Charlotte Mecklenburg Library to Close Half its Branches, Lay Off 140
RSSBy Lynn Blumenstein -- School Library Journal, 03/18/2010
Faced with $2 million in budget cuts in the last three months of the current fiscal year, North Carolina’s Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) will lay off at least 140 employees, resulting in the closure of at least 12 out of 24 library locations, pending final library board approval. ImaginOn's Spangler Library offers books, media, and resources for children from birth through fifth grade.
The award-winning ImaginOn library, devoted to children and teen services, isn’t exempt, says PLCMC spokesperson Cordelia Anderson. It’s located one block away from the main library.
While many libraries announce closures as an apparent act of brinksmanship, PLCMC, also known as Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, says that the timing of the cut means "it is no longer possible for the library to defer layoffs and location closings."
It could get worse. For FY10-11, PLCMC was told to prepare for a huge "target reduction" of $17 million out of a $31 million budget, Anderson adds, though she notes that such preliminary numbers are negotiable.
The library gets about 92 percent of its funding from Mecklenburg County.
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