonight:

SAVE OUR LIBRARY – 15201

Call Councilman Dowd
412-255-2140
Ask him to vote for $600,000 grant
to Keep our library open!!

Join: our Facebook Group
Save Our Library – 15201

Info. on Save our Library events:
Gloria: gtforouzan@gmail.com

Children's Day at the West End Library

2009-10-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry, don't know why the flyer has a blue tint.

rb

2009-10-29T03:45:00.000-07:00

As Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announces the program's start, Anna Loney watches as her daughter, Delia Bell, goes online to make a donation during The Pittsburgh Foundation's Match Day at PPG Place Wintergarden on Wednesday. Delia, 8, and classmate, Ely Baraff, 10, raised $145.85 by selling hot chocolate the past two Saturdays. The Beechwood Elementary School students donated the money to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to help their Beechview library branch.

2009-10-29T03:34:00.000-07:00

WAITING ON EDGE

Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette

Delia Bell, 8, of Beechview, starts to put information into an online form with Ely Baraff, 10, from Beechview and her mother, Anna Loney Bell, so the library can receive matching funds from the Pittsburgh Foundation for the $145.81 that she and her friends raised by selling hot chocolate. [ Story ]

More than $1 million donated to charities in 23 minutes - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

2009-10-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

More than $1 million donated to charities in 23 minutes - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

2009-10-28T03:47:00.000-07:00

2009-10-28T03:45:00.001-07:00

Survey of library branches facing ax finds plenty of activity

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

By Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Building many libraries to serve city neighborhoods was always part of Andrew Carnegie's philanthropic plan. Eight years before the main library that bears his name opened in Oakland, he offered $1 million to the City of Pittsburgh for a system that included branches.

Now that system is threatened by declining government revenue and rising costs. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh plans to close four of its 19 branches by February, three of them in neighborhoods where the first ones opened by 1900 -- Lawrenceville, Hazelwood and the West End.

Another early branch building on Mount Washington (1900) will be abandoned, replaced by a new facility elsewhere in the neighborhood. Two 20th-century structures in Beechview and Knoxville also will be dropped along with a converted storefront in Carrick. Those branches on Brownsville Road will merge.

The changes have angered both library users and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. The mayor, facing re-election next month, seemed stung by library director Barbara Mistick's observation that the city gives only $40,000 to the library, the same amount it contributed in 1895.

The city was the library's major supporter, with contributions rising to $5 million a year when the Allegheny Regional Asset District's funding system took over in 1994. Then the city dropped its annual contribution back to its original $40,000.

Mayor Ravenstahl called for an analysis of the library's financial prospects and the RAD board last week agreed to initiate the process.

In seeking bids from auditing firms, RAD's requests include:

• An assessment of the "reasonableness" of the library's financial projects.

• A determination of how much the library will save "by each branch closing, consolidation."

• An evaluation of "whether realistic alternatives were considered by library management/Trustees ..."

• An evaluation of the criteria "for the changes in the branch operations as well as the application of those criteria to branches impacted by the closings."

• A comparison of budgets and business practices with "similarly sized and organized libraries ..."

In turn, the library agreed to provide RAD with specifics behind the decisions to close and merge those branches. It will be the first time those details have been disclosed.

"I have been assured that once RAD receives everything the report will be available to the public," library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes said yesterday.

The shutdowns come at a time when more people are using Carnegie Library facilities, especially those in Lawrenceville and the West End (see chart). On my recent visits to the threatened facilities I found lots of activity, with most computer stations in use, busy librarians working with readers and callers, bulletin boards covered with neighborhood announcements and even a few protest signs. Here's my account:

Hazelwood

It's an unlikely spot for a library, above a beer distributor and laundromat on Second Avenue. Yet this branch, opened in a new building in 2004, is bright, clean and cheery.

Hazelwood is a part of Pittsburgh distinguished by loss and the signs are everywhere -- the abandoned Gladstone High School, the former LTV Coke Works and lately, a grocery.

The library branch, used by schoolchildren from as far away as Greenfield and as close as the Head Start facility across the street, is one of the few remaining bright spots.

