Providence Community Library Looking For Funds

By Ana Bottary

E: abottary@abc6.com

T: @anabottary

Exposed flooring, damaged furniture and water stains. These are just a few examples of damage at the Olneyville library after a drain in the basement got clogged back in April, causing water to back up in the pipes all the way up to the first floor.
 
"We had a couple of inches of water in the main library," says Che if Operating officer for the Providence Community Library, Susan Gibbs.

Gibbs says after the flood, almost everything had to go.

"Just the abatement and the restoration it’s probably about 50 thousand. That’s before we even buy any equipment," She says.
 
While the building sustained significant damage, Gibbs says many of the books were not affected. However books alone cannot keep a library open.
As of Thursday, the library remains closed. As the Providence Community Library searches for money to clean it up, it faces about a 100-thousand dollar shortfall for it’s current financial year. But they are finding ways to offset it, including shortening the hours library branches are open.
 
"I’ve noticed that the hours are different from day to day. That’s a little disheartening, because sometimes I would like to go and they’re not open," says library Goer John Pannozzi.
 
"I think it is definitely unfortunate because a lot of people use the library as a resource and they are not able to use it as much as they’d like to," adds library goer Amanda Morrison.

Library operational costs have gone up, but the providence community library says it’s received the same level of funding from the city since 2010. Gibbs says through the money they have saved by cutting back hours and raising funds, they hope to have Olneyville library open by the end of this summer
and regular hours back by the beginning of the new fiscal year in July.

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