Mayor Fischer is gutting Louisville's main public library, union says

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the number of employees who would be transferred under this plan. It is 20.

Mayor Greg Fischer is being criticized for overhauling Louisville's main public library in downtown that city workers say will gut needed services for vulnerable populations.

Library employees joined with social justice activists Thursday evening to rally outside City Hall to voice their opposition to the changes, which would transfer 20 positions from the urban core to locations in eastern Louisville. Supporters say changes would disproportionately impact minorities and working-class residents.

Fischer addressed concerns about the downtown library when asked about the changes at a meeting with resident at a local barbershop. He said that the city has made progress in building three new regional libraries across Louisville as part of the system's master plan.

"When you're opening these additional branches obviously you have the need for additional people," Fischer said.

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Cole Sites, a spokesman for AFSCME Local 3425, which represents mostly library employees, said these changes represent the latest attack on the public libraries that the mayor has waged since taking office in 2011.

"Diverting funds from the main library, which serves and provides services for western Louisville, downtown residents, the homeless population and disabled folks to fund a library for the most affluent residents in the county in unacceptable," he said.

Fischer spokeswoman Jean Porter said that the mayor has made commitments to public libraries with seven branch renovations and expansions. She said library funding has increased by about $2 million in the past year and staffing levels have increased by eight positions overall.

"You've got this guy saying there's an attack on public libraries when just the opposite has happened," Porter said.

Fischer told residents that his administration has devoted significant resources toward improving the Shawnee and Western branches in western Louisville. He said no one is losing their job and that the changes won't impact how the downtown branch operates.

"If there is a diminishing of services that leads to some type of citizen dissatisfaction downtown, naturally we'll take a look at that," Fischer said.

There are about 55 employees at the downtown branch, according a memo sent to employees by Louisville library director Jay Blanton. Fischer's office said there are about 65 workers at the main branch.

Under the Fischer administration's plan, roughly 18 of those workers will be transferred to the new Northeast Regional Library and another two are going to the St. Matthews branch.

Louisville resident Michael McCloud, who works with disadvantaged youth, said taking that many personnel out of the main branch will impact many teens, young adults and poor people who use its resources.

"A lot of people who live near downtown and in impoverished areas don't have access to the internet, and if you're filling out a job application, need tutoring or to take SAT practice test, a lot of that is through the downtown branch," he said.

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McCloud confronted Fischer about the changes at the barbershop discussion, saying there are concerns the city is pulling resources away from those living in the urban core. He said he wasn't satisfied with the mayor's "wishy-washy" explanation.

Insider Louisville was first to report on the changes outlined in Blanton's memo that explained the plan. He said there would be funding for updates on the main branch's first floor such as new furniture, computer stations and work areas.

Blanton's memo also said the city will be making changes to the downtown branch's second floor, which contains several books and resources. Patrons will no longer be able to access the space but those items will still be available to the public, according to the mayor's office.

The space will be used as a remote storage facility that will later be offered to "partners and community service organizations," the memo said.

Sites said that would effectively eliminate certain services offered on that floor such as Adult Bookmobile, which provides books to seniors and the disabled who can't it to their local branch.

But Porter said the bookmobile and other services offered on the second flood will still be available but that those resources will be moved to other locations that have yet to be determined.

The library union said 67 library staff positions have been cut under Fischer's watch. The mayor's office disputes that claim, saying they have added jobs to the library system.

A Courier Journal review of library budgets since 2011 found 351 positions were listed in Fischer's first budget. Nearly 70 of those positions have remained vacant, but Fischer has increased the number of actual library workers by nine since he first took office.

Sites said the overall changes to the main branch will create more work for those who remain in the downtown location, which he said is already understaffed. He said that includes decreasing the number of computers, seating areas and restrooms available at the branch.

Blanton's message to library workers, according to Insider, did acknowledge the changes to the main branch would be "difficult and stressful" challenges.

About two-dozen library supporters, including state Rep. Attica Scott, assembled at Jefferson Square Park outside Fischer's office and Metro Council on Thursday to voice their objections to the plan.

Lucille McDonald, 89, who is wheelchair bound and lives in an Old Louisville nursing home, said she is a poet who is using the main branch to learn to use the computer.

She said moving library workers out to parts of eastern Louisville will impact visitors like her.

"Don't take from the poor to give to the rich, it's all up-to-do people out that way," McDonald said.

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/philb.