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Buffalo Scraps Plan to Close
21 Branch Libraries

After nearly two years of public input on a consultant’s report, the Buffalo and Erie County (N.Y.) Public Library unveiled an alternate plan October 19 that would not close any of the system’s 52 branches, but stipulates that communities must use and maintain each of them.

The library’s new strategic plan, Expanding Horizons, replaces a November 1998 report that called for consolidating branches and turning some into hubs. It also outlines goals for improved services and programs to children and young adults, a reorganization of the central library, a program to centralize human resource functions, and the establishment of performance measures.

Director Diane J. Chrisman said in the October 20 Buffalo News that the library might broach the idea of shared-use facilities for communities with older, outdated facilities.

Residents who love the neighborhood branches hailed the library’s decision as a victory. “It’s not as glitzy as a new library, but what we want is books,” said one. “That’s what counts.”

Posted October 30, 2000.

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