Wake County may close Southeast Regional Library in Garner
By Paul Tambasco
News Editor
County library officials may close Southeast Regional Library in Garner later this year. Library officials have recommended the move in anticipation that they may need to trim $1.2 million from the department’s budget.
Like other county departments, the library system has been asked by Wake County administrators to identify seven percent in cuts from last year.
“Unfortunately we can’t look at meeting that kind of a reduction without looking at service outlets,” said Ann Burlingame, the interim director of Wake County’s libraries.
She and other library officials looked at other cuts before recommending closing the branch, which is located on Seventh Avenue.
“We wanted to limit the impact on the community. … We recognize that Garner is a valuable library … but to meet that big of a reduction this year we either had to look at closing five small libraries in the municipalities, three medium-sized libraries or one of our larger libraries.”
The Garner branch is one of the county’s busier regional libraries, receiving about 650,000 visits a year, Burlingame said.
Last spring, the library celebrated its 20th year under Wake County’s auspices. It is Wake’s oldest existing regional library.
To keep the older library going, some features would eventually need to be improved, Burlingame said. For years, the library has had a major parking shortage, and the programming room and other parts of the facility lack modern accommodations.
Some aesthetic upgrades were included in a recently passed bond referendum. But those projects are on hold until the economy improves and the county can sell the necessary bonds, Burlingame said.
Closing time?
In all, Wake County Library has 20 branches and employs the equivalent of 200 full-time workers.
Administrators informed Garner staff of the plans earlier this week. The library employs 25 to 30 people, the equivalent of 16 full-time workers.
Closing the branch will cut about $800,000 in annual costs. The other $400,000 in cuts will likely be to library staff elsewhere in the county.
“Most Garner staff will probably end up being relocated because they have a long history with the library system,” she said.
If cuts are needed, the branch would close in August, after the library’s summer reading club wraps up.
But plans change and the budget is still in its early stages. Last year, the county initially discussed closing five libraries. As June approached, the number dropped to two, and later zero.
Will that happen again?
“That’s the million dollar question,” Burlingame said.
In the meantime, Garner residents may want to get used to the idea of a longer drive to borrow books.
The nearest branches are Southgate on Cross Link Road, Olivia Raney in East Raleigh and the library in downtown Fuquay-Varina.
Burlingame understands local library goers will be disappointed by the news. Citizens should understand that the department faced a hard choice, she said.
“This library is a valuable part of our system and this was a decision that was very difficult for librarians to put forth. We don’t want people to feel like we were cavalier. It is no reflection on the service being provided, because the branch is one of our stars,” she said.
Note: An earlier version of this story conveyed that discussions to close Garner’s library were further along in the county’s review process than subsequent reporting later clarified. Rather, county library officials have recommended the Garner library be closed as part of larger budget cuts that may be made.
The Citizen apologizes for any confusion this may have caused.
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I absolutely refuse to “get used to the idea of a longer drive” to get to my community center, my resource center, my son’s favorite place in the world.
I can’t help but question why Garner isn’t as important as other areas. I can assure you, though, that I never would have moved my family to this town if it didn’t have a library. The very idea makes me wonder why I’m paying a higher tax rate than any of my friends or family in other states… I can assure you my ideas about Wake County being a great place to raise my family will certainly change if they go through with this horrible plan.
I really hope they are able to find somewhere else to cut expenses, since the ripple effect this will have on our community will be positively devastating.
Garner needs its library now more than ever…
Wake County treats Garner terribly–it should have been a part of Johnston County anyway!
Call Wake county & complain:
Wake County Public Libraries
919-250-1200
Wake County Government
919-856-6160
I agree and will do you one better…
Here are the Library Directors: http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/about/administration/default.htm
And here’s a list of everyone on the Commission: http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/about/librarycommission.htm
Citizens: please call and tell them we need our library just as much as other neighborhoods. In fact, we need it more. Don’t let them get away with this or we will have no one but ourselves to blame…
This is unbelievable. How can Wake County even consider closing the Southeast Regional library? Doesn’t the facility’s name give an indication of the number of area that are served by the library? I grew up in Garner (& still live there) and one of the best things about Garner is the library. When I was a child, the library was on Main Street (yes, Main Street) and later it moved to the building across from the current location. I can remember my mother taking my sisters and I to the library every week and we would come home with huge stacks of books to read. Later, the library became a place to do research for term papers, look for a job, and even learn more about breast cancer when i was diagnosed. I can only imagine how Evelyn Stevens would feel about this planned closing. In a way, I am glad she passed away before this horrible plan came to light.