"Tuesday and Thursday nights, we get a ton of people in here, maybe 50 to 60," said Sara Dora, who directs services for teens including help in using the Internet for homework.

She said students come from such schools as Mifflin in Lincoln Place; Greenfield; Minadeo in Squirrel Hill; Sterrett Classical Academy in Point Breeze; and St. Rosalia in Greenfield. The library also holds reading programs for about 80 youngsters from Head Start.

"And, then, wait till you see our Halloween party," Ms. Dora added. "It's always packed."

The Carnegie Library opened the new facility in 2004, abandoning the original, dilapidated 1899 building on Monongahela Street where it still sits among the weeds.

Aide Teresa Nagy was happy to make the move to Second Avenue from the original. "It was just an old place and the summers were the worst for the heat," she said. "And there was black dust from the mill everywhere."

Hazelwood was the second Carnegie branch to open, a year after Lawrenceville. Both buildings are similar red-brick, single-story structures with an arched entrance and high windows, designed by Longfellow, Alden and Harlow, the same firm that designed the Main Library in Oakland.

The design called for brick, unlike the stone of the Main Library, in order to reflect the neighborhood, said Abigail Van Slyck, author of "Free to All: Carnegie Libraries & American Culture, 1890-1920."

The windows are placed high on the tall walls, allowing the installation of bookshelves below them while filling the space with daylight. These first branches were also distinctive because they were designed for children as well as adults. Auditoriums for public meetings are in the basement.

While Hazelwood's first building is deserted, its counterpart in Lawrenceville is a thriving concern.

Lawrenceville

Sparked by affordable housing stock and the relocation of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, this neighborhood is on the rise.

During the various public meetings on the Carnegie Library's economic situation, several residents cited its branch library as one reason they moved there.

Like Hazelwood, the building was placed on a side street, Fisk Street, rather than the main thoroughfare of Butler Street. Yet, at 11 a.m. Oct. 20, the place was busy, especially in the children's room where a dozen youngsters and their parents shared books.

The interior of the branch is showing its age, with ceiling leaks and no modern ventilation. The basement auditorium is serving as a storage room, holding furniture from the East Liberty branch, now being renovated.

Lawrenceville will lose its library when East Liberty reopens later next year.

West End

This building and its twin on Mount Washington were also designed by Longfellow, Alden and Harlow and opened in 1900, but on a more modest scale than the Lawrenceville and Hazelwood structures.

Both are the smallest libraries, a single story with the circulation desk in the middle, separating the adult and children's rooms. There are small meeting rooms and staff facilities in the basement.

"The West End was the first to do storytime for children," said librarian Jim Carney, who divides his time with the Sheraden branch about two miles away.

The branch on Wabash Avenue is only open four days a week -- Tuesdays and Saturdays until 7 p.m. and Wednesdays and Saturdays until 4.

It was near closing time when I dropped in on a Wednesday, so the library was not very busy, but its chief champion, Mark Kohut, was still working at a computer.

Retired from his New York publishing career, he works with other volunteers to support the threatened branch. "This place is a real neighborhood treasure and it would be a serious loss for the West End," said Mr. Kohut, a Crafton Heights native who used the branch while growing up.

Beechview

While Saturday will bring Halloween parties around the city, the staff at this branch on Broadway is planning Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead in recognition of the neighborhood's growing Latino population, said manager Audrey Iacone. The party starts at 5:30 p.m.

"The influx of immigrants here, along with recession has pushed our use up 10 percent this year," she said. "There are so many more people coming in to use the computers to look for jobs."

It also draws schoolchildren from three Pittsburgh Public Schools in the area and Keystone Oaks nearby.

The branch is often filled with both children and adults on Saturdays and afternoons when it's open until 7 p.m., she said. "People get off the T on their way home from work to use it."

Constructed by the city in 1967 on the site of a synagogue, the Beechview library has drawn the most vocal protests, from petitions by children to complaints by state Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, and state Rep. Chelsa Wagner, a Beechview Democrat and native.

