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Posted July 21, 2006.

City Agrees to Consultant’s Plan to Keep Providence Branches Open

After accepting a financial consultant’s report that questioned the leadership ability of the Providence (R.I.) Public Library, the city’s Finance Committee agreed to the report’s recommendation July 20 to allocate an additional $250,000 to help keep six branches open and avoid staff layoffs. A day earlier, the PPL board of trustees agreed to contribute $250,000 from the library’s endowment and adopt the report’s suggestions for cutting the 2007 budget by $500,000, the Providence Journal reported July 21. The measures would essentially erase a projected $800,000 deficit.

The report was authored by Neil D. Steinberg, vice president of development at Brown University, who was commissioned by Mayor David N. Cicilline to review the library’s finances. Steinberg was critical of the library’s leadership, saying “respect and full disclosure do not seem to be a priority.”

The city has been pressuring PPL to allow public oversight of its decision-making process since it abruptly laid off 21 employees in June 2004.

In a July 20 letter to councilors, board chair Mary B. Olenn wrote: “We are hopeful that these fiscal actions, made in good faith, will serve to extend an olive branch from which we can build a new relationship of trust that has its roots in clarity of expectations for all involved.”

The actions came shortly after 67 workers voted no confidence in the library’s current leadership. Karen McAninch, business agent for the United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island Union, announced the result during the library’s board meeting July 19. Five other staffers supported the administration and 16 abstained.

City and library officials plan to form a working group of stakeholders to study the library’s financial, governance, and service issues.

Posted July 21, 2006.