Thanks to Sean for scanning and posting the library documents.

At the end of last week's townhall meeting with the mayor and city managers (at my dad's alma mater, South Philly High) I approached the Free Library prez and director while she was getting ready to leave, and she stayed and answered questions from me and Shari Cohen.

The three of us ended up literally being the last ones in the hall.

I had some question related to the closures and the selection process that I thought were too technical for asking during the regular meeting. My first question was with the process: if the top criteria were really proximity to the nearest library and circulation (as had been reported by other sources), what was the rationale for closing the Holmeburg and Wadsworth branches?

Wadsworth is around the middle of the pack regarding circulation (30th out of 49), and it's one of only two targeted branches that is more than 1.5 miles from a neighboring library (it's 1.6 miles from Oak Lane).

Holmesburg is even further from the nearest branch (1.8 miles) and is squarely in the top half of circulation, 16th out of 49.

Reardon addressed Wadsworth right away, and I think her answer offers a window into the process that went into selecting the branches for closure. She noted that the size of the building was also critical, as was the proximity to a rec center where library services and senior programs might be offered instead of the present building. Both criteria appear among the eight on the second document Sean posted. She said that Wadsworth was in a small building across from a multistory rec center.

I asked her if she was suggesting that children's libraries from closed facilities might be moved into large rec centers, and she said "Yes, exactly. Or into other city buildings in the neighborhood."

So Wadsworth was a candidate because its children's library, and thus its LEAP program, could be moved into the nearby rec center.

And the adult library could be consolidated into neighboring West Oak Lane branch.

It seems that, from the Free Library's point of view, they are determined to not offer fewer services -- they are not retiring books or computers, or getting rid of LEAP and seniors programs -- and they have decided that they are also no going to offer fewer hours of access. That last part is a central theme on the front page of the mission statement, a central part of the mission.

So, from their point of view, they were looking for branches where the same or similar library services could be offered in nearby buildings.

That threw light on the Kingsessing closure, the subject of my second question. It shares space with a rec center so, from the point of view of the Free Library, it offers the possibility of moving its children's library, computers, and LEAP program into that facility. The books from the adult library, presumably, would be headed for the Cobbs Creek branch.

My second question was whether Kingsessing, close as it is to University City, might not be saved by bringing in student librarians from Drexel and/or Penn. How much then would really be saved from such a closure? And, for that matter, how much is being saved from each of these closures?

Reardon said that the librarians union contract forbade having their work performed by volunteers, but she said that if institutions wanted to actually come into agreements with the city about actually running individual branches, they could.

She said that such negotiations were going on, but that she could not go into details.

I suggested that she write an editorial that explained better the closure process, and that's when she reached over, grabbed her copy of the plan, and handed it to me. I told her I'd have it posted online. After explaining the above, she admitted that after they had done all of the evaluations, they looked at the council map. She said that they did not want to put too many closure in any one councilperson's district.

With all that, questions still linger:

1) Again, why Holmesburg? It's the 16th most-utilized branch in the city, and not particularly close to its nearest library, Tacony. This still seems to be a decision made simply because the Free Library decided it couldn't close libraries without closing one in the Northeast.

2)How much money is each closure saving the city? Reardon said at one point that I'd be surprised how much money could be saved by simply moving library services out of an old building, and I get that the savings would be annual, but still, for the sake of the communities and any institutions interested in saving a branch, shouldn't we know how it takes to run each facility, and how much the closure is saving the city?

Other things she said:

She will be meeting with neighborhood leaders from the area of all eleven scheduled closures before the date of the closures, January 1.

The Free Library senior staff put together the criteria. She felt she could not herself, as she is so new to the job.

Gotta go teach. More later.

because I asked specifically about Kingsessing.

She said that she will have eleven individual meetings with community leaders from the areas of each closing facility, before January 1, to discuss the specifics of where the books, computers, and programs will be re-sited.

So sometime this month, there is to be a Kingsessing meeting to discuss that. She said she wanted community input re: those decisions.

I told her then what you are saying now:

the sooner the Free Library communicates an actual plan for where resources will go, and begins talking to the communities, the better.