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Library branch closing worries Chaney
The proposed closing of the West Side library was first recommended years ago.
YOUNGSTOWN — A Chaney High School educator is concerned about the impact on area students if the board of the Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County closes the West Side Branch.
“We are absolutely shocked at Chaney High School,” said teacher Richard Scarsella. “We send the Chaney students to the library. We just can’t even calculate the educational impact that closing the West Side library would have.”
The library system’s building and sites committee voted at its meeting Monday to recommend that the board of trustees close the 81-year-old-building. The trustees will discuss the plan at their meeting today.
He and fellow teachers were shocked when they learned of the plan, Scarsella said.
“And for [the board] to even consider taking action at a meeting [today] with such short notice to the community stakeholders we feel is very unfeeling,” he said. “You would think, at the very least, they would have some public hearings over a period of time. To my knowledge, none of that has been done.”
No decision has been made, and the idea to close West Branch isn’t something new, said Janet Loew, public relations director for the library system.
“The situation with West is based on a recommendation that was made when the study of the buildings was done for the Library 2011 plan. The study was done in 2002 and 2003. The plan was adopted in 2004,” Loew said.
Public meetings took place at each library branch, she said.
At that time, an in-depth study of the West Branch building, at 2815 Mahoning Ave. on Youngstown’s West Side, showed that several of the multiple roof areas were failing, multiple heating systems were in poor condition, and the electrical system was inadequate to support technology, among other problems.
The study concluded that the current West Branch facility is not worth salvaging.
“Even though the Austintown and Main library are only a few miles away, our students don’t have transportation, many of them,” Scarsella said. “They certainly cannot walk.”
A decline in state funding has caused the library to face a nearly- $2 million shortfall.
“We are trying to be fiscally responsible given the situation from the state,“ Loew said. “But closing libraries is certainly not something that any library system likes to do or wants to do.”
Annual cost of operation for West Branch is $228,403.
Scarsella said he is aware of the library system’s financial concerns. He recommends closing or merging smaller branches, such as Struthers, Campbell and Brownlee Woods, that would have less of an impact than closing the West Side branch.
The Library 2011 plan suggests merging the Struthers and Brownlee Woods branches.
At Monday’s building and sites committee meeting, Carlton Sears, library director, suggested the possibility of combining those and the Campbell Branch.