Library Poised To Cut Services At 5 Branches In 2023

The Milwaukee Public Library is poised to cut service in 2023, slashing hours and programming at five libraries. And like many city services, it might appear as a small cut come 2024 and 2025 when the city is poised to fall off its fiscal cliff.

Four of the 12 branch libraries would see their Saturday hours eliminated entirely and an overall reduction in open hours of 22%, from 48 weekly hours to 37.5. Programming services would be eliminated at those libraries. The Martin Luther King Library would close entirely early in the year, with no temporary replacement, as a new, mixed-use replacement is built.

Library Director Joan Johnson said the strategy, a result of a cut proposed by Mayor Cavalier Johnson and the city’s fiscal reality, is designed to minimize the impact. “This results in a smaller number of branches being impacted by significant changes,” she told the Finance & Personnel Committee as it reviewed the library’s budget on Oct. 6.

The library system would also try something new. It would offer “enhanced” community-focused programming services at three libraries to mitigate cuts elsewhere. This includes adding a librarian position to three libraries and offering direct services with partner organizations.

“With this approach, there are still multiple locations you can go and get those services,” said the library director.

Mayor Johnson’s proposed 2023 budget calls for a $1.3 million cut from the library’s “cost to continue” proposal for branch library staffing and the elimination of 31 full and part-time positions. The total library budget would fall by $559,422 (2.1%) to $25.6 million, reflecting the rising staff and operational costs to provide the same level of service.

“I’m disappointed you had to deal with such a large cut,” said finance committee chair Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic.

Dimitriejvic’s local library, the Bay View Library, is one that could see service cuts based on a data analysis prepared by MPL. The Library Board of Trustees would make a final decision on what libraries to cut.

The library management team has designed a matrix to identify what libraries to cut service at. Using a one through 12 scale, it considers the age of the library, circulation, total visits, wireless internet usage and public computer usage.

The age of the library will be given special consideration. “I really don’t think it makes sense to limit services and hours at locations where we’ve just sunk millions of dollars into them,” said Johnson.

The branch libraries are broken into three clusters (north, central and south). Two libraries each in the north and south clusters would see service reductions, while the central cluster would see King temporarily shuttered.

In the north cluster, Atkinson and Villard Square perform the worst in the analysis. But Capitol is the oldest and only performs marginally better than Villard Square, the first of the mixed-use libraries. In the south cluster the libraries all score nearly even, until you weight to recent investments. Bay View and Zablocki are the oldest in the cluster and circulation darlings, while Mitchell Street is the second newest in the city and Tippecanoe received a multi-million rehabilitation less than a decade ago.

Bay View is an example of how each library serves a different audience. It has the second-highest circulation and visit totals in the system (trailing out East Library), but the fourth-lowest usage for computers and wifi. It’s also the fourth oldest (when factoring in rehabilitation projects).

“I’m really concerned about the impact on children,” said Dimitrijevic. She said libraries serve as a proactive deterrent against violence, providing a positive outlet for children. She said a cut-after-cut approach would eventually lead to a similar situation she encountered when she was a county supervisor where a self-fulfilling cycle of service reductions and falling ridership took hold on the transit system.

Ald. Milele A. Coggs said people know about the role libraries play for materials and internet access, but in discussions with MPL staff she’s learned they’re essential for people filling out applications for housing and other services. “Libraries mean so much to people,” she said.

Referencing how when other branch libraries were redeveloped they were replaced by temporary libraries, she said she would have trouble voting for a budget that eliminated the King library in her district for 18 months or more.

Johnson said if she could get funding to reverse one cut it would be the King closure.

“If we’re already cutting this deep this year, what’s going to happen next year?” asked Coggs.

“Maybe we would have to close a branch,” said Johnson.

Budget director Nik Kovac, like Coggs a former library board member, said the hope was to avoid branch closures whenever possible because it would hard to reopen a branch.

“If we’re honest, the elephant in the room is the biggest part of our budget,” said Coggs of the Milwaukee Police Department and its $300 million budget. The city has cut police positions in successive years, but not saved money because salaries keep rising. “We can only suck the life out of the smaller departments for so long.”

The council would need to add $1.3 million to the library budget to reverse all of the cuts.

Alderman Michael Murphy asked why the city wouldn’t exhaust more of its American Rescue Plan Act grant, almost all of which is currently being used to delay the city’s fiscal cliff. “To be honest, next year is going to be terrible,” said Murphy in suggesting the city could consider keeping things as is for a year longer given the likely $150 million gap that will emerge in the next two years.

“The more we patch over this year, the worst it’s going to be in 2025,” said Kovac.

Ald. Scott Spiker pushed for consideration of more weekend service if hours needed to be limited. “I think that would be a natural thing to consider to take some of the bite out of the reduced service,” he said. Johnson and deputy Jennifer Meyer-Stearns said they would examine the possibility, but staffing is already at “skeletal” levels and emergency coverage of vacancies is already needed most during Saturday hours.

The library board will have a recommendation on specifically what libraries would see staffing changes in late October, with the council to consider budget amendments shortly thereafter. The council is to adopt its final budget in early November and the library board is to adopt a final plan of operations in late November.

The Central Library would be virtually unchanged under the current proposal as a result, said the library officials, of prior cuts and its role as the backbone of the system.