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Library director urges full funding as hours at Farms branch are cut to save staff costs
Summary
Beverly Public Library Director Allison Babin presented the FY27 budget, citing heavy usage across services and proposing reduced hours at the Farms branch and the loss of one full-time equivalent to meet cuts (about $80,000 savings). Councilors pressed for details on hours, repair lines and service impacts.
Allison Babin, director of the Beverly Public Library, told the finance and property subcommittee that the library carried out 921 programs with 18,813 attendees this year and logged more than 172,000 visits across its service points as she presented the FY27 budget request.
Babin said the system circulated 331,461 physical items and another 81,746 ebooks and audiobooks, and that usage tends to rise during downturns, increasing reliance on free municipal services. Confronted with a larger-than-anticipated budget reduction, library managers reviewed usage data and made targeted service changes to limit community impact, she said.
As part of those changes, the Farms branch will reduce weekly hours from roughly 52 (seasonal 45) to 33 (seasonal 30). Babin said staffing will fall by one full-time equivalent overall, a change she estimated would save about $80,000 in personnel costs. She said FY27 staffing will look like roughly 27 FTEs overall, including 18 full-time employees.
Councillors asked for details. Babin said the Farms branch accounts for about 6% of circulation (82% at the main library, 12% on the bookmobile) based on FY24 figures and door-counter trends dating to 2018. She also noted big, one-time repair costs in FY26—an elevator issue and a $20,000 bookmobile garage door replacement—that pushed the repairs line higher this year.
Councilors and staff discussed where the savings would appear in the budget book. Babin pointed to reductions in part-time hours and the loss of a 16-hour-per-week administrative position that handled accounts payable. She also said some material costs were shifted by retirements and step movements among librarians.
Babin urged the council to consider the library's return on investment, referencing an online "library use calculator" available from the state library which, when applied to Beverly's FY25 numbers, produced a valuation she described as demonstrating strong public benefit. She closed by reiterating the library's intent to preserve core services while managing constrained resources.
The committee scheduled follow-up (noted by the chair) and directed staff to post the community services meeting for Tuesday the 16th to cover related departments.