Scheduled to close and merge at another location are the Knoxville and Carrick branches, several miles apart on Brownsville Road.

Knoxville

The bunker school of architecture that produced such forbidding structures as Allegheny Center, reaches its highest (or lowest, depending on your attitude) point with the Knoxville branch, opened in 1965.

A concrete hulk on Brownsville Road, its front doors are guarded by steel gates after hours. Inside, the grimy narrow skylights on a peaked ceiling caused a gloomy diffuse light on a bright Indian summer afternoon.

Out front the afternoon of my visit was a sign: "Tell Luke to save our library." Inside, high schoolers were using the branch's nine computers while a handful of adults read books and newspapers.

"We always seem to be busy from the time we open at 10," said manager Charmaine Mozlack. "More older people in the day, students and children in the afternoon."

Carrick

Several miles south on Brownsville Road across from a karaoke bar is the glass-block front of the cozy Carrick branch.

Inside, the front reading room is a bright, comfortable spot for reading. The narrow room beyond the circulation desk was busy with high schoolers using the 11 computers and the other half was devoted to children's books.

Mount Washington

Opened on Grandview Avenue May 31, 1900, this building has the finest view of any library in America. Standing on its front steps, you take in the city's Downtown, rivers and hills.

Thanks to that view -- and its facilities, the branch attracts lots of tourists, said clerk Michelle Wazny. "We get a lot of requests to use our toilets, especially when there's a wedding party up here for pictures."

Plans call for a new facility to open on Virginia Avenue in the neighborhood's business district to attract more foot traffic, although the Grandview branch is very busy.

Among the smallest branches, Mount Washington's 2008 book circulation was 71,000 items, one of the highest outside the large libraries such as Squirrel Hill.

"Each day I see new faces here. We get a great mix of people from the neighborhood and a lot of support and help," Ms. Wazny said.

For example, one neighbor paid anonymously to repaint the building inside and out this year.

Contact Bob Hoover at 412-263-1634 or bhoover@post-gazette.com.

Events to support our libraries

2009-10-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

As I understand it, the Library Board will take their "final" vote on the closings at their Dec. 14 meeting. This meeting is not open to the public. I suggest we petition the CLP Board to make it an open meeting.

There are many community events being planned to keep the light white hot on this issue. I will post them as details are confirmed.

Rally Hazelwood Library
Sat Oct.31, 2pm.
Show up,no matter what neighborhood you live in. We're all in this together!

Save the Libraries Reading & Dance Party
Monday, November 2, 8 p.m.
Belvedere’s (Butler at Fisk, Lawrenceville)
Young members of Pgh’s literary community invite you for readings, phone-ins, an online petition

Gloria in Lawrenceville
gtforouzan@gmail.com

Fellowship of the Library

2009-10-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

LIBRARY RALLY AT CITY COUNCIL TOMORROW

2009-10-26T15:33:00.001-07:00

WHAT: Rally at City Council meeting

WHEN: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
10 a.m.

WHERE: City Council meetings are held in Council Chambers (ADA accessible), located on the Fifth Floor of the City-County Building at 414 Grant Street.

WHY: Because you care about our city and want its neighborhoods to be vibrant places to live, raise families and retire.

Come tell our city leaders...
LIVABLE CITIES NEED LIBRARIES

If you can...wear Save Our Pittsburgh Libraries t-shirts, bring signs and raise your voices!

Beechwood Elementary

2009-10-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

a few Fridays ago the kids at Beechwood Elementary put on a
play about how much their library means to them. I am sure
children and parents all over the city share similar feelings.

What’s happening with area libraries is still an open book

2009-10-22T14:43:00.001-07:00

Al Lowe 20.OCT.09

When the nation’s economy is in trouble, library usage goes up but funding decreases.

This is the reason that the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s board of trustees decided to close four branches, combine the Knoxville and Carrick branches at a new location and move the Mount Washington branch to a new site, Suzanne Thinnes, Carnegie Library communications director, said.

"People use our high speed Internet instead of their own, use our programs instead of going to the movies and use us for job searches," Ms. Thinnes said. "The Regional Asset District system allocates a portion of the sales tax collected in the county to the library and sales are down due to the economy."

Library won't attend mayor's meeting on branch closings

2009-10-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wants Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh officials to attend a Saturday community meeting on their planned library closing plans, but so far, they're begging off.

Carnegie Library President and Director Barbara Mistick last night issued a letter to Mr. Ravenstahl, saying the library system wants to see how a possible Regional Asset District audit plays out "before scheduling public meetings. We urge you to work with us in rescheduling a public meeting that provides the community with ample notice to participate and enables the library to share information based on the recently released state budget, which reduced library funding to our system," she wrote.

Mayor to hold community meeting on library closings

2009-10-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 19, 2009

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced today that he will be holding a community meeting at 11 a.m. Saturday in Lawrenceville to hear residents concerns about Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's board's decision to close five libraries.

The meeting will be at St. Mary's Lower Lyceum, 321 45th St.

The Mayor has invited the library board and Director Barbara Mistick to the meeting.

"I have spoken with residents from all impacted communities and have answered as many questions as I can in regard to the board's decisions," Mr. Ravenstahl said in a statement issued today. "Residents deserve to have all of their questions answered concerning these very unfortunate circumstances."

The board has approved closing the Lawrenceville, Beechview, West End and Hazelwood branches and merging Knoxville and Carrick branches.

Beechview patrons urge Carnegie Library not to close their branch

2009-10-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

by Bill Zlatos
Tribune-Review
Sunday, October 18, 2009

Patrons of the Beechview branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh served hot cocoa and cookies Saturday and carried signs urging the Carnegie not to close their branch.

Protests, petitions, even talk of Beechview seceding from the city, are part of an effort to roll back the Carnegie's decision to close five branches of its 19-member system.

Branch Libraries

2009-10-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

I am having a hard time understanding the reasons for closing our libraries. According to the Carnegie’s own 2004 report the five libraries on the chopping block were visited by 187,472 people that year. The Beechview Branch, which serves my neighborhood, is more widely visited than the Mattress Factory or the Fort Pitt Museum. Five years later those numbers are even greater.

I think it is important to recognize that this is not about buildings but about the people who staff those buildings. The expertise and knowledge of Audrey Iacone and Miss Tina and Miss Janet and the rest of the staff are the reason that all those visitors come to the Beechview Branch. I’m sure the other neighborhoods have those same kind of wonderful staff people at their branches as well.

The issue of the closures is not just about losing five buildings. It is about losing the people that make these places the wonderful experience they are for kids, parents, grandparents and every citizen and visitor to our city. Those 187,472 visitors to our branch libraries are all experiencing something that makes this city great. People who come to work every day, looking forward to helping other people find the answers they are looking for. Whether it is entertainment, knowledge or how to find a job, those people staffing our branch libraries are solid contributors to the quality of life that we sometimes take for granted in Pittsburgh.

If you build a stadium and you don’t have the money for a team, it is a pretty poor investment. After this last season, I’d like a refund for PNC Park. If there is money available to build libraries but no budget to staff them, why are they being built? The people that staff our local branches are hitting home runs every day. If we are closing libraries so we can build new ones, I think we have our priorities out of whack. We need to keep what we have until we can afford to build something grander. Why would you buy a new Mercedes when you can’t afford the tires and the gas to keep it on the road?

The RAD fund was established as the source for funding the ongoing expenses of operating our libraries. How is it that the RAD board approved a budget that included all our branches and suddenly five of them are being closed? Not very good budget planning. And why is someone who has no experience in Library Science managing our Library system? Our Library system is not a business; it is a public service and should be managed as such.

I doubt if my Library card will get me into the Duquesne Club for lunch, but right now I think it should. I think if Barbara Mistick and the Carnegie Library Board spent their lunches at the branches instead of a private club reserved for the elite, they might have a different perspective on the decisions being made.

Don Bell

1317 Beechview Ave

Pittsburgh, Pa 15216

Post-Gazzette article

2009-10-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Beechview group refuses to defer

by Diana Nelson Jones/Oct 12

A group of Beechview residents has mounted a refuse-to-lose campaign to save their Carnegie Library branch, and they call for other neighborhoods to join them.

The neighborhood's anti-litter patrol, called Pretty Up Beechview, or PUB, is spurring the action, with an objective to unite all patrons of libraries "to inform change of a different sort," according to a statement from resident and PUB member, Anna Loney.

A Common Cause

2009-10-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Lawrenceville library users disappointed

By Rick Wills
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, October 11, 2009

On and off for much of the past six decades, Mary Moses has come to Saturday storytime at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville branch.

"My grandmother lived two blocks from here, and I came to storytime with her when I was young. Then I brought my own kids," said Moses, 60, who has lived in the neighborhood since she was 7.

Libraries deserve a permanent funding solution

DONALD BLOCK
Executive Director
Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council
East Liberty

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is a vital resource for all literacy-related activities in the city of Pittsburgh. As directors of literacy organizations, we are saddened by the branch closings and consolidations that were announced this week ("Library System Trims 5 Branches Across City," Oct. 7). The closings will have a negative effect on the education of our region's children and families.

KDKA coverage of the Lawrenceville event

Save Neighborhood Libraries in Pittsburgh

2009-10-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

Our position –

We refuse to accept the library closures imposed by the CLP’s Board upon Pittsburgh neighborhoods. In the interest of revoking these potentially precedent setting closures, and on behalf of all library users, we seek agreement from the Board that all branches remain open.

Objective –

Establish solidarity amongst all users of the CLP and regional libraries to inform change of a different sort.

Course of action we encourage for all neighborhoods-

Publish Neighborhood Press Releases
Visit Saveneighborhoodlibraries.blogspot.com. express solidarity, see images, share feelings
Begin a Children’s Letter Campaign to tell CLP in their own words how devastating this could be for kids, create a video of kids reading their own letters
Appeal to celebrities who may have moved away from Pittsburgh neighborhoods, but can proclaim the importance of neighborhood libraries in their childhood
General strike

Actions “Pretty Up Beechview”(P.U.B.) will undertake in Beechview, and an open invitation to all

Saturday Lemonade/Hot Cocoa Stand, begins 10/17, noon-2 pm, in front of the Beechview Library, to raise awareness and funds

Day of the Dead Celebration, 10/29, 5:30 pm

Statement –

The beginning of the story is that Andrew Carnegie declared, “Let there be light.” And so it was that many libraries, the world over, came into being. So what does it say about us, Pittsburgh descendents of those first beneficiaries, that some would say, or accept, “let there be darkness”?

We, in Beechview, refuse to stand idly in the dark. We beseech all communities under threat of loss to stand together. Further, we implore all who use and love libraries to join us, because this is also a cautionary tale. The next chapter could include the loss of your own beloved library.

We are not calling for unfettered, wasteful spending on anyone’s behalf. In fact, we understand austerity all too well. Among the few obvious quality of life factors for us in Beechview, or any other neighborhood so graced, is the presence of a branch of the Carnegie Library. We want to make clear that people who live in communities like ours work to enable the lives of people in much more empowered places. And the presence of a library, within walking distance, means more to us than many could imagine. Surely, there are other sacrifices to be made, other means to an end, than to kill off one good thing about a place with little else to serve as a calling card. Therefore, we reject this decision as an attack on our quality of life.

We reject the reasoning of the Board’s decision based in biased studies and out of date information.

We reject the Board’s decision because of their inability to tell our children to their faces that this is the only possible course of action.

We reject the Board’s decision because Beechview is a community of 6000, 2000 of whom signed a petition to maintain the library. We stand up for these 2,000 unanswered requests.

We reject a minority of voices who value new buildings and capital campaigns over the majority of people and places who’ve made the libraries work for decades.

We reject a library system which has recently modeled itself after the unfortunate corporate structure of highly paid upper management at the expense of all else.

We simply reject this. Please, read Langston Hughes “What Happens to a Dream Deferred?” for an encapsulation of our sensibilities about neighborhood library closures. Or go to the library, and find your own imagery to illuminate the story. But don’t let this one go, because it is an age-old tale of good vs. evil. Stand with us against the forces of darkness. Don’t let this mark the end of the story.

Anna Loney

October 11, 2009

Letter to the Board from Anne Davis

2009-10-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Date: October 5, 2009

To: The Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

From: Anne Davis, 9-year Resident and Mother to a Teenage Library User, Lawrenceville

Re: A Request for Your Consideration

The Lawrenceville Library branch, built in 1898 (one year after my home was built) was the first of more than one hundred neighborhood branch libraries built by Andrew Carnegie in the United States; it was the first to have a specifically designed and constructed library Children's Room; it was the first specifically designed to allow patrons direct access to the book stacks, including a central circulation desk; and the building design became a model for Carnegie Libraries throughout the world.

Would you allow us to add to its curriculum vitae another ‘the first’ and another ‘became a model’? Please consider giving the residents of Lawrenceville a minimum of six months or ideally, one year in which to organize a variety of efforts to save our branch.

We want to be given a finite, but realistic period of time in which to:

Implement greater fundraising and grant writing efforts;

Enlist community residents to contribute time to:children’s programming; re-shelving books;maintenance such as cleaning, painting and minor repairs; enlist the designers, space planners, facilities managers, architects, trades people, educators, lawyers, computer specialists, artists, musicians and more who live in or near Lawrenceville to apply their skills to upgrade, modify and maximize the under-utilized present space (inclusive of the upper apartment and basement-level auditorium) in as green and sustainable methods as possible

Work collaboratively with branch staff to design ways for the branch to reduce its operating costs; review whether a reduction in hours of operation would or would not be effective; and, determine if increased volunteerism would keep the current hours of operation intact.

Please work with us so we can become a model for other branches here and elsewhere in the U.S. and the first locally to collaborate with resident and contiguous communities’ users of the branch; the board; potential donors and funders; contributors of in-kind goods and services; and, volunteers in order to create an improved, sustainable future for our branch.

If, at the end of the finite period, we are unsuccessful, then close the branch. But, please don’t close it before we’ve been given time to do something we’re learning to do and willing to do--- work to shore up an important and beloved resource in our newly growing neighborhood.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Anne Davis
Lawrenceville

Save Our Neighborhood Libraries

2009-10-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

Our position –

Objective –

Establish solidarity with all users of the CLP and regional libraries to inform change of a different sort.

Course of Action

Press Release
Neighborhood library blog
Children’s letter campaign
Solidarity petition
Strike
Secession from the City of Pittsburgh, reinstatement of City of Beechview
Other

Statement –

We, in Beechview, refuse to stand idly in the dark. Further, we implore all who use and love libraries to stand with us, because this is also a cautionary tale The next chapter could include the loss of your own beloved library.

We are not calling for unfettered, wasteful spending on anyone’s behalf. In fact, we understand austerity all too well. Among the few obvious quality of life factors for us in Beechview is the presence of a branch of the Carnegie Library. We want to make clear that people who live in communities like ours work to enable the lives of people in much more empowered places. And the presence of a library, within walking distance, means more to us than many could imagine. Surely, there are other sacrifices to be made, other means to an end, than to kill off one good thing about a place with little else to serve as a calling card. Therefore, we reject this decision as an attack on our quality of life.

We reject the reasoning of the Board’s decision based in biased studies and out of date information.

We reject the Board’s decision because of their inability to tell our children to their faces that this is the only possible course of action.

We reject the Board’s decision because we are a community of 6000, 1400 of whom signed a petition to maintain the library. We stand up for these 1,400 unanswered requests.

We reject a minority of voices who value new buildings and capital campaigns over the majority of people and places who’ve made the libraries work for decades.

We reject this as part of the persistent deferment of our dreams, which are at present alternately crusted over, stinking, festering and to properly credit Langston Hughes, may just “explode”.

We implore anyone who ever cared anything about a library, or read a tale of good vs. evil to stand with us against these forces of darkness. But please, don’t let this mark the end of the story.

Anna Loney

October 9, 2009