Town Must Revisit Library Budgeting Warns Sarat

“As we contemplate what will occur in the town’s budgeting process over the next several years, we will need to think with the town about the financing of the Jones Library,” declared President Austin Sarat at the August 13 Jones Library Board of Trustees meeting. This pronouncement comes in the wake of Sarat’s acknowledgment at the July 30 trustees meeting that the gap between capital campaign fundraising and the library’s obligation toward project costs is likely to be substantial.

A large deficit when the library’s remittance to the town comes due, anticipated before June 30, 2027, will mean the trustees must plug the gap with funds from their $9.6 million endowment, leaving less money available for annual operating expenses.  After the recent transfer of $600,000 to the town, the library obligation sits at $8,443,331.64 according to an April update from Finance Director Sean Mangano.

 “As we contemplate what will occur in the town’s budgeting process over the next several years, we will need to think with the town about the financing of the Jones Library,” Sarat cautioned.  “We’ll think on our own, but we’ll also think with the town about the support needed for the library. More about that in due course as the town’s budgeting process begins in the fall,” he added.

Capital Campaign Logs $1M from CPA
The trustee packet included a capital campaign report from July 1, but Lee Edwards reported more current results verbally.  She made the encouraging announcement that $1.006 million had been converted from pledges to cash in July.  However, this result became less impressive when Edwards disclosed that $1 million was from a 2021 Community Preservation Act grant.  CPA funds come mainly from receipts from a local property tax surcharge.

Friends and Jones Library Look to Reorganize Fundraising Entity
Looking ahead, the trustees and the Friends of the Jones Library have been discussing a change to the library’s fundraising organization.  Under the current arrangement, the Friends of the Jones Library, which is structured as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has sole responsibility for capital and operational fundraising. An alternative being considered is to form a foundation in which the trustees and library will take on a more active role in fundraising.

The capital campaign had been entrusted to a private, non-profit corporation, explained Edwards, so “all of the sensitive financial data that a campaign committee has to gather [can] stay confidential.”  A 501(c)(3) is not subject to state Open Meeting or Public Records law.

Library Community Feedback Sessions Lined up for September
Farah Ameen, chair of the Jones Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (JEDI) announced that the library will be sponsoring three Community Feedback Sessions to gather feedback on how residents feel about belonging and security in the library space. Dr. Pat Romney and Angelica Castro will be facilitating the three listening sessions, which are scheduled for September 9, September 16, and September 19.

Ameen announced that the JEDI Committee is in the process of adding a student from Amherst College as a new member.

Director Predicts Circulation to Double
When asked how renovations to Western Massachusetts libraries have impacted usage, Director Sharon Sharry responded that “the industry rule of thumb is that circulation doubles within the first three years ‘100% of the time’.”

Patron attendance since the library moved to its temporary location at 101 University Drive has been fairly stable.

Sharry predicts that once the doors to the new library open next year, “the community is absolutely going to be overjoyed.”

Library Leaders Concerned Over Declining Literacy
In the meeting packet, Sharry attached several essays on trends in reading. Included were “College professors face an emerging challenge: We know students are no longer reading entire books” by Amherst College Professor Austin Sarat, a commentary on the impacts of ChatGPT by Amherst College President Michael Elliott, and a lengthy analysis by Rose Horowitch in The Atlantic titled “The End of Reading is Here.”

Sarat notes a finding that some entering college students have not read a single full book from cover to cover during high school.  Elliott argues that growing reliance on easy and instant answers from artificial intelligence threatens the mission of higher education, dulling critical thinking and the health of democracy. Horowitch offers sobering statistics suggesting that the age of reading may be drawing to a close.

In Amherst, where a book is featured on the town seal, these observations undoubtedly resonate. What remains open to debate is how best to direct limited public and library resources to address the issues.