Cumberland County could become the first in the state to eliminate its library system.
The Board of Chosen Freeholders is expected to vote on a budget Tuesday that would lay off the Cumberland County Library’s 17 employees, a move that would essentially close the facility. County officials say they need the money — the county budgets about $800,000 for the library — to help balance this year’s budget.
Should the county’s library close, officials with the New Jersey Library Association said that Cumberland would be the first county in the state to completely close a library because of budget problems. Not only would the library building on Route 49 in Bridgeton be shuttered, but its bookmobile — which provides library access to residents in the rural western end of the county — wouldn’t leave its parking space.
Library officials say the closing would occur at a time when more residents than ever are depending on library services for everything from research for school projects to Internet access to classes designed to improve their chances of finding employment in a sour economy.
The most recent statistics available from the New Jersey State Library show that more than 530,000 people used the Cumberland County library and the municipal libraries in Bridgeton, Millville and Vineland in 2009. That number of visitors is more than three times the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimated 2009 county population of 157,745 residents, and represents more than 30,000 more library visits than in 2006.
Acting Cumberland County Library Director Jean Edwards said the state library statistics — which show almost 69,000 county library visits in 2009 — aren’t accurate: Those numbers don’t include the estimated 30,000 people who use the county bookmobile. They also don’t include an estimated 10,000 children who weren’t counted by the county library’s electronic counter, which records visits by people more than 3 feet, 7 inches tall. The system was recently changed to count shorter visitors.
Including those numbers raises the number of county library visitors to almost 110,000 in 2009, she said.
However, using the state library statistics and adding the 40,000 customers that Edwards says the statistics don’t include, the 2009 number still represents fewer county library visitors than in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Edwards said she doesn’t know why the state library statistics would indicate a decrease in visitors. She said part of the reason could be that more people may be opting to walk to the urban Bridgeton, Millville and Vineland municipal libraries rather than drive or take limited public transportation to the county library location.
Closing the Cumberland County library could have a ripple effect.
Officials with the Bridgeton, Millville and Vineland libraries say they can’t afford to add the technical support and Web-based reference system provided by the county library. They also contend that their quarters are already too cramped to accommodate the more than 100,000 people who may likely turn to their libraries should the county library close.
“They don’t have the space,” Millville library director Irene Percelli said.
Bridgeton library director Gail Robinson said her library is already running at a deficit and its future is also uncertain.
“We’re running on charity until the end of fiscal year,” she said. “That’s the only way our doors are remaining open.”
New Jersey Library Association Executive Director Patricia Tumelty, who once worked for the Cumberland County library, said the situation for county residents is particularly grim.
“When you close a library in a county like Cumberland, I really truly believe you take away opportunity,” Tumelty said.
Karen Elwell and her family live in the Fairton section of Fairfield Township and use the county library about twice a week.
Elwell said she pays $50 a month for home Internet service that doesn’t meet the family’s needs. The $50 is all the family can afford, she said, so she goes to the county library to use its free Internet service.
Elwell, 53, said she works one day a week as a registered nurse. She said her husband is retiring as an electrician, something that will force the family to start paying for expensive health-care coverage and cut back its expenses.
“Probably the first thing we will give up is our $50 internet service,” she said.
Isaac Thompson is a 35-year-old unemployed Bridgeton resident who said he visits the county library twice a week. He said he uses the library’s Internet service to look for employment.
When it comes to home Internet service, Thompson says, “Can’t afford it.”
The freeholders are aware of growing resident opposition to the proposed library closing. Board members have received hundreds of e-mails and letters from residents opposing the move. Library supporters have packed recent freeholder meetings to voice their objections. Some school children have even started petition drives to keep the library open.
While acknowledging the importance of the county library, Cumberland County Freeholder Chairman William Whelan said in an e-mail to The Press of Atlantic City that, “We will not be able to comment on the library until we strike a budget. We hope to do that on the 26th. We are currently awaiting state approval of the budget document.”
However, some other freeholders recently offered several proposals regarding library service.
Cumberland County Freeholder Louis Magazzu suggested the Bridgeton, Millville and Vineland municipalities merge to form some kind of new county library system. He said while the services that system would provide might not match what’s currently available in the county, it could be more than county residents will get with a closed county library.
Cumberland County Freeholder Carl Kirstein said another possibility is to give the municipal libraries some of the county library tax money. That could help those three libraries meet increased customer demand caused by closing the county library, he said.
The freeholders have also suggested residents use the Cumberland County College Library.
About a decade ago, many people thought that libraries, faced with competition from the Internet, would become extinct. That didn’t happen, as libraries changed with the times and started offering more diverse services and programs. Libraries also embraced the Internet, using it to make services more accessible to the public.
The result was a steady increase in attendance, and not just in economically struggling areas such as Cumberland County.
The state library statistics show that, from 2006 to 2009, library visits increased by:
n About 100,000 at the Atlantic County library
n 77,000 at the Cape May County library
n Almost 373,000 at the Ocean County library
Municipal libraries in those counties also showed visitor increases during that time period, state library statistics show.
Edwards said she was surprised when she received notice from the county that the library’s staff, which includes 11 full-time and 6 part-time workers, could lose their jobs.
“We do a whole lot with that number of people,” she said.
Edwards said that includes handling diverse requests, such as questions about recipes, Bible verses, Lenni Lenape clothing and movie trivia. She said that the county library had more than 7,000 visits in March, marking one of the busiest months in the library’s history.
She also said that visitor numbers this month are down, something that could result from people thinking that the library is already closed. She said the library put a sign along Route 49 to let residents know that it’s still open to service their needs, especially in a tough economic period.
“When people don’t have money, they come to the library,” Edwards said. “A lot of people come in and say they have no money left after they pay the bills. They can’t afford cable (television) or going to the movies.
“They feel this is a comfortable place. It’s safe, and they feel secure.”
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