The branch library movement that has garnered 2,400 petition signatures and $24,000 in pledged donations continues to gather support from new places before the Evanston City Council decides how much longer to continue funding the branches at a meeting Feb. 22.
“It seems very shortsighted to solve temporary budget problems with drastic solutions that benefit no one,” said Evanston resident Audrey Niffenegger in a press release. Niffenegger is the best-selling author of “The Time Traveler’s Wife.”
“I grew up near the Central Street branch of the Evanston Library, and I am not too happy to imagine it closing down,” Niffenegger said.
In light of the city’s $9.5 million deficit, the council voted in a straw poll on Feb. 1 to close the branch libraries. Now the council is discussing a possible compromise to fund the libraries for six months in order to give advocates time to come up with a long-term solution.
Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) suggested using money from the library’s endowment at the council meeting on Feb. 8. Since the birth of the endowment in 1907, the principal amount has grown to more than $2.6 million dollars. A maximum of 5 percent, or about $130,000, can be used.
The library’s board of trustees chooses where the interest earned on that money is spent every year, and it normally goes to purchasing books and audiovisual materials. Last year, the interest wasn’t used because the endowment lost money due to the recession.
“Technically it’s possible that the endowment could be used for the operations of the library,” said Karen Terry, president of the board. “It would be an unprecedented move.”
Ald. Coleen Burrus (9th), who supported Rainey’s proposed solution at the meeting, said the plan reminded her of the extra funds found in the finances of the Evanston Community Media Center, another organization threatened with budget cuts.
“It’s something we have to look at very closely to see how much money they’re bringing in,” Burrus said, referring to the endowment.
Lori Keenan, one of the founders of branchLove, an organization advocating for the branches, said she doesn’t think using endowment money is a good idea.
“I don’t think it sets a very good precedent,” Keenan said.
Keenan is focused on showing the council that it is possible for volunteers to raise the money necessary to keep the branches running. Through their Web site, branchlove.org, volunteers are gathering e-mail pledges for donations. Because the finalized details of the libraries’ future remain unclear, branchLove members can’t actually begin collecting money or applying for nonprofit status, as Keenan would like.
“It’s a fairly faulty response mechanism, but that’s sort of what we have at our disposal right now,” Keenan said.
Library supporters are preparing themselves for whatever the council decides.
“What we’ve been asking the City Council to do is give us time,” Terry said. “It’s going to be tight.”[email protected]