Write your commissioners! The libraries themselves probably can’t help, but the commissioners can! Write the County Commissioners too. They will have the final say. They are proposing to build a new facility, but when? Could be YEARS! And in the meanwhile? All other local branches are way too small to support the demand!! Cut the book budget again, its easier to bring back later, but not staff and a library!!
http://www.wakegov.com/commissioners/default.htm
We’ve started an online petition…spread the word. A paper petition has also been started. Look for it in your neighborhoods, schools, and civic groups.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-the-southeast-regional-library
Why? I can’t believe the County Commissioners are considering closing on of the busiest branches in the library system. That place is busy no matter what day or what I am there. I’m a native of Garner and I’ve going to the Garner branch since I was a child. At that time, the branch was located on Main Street and I would actually sneak-out to go to the library. (My mother didn’t like me walking that far so I had to sneak there after school before she got home from work.) But Mrs. Evelyn (Stevens) would let my mom know I was okay.
This decision is a tragedy for Garner and the Southeast Region.
Unbelievable. What a blow this would be to us all. I, for one, cannot and will not sit by and do nothing. I would think it the library officials’ job and stated mission not to close libraries but to fight, fight, fight to keep all the service they can. No regional library for anyone should be shut down — but even more……….I cannot help but ask why has a library in one of Wake’s lower per capita income areas been chosen instead of one in a more affluent area? I wouldn’t want to see a library closed in Cary or North Raleigh either – but don’t do this to the folks who can afford to buy books the least. It’s an injustice. It’s wrong. And my Christian faith looking after “the least of these” impels me to take a stand. Jim Ferry, Senior Minister, Garner First Presbyterian Church.
The county commissioners meeting is open for public comment from 3:00-3:30. The next one is Feb 1 at the Wake County Courthouse, 7th Floor, Room 700. See you there!
This is an unacceptable blow to our community. I, personally, can afford to drive longer or buy books. I am fortunate enough to have access to the internet in my home. I take my toddler to the library to help foster the same love for reading and learning that I grew up knowing. However, there are countless people who count on the library for so much more. How many children will have no access to reference material or internet research. Where are they supposed to go to finish school projects? There are too many in our town that cannot drive at all, and thank goodness our library is so accessible to so many! This is not the answer. Libraries are not the place to make cuts. We need to stand up for Garner!
Closing Southeast Regional Library is a bad idea. It makes me sad to think that this would even be considered for a budget balance. To close a regional library would will have much more impact than closing a smaller municipal library. Cameron Village got a very pricy redo. They just opened that new library in North West Cary. Why does Garner need to lose it’s library?
that figures… the one library that is the busiest and serves the most citizens must be the one the has to close. What is happening to our world.. this makes no sense…. CLOSE the losers
Libraries were establised with the lofty goal of providing education to all people, regardless of their income or class. Since I moved to Garner as a child 26 years ago, the Southeast Regional Library has provided me and now my children with countless hours of entertainment and education. When I arrived at East Carolina University and took my English placement tests, guess what? I entirely surpassed all the required English classes. I was told they had never seen an AP English score as high as mine before–an education provided by the Garner schools and the Garner library. My husband and I were confident we could raise our children in our hometown of Garner because we trusted we could give them the same safe community and good education we enjoyed. I guess we were wrong. Raleigh has library branches in abundance. All the towns in western Wake county get to keep their libraries, but it is required to close our one library? Our strong library use in Garner is a testament to the will to improve ourselves despite our position in society. People in Garner aren’t as rich as those in Raleigh or Cary or Apex, so we must be a bunch of illiterate rednecks, right? No, this is just another detestable example of the Fat Cats in Raleigh balancing their budget on the backs of the hard-working citizens of Garner.
I am a freguent visitor to the library in Garner; and like others it’s just very inconvenient to travel 10 or 15 miles just to checkout books and the gas you pay for too. And what about Raleigh cause they have more than one library. And I know school children will need the internet and reference books for their studies in Garner school systems. As a senior citizen, I enjoy reading and surely on my limited budget I cannot buy books at the book store. Please find a way to save the Garner library.
I am totally against this closure. Not only will it be a bigger hassle for all the Garner area families to find other places to get books, but also to find a place that will facilitate activities such as tutoring.
In addition, unlike other large libraries such as the one in Cameron Village or Eva Perry over off HWY 64, Southeast Regional accommodates a crowd of children, teens and adults alike that are a lot of times from a much lower income as someone who would live over in Shepard’s Vineyard or near Cameron Village. The library acts as a place for children after school to come, do homework and work on things on the computer, when they might not have access to at home in a lot of cases.
Also, as I have scanned over the Wake County Library list, it has come to my attention that we have a concentration of libraries that are in much closer proximity to one another than Southeast regional is to any other one. Richard Harrison ( off of New Bern Ave) is only miles away from both the HUGE Cameron Village library and also minutes from Southgate (off of Cross Link RD.)
I feel that Southeast Regional, although may see to lack modern amenities, serves its purpose for now, and renovations can most definitely wait until the economy is in better standings. If this library is shut down, I feel that there will be a plethora of locals that will not even be able afford to go to a library farther; as well as children being left with nothing to do and no where to do homework, access the internet or even have a place to go to get some work done.
