Petersburg library faces $10,000 IMLS cut, collection budget trimmed and service changes

Petersburg Library staff told the Petersburg Library Board that the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has terminated a pass-through grant that funded a statewide interlibrary-loan coordinator and other local services. The termination will cut roughly $10,000 from the library’s budget and will end the Anchorage-based staff support the board said handled out-of-state interlibrary loans for small Alaska libraries.

That loss, staff said, will affect a small number of patrons who request out-of-state materials: "We actually got our letter of termination of grant later last week," a library staff member said, adding that the staff person who coordinated interlibrary loans “is going away as of June 30.” The board was told about roughly a dozen annual patron requests that relied on that service.

Why it matters: board members said the loss is likely to force local changes in how rare out-of-state requests are handled and will increase per-library costs if Petersburg must re-subscribe to the OCLC cataloging/loan service. A staff presenter estimated a direct OCLC subscription would run about $3,000 a year, which the board said would be difficult to justify for the small number of requests the library receives.

Board discussion centered on service impacts and compensating cuts. The library director and staff described an expected 27% reduction in the collection-development line—cutting that budget from about $37,000 in prior years to roughly $27,000 for the coming year. Staff said the borough manager had requested voluntary reductions, including a staff member moving to a 32-hour workweek, and that the library had built that into its revised budget request. The packet also showed a $20,000 request submitted to the marine passenger fee fund; the board was told borough budget work sessions begin May 1.

Board members pressed staff on service hours and closures. Staff said negotiations with borough budget staff reduced the scope of service cuts; one board member thanked staff and borough staff for negotiating so Petersburg would not have to close on Mondays. Staff described other trade-offs: maintaining evening hours is harder to staff, and the Monday morning demographic includes many caregivers and early-childhood patrons who rely on morning programming.

The board did not take a formal vote on these budget items at the meeting; members were briefed and directed staff to pursue the borough budget process and follow up with additional details at future meetings. Staff said they will present the library’s revised budget and answer questions at upcoming borough budget work sessions.