The 107-year-old, 115,000-square-foot building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was valued by the city at $16 million in the late 1990s; since then, the downtown area has enjoyed a building boom, the Providence Journal reported February 16.
“We may be sitting on $16 million that could be put to different use,” said library board Chair Lisa Churchville, who added, “This Central Library is in a neighborhood that’s not particularly easy to access and [lacks] parking. There may be another way to serve the public and to serve the neighborhoods.”
Providence Public Library is a private, nonprofit organization that receives $3 million annually from the city to provide library services. It is currently operating under a one-year agreement with the city that allows it to operate at a deficit in its $8.6-million budget, providing it maintains services and works with a group of mayoral appointees and library trustees to identify future options, the Journal said.
Posted February 16, 2007.