This library promotes numerous programs that helps people and children of all ages alike out, and without it I am really not sure what the lower income residents would do! I think the board should definitely look at the concentrated location of libraries and the population of which they are catering to.
Both myself and my wife are senior citizens and we use the library frequently. To close this branch would impose a hardship not only on us but on other senior citizens who use this facility. I don’t think that the “money people” gave much thought to what this closing would do to the community. I don’t believe they gave much thought to where would those children (who have no readly means of transportation) go to get reading material or research material for their classroom projects. All people who use this facility should let their County Commissioner know that they disagree with closing the library.
Join the Keep Southeast Regional Library Open Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Garner-NC/Keep-Southeast-Regional-Libray-Open/261952067897?
While there, also take time to sign the petition to keep the library open.
What!???? We can’t get a book store AND now they want to take away the library!!! Give us and our kids a break!
Personal arguments aside, let’s look at the aftermath of closing the Southeast Regional library. First, the mandate was for the Wake County library system to find 7% budget reduction. They could close 5 small municipal libraries, 3 mid-sized libraries or a large one. Why do you think the small libraries are small? They don’t get used is why. When you close the Southeast Regional library and those who can and are willing to drive to another library, how will the smaller libraries absorb the volume of people that will turn to them for their needs? They don’t have room for the increase in books that will be needed, nor do they have space for the people or the parking. How will the increased traffic affect current traffic patterns? They will be crippled and need … yup, lots of money to upgrade and be able to handle expanding the buildings, or build new libraries altogether. There goes your savings! Closing 5 municipal libraries would make so much more sense – the larger libraries could more easily absorb the displaced readers. Yes, parting is an issue at the SER branch. What is that expanse of ground behind the library – would it be possible to use some of it to provide an auxiliary lot ? Instead of taking an ax to the budget and make changes that will actually require more money than the proposed savings will provide, can we think it through a little and use a scalpel to make changes that will be more easily absorbed? (Yes adding parking costs money – but far less than expanding existing buildings and/or building new structures.
“The Garner branch is one of the county’s busier regional libraries, receiving about 650,000 visits a year, Burlingame said.
Last spring, the library celebrated its 20th year under Wake County’s auspices. It is Wake’s oldest existing regional library.” quoting Ms. Burlingame.
To me it does not make sense to close one of the busier libraries….We pay taxes too. Why should the residents of Garner have to drive anywhere to get to a library when we have one that is centrally located? The cost of gas will prohibit a lot of us from visiting the Fuquay-Varina library, and some of the others Ms. Burlingame mentioned are not in areas I want to be in after dark.
I intend to be at any and all meetings to express my displeasure over this pending decision.
Thanks Jess for the email contacts.
SAVE THE LIBRARY!
WE HOMESCHOOL HERE!!
Homeschool Writers’ Club will be making signs and standing on the sidewalks tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 27th from 2:30 onward. Please join us with your signs!
Southeast Regional Library
Garner, NC
Wake County
I am concerned over the possible closure of the library. The children in this community would not have a place to read or somewhere “safe” to go. Closing a library means that education is lost because many children do not have transportation to another library. Also, this library provides activities for adults seeking to read within groups. Please reconsider this library as possible closure, think of the children that would be affected and what would be left for them to do besides get into trouble.
concerned citizen
Back from the protest!!! We’ll be on ABC 11 news tonight!! Homeschoolers protesting the closing of the Southeast Regional Library! Turn the tv on!!
SAVE THE LIBRARY!
SHOW YOUR SIGN!!
Please join Garner area kids and parents this afternoon from 4 – 5 pm on the sidewalks of the Southeast Regional Library.
Please encourage your kids to demonstrate their love for the library by creating colorful posters not exceeding 2 feet in width and 2 feet in length. Our permit requires that only 10 signs can be displayed at one time. But, we’ll be sure that everyone gets a chance to show their sign within the allotted time frame.
Additionally, no sign may be attached to a stick or pole as a means of carry.
Pickets must march in single file and not abreast and not march closer together than 15 feet, except in passing one another. Pickets shall not be allowed to walk more than 5 feet from the curb line and shall be in continuous motion.
NO fireams or weapons allowed. And NO animals allowed.
Our Group Demonstration/Picket Line Permit is valid from Jan. 27, 2010 until Feb. 4, 2010 from 4 -5 pm. I’ll be there this afternoon for sure, but we probably won’t do it tomorrow afternoon if the weather is bad.
Thanks everyone!! NO KID SHOULD HAVE TO GROW UP WITHOUT A LIBRARY!!!
I am saddened and worried by this news. Can we remember a time when schools and libraries were not only respected- they were revered. What has happened? Close a library a library today – pay for low test scores and dropouts later. Shame on Wake Count for even putting the libraries in the position of having to suggest closing ANY library.