107 replies to this topic

[Rudolf_Rocker]

This has been making the rounds on the SavePPL mailing list and on other lists.
It's from Library Defense:

July has been the month of NO CONFIDENCE in the
leadership of Providence Public Library.

This month we've seen the same declaration from very
different quarters.  

The Strategic Planning Team, the Steinberg Report,
Library Friends Groups, Community groups and
activists, City leaders, and now the staff of the
library itself!  

[If you didn't hear the news, it was announced at
Wednesday's Board Meeting: 67 library workers voted
against their current leadership, while only 5 voted
in favor.  16 abstained - mostly middle managers.  Yes
even they didn't vote for "Confidence"!  See staff
statement at end of this email and article in ProJo
7/20]

All of these groups, even while differing in their
visions of the library future, agree on one thing:

A change in PPL Leadership.

In a press release on PPL's website
[http://www.provlib.o.../pr071906.html]
the
spin continues.  Not only is the employees vote of
No Confidence not mentioned, but the claim is made
that they are agreeing to new leadership.  They write:
"The new board and the Municipal Library Working Group
represents fresh leadership."

First off, this new board doesn't even exist.
Secondly this is NOT what the calls for new leadership
have asked for - Dale Thompson and Mary Olenn taking a
"back seat".  What is needed, and what is being asked
for, is for the old leadership to resign and new
leaders, completely unconnected to past baggage, take
us into the future.

It's time for the PUBLIC to take up the same call.  We
suggest a public, grassroots campaign, in the form of
a petition or something similar, that asks for the
removal of PPL leadership.  Below are the statements
of the PPL staff and the Friends groups - perhaps
these could be your guide...
--------------------------
Vote of No Confidence in PPL Leadership

Over the past several years we, the employees of the
Providence Public Library, have lost our confidence
and trust in the current leadership of this
organization.

In order to sustain trust and credibility in the
modern public library, successful organizations must
be transparent and accountable.

During tight financial times, successful leaders must
cultivate political and communication skills necessary
to survive and thrive.

Despite the numerous chances it has been given, we do
not believe that our current leadership has the will
or facility to accomplish these tasks.

And so, upon reaching a time of no further recourse,
we call for a vote of No Confidence in the leadership
of the Providence Public Library.

--------------------------
A Vote of No Confidence

Both the Strategic Planning Report and the Steinberg
Report have cited current Providence Public Library
leadership as a major contributor to the crisis in
which the library now finds itself.  Neil Steinberg
writes, "As the attempt to establish a long-term
solution continues, it is evident that change in the
PPL leadership and board leadership should be
considered."  

We believe that the time has come for a change in
leadership at Providence Public Library.  Here are our
reasons.

Over the past two years, the leaders of the Providence
Public Library have lost the confidence and trust of
the public, city officials, and their own employees.
In 2004 the administration reduced the work force by
over twenty employees and more reductions are
threatened this summer.  Services have been cut back
at both the Central Library and the neighborhood
branches.  This year the Washington Park branch was
closed because of inadequate maintenance, and five
more branches-all serving the neediest sections of the
city-are headed for the chopping block.  In order to
stop this hemorrhaging and revive this venerable
institution, we call for new leadership at the
Providence Public Library.  

1. We believe that PPL needs new leaders who have the
political skills necessary
a. to work with city and state officials to increase
funding for the library;
b. to reach an agreement with the City Council to
democratize the
library's Board of Trustees;
c. to communicate persuasively with political and
business leaders, library patrons, Friends groups,
library staff, and the public at large;
d. to mobilize and organize employees, Friends, and
patrons to fight on behalf of PPL;
e. to find new sources of revenue, including
bond issues
historic preservation grants
community development money
emergency appeals to the public.

2. We also believe PPL needs new leaders who can
manage the library's resources more wisely.  Our
concern centers on the following issues:
a. the hefty raises PPL officials gave themselves
over a number of years
as the library buildings deteriorated;
b. the wasteful expenditure of many thousands of
dollars to develop the "Empire Street branch" while
reducing the staff, including reference librarians and
other valuable employees;
c. the hiring of consultants who have often given
dubious advice, including the recommendation to
abandon the Washington Street entrance to
the Central Library, which had been opened to great
fanfare and at considerable expense in the late 1980s,
and the suggestion in the recent Strategic Planning
report to close six branches (despite surveys showing
the public wants to keep them open) and replace them
with kiosks, a bookmobile, or rooms in apