Tuesday, May 13, 2008

PPL in Neighborhood Life

If you live in Portland and read the papers, you’ve probably been exposed to the controversy surrounding our response to the FY 08-09 budget situation. We have posted an information packet (6-26-2008 - this link has been corrected - the document is on the PPL website, under the Press section) that tries to give context and explanation to the steps that we have taken which include reduction of approximately 11.75% (6 FTE) of our staff and an impact on when and where we can offer service.

The vast majority of the reduction has come from the downtown location (83%) and we will be open one less day a week. We have also made the very reluctant, and unpopular, decision to close the Reiche Branch at Reiche School in order to balance the remainder of our budget. We have offered to be part of a bigger discussion in the Reiche Community around quality of life and the role of the Library. Even though the funds may, with luck, be restored by the City Council, we desperately need to use the momentum of the current situation to understand more fully the community need that clearly transcends traditional library mission. We need to talk!

Neighborhood presence in as many Portland neighborhoods as possible is critical to meeting our mission and to the future of the Library. We hope to be part of a city-wide conversation next year with many possible partners to try and improve the quality of life in our communities – whether or not we currently have a building in that neighborhood.

The Board will host an open forum on Wednesday, May 14 at 4:00 PM in the Rines Auditorium concerning the response to the budget. Please come and share your feelings if you can or email me through this blog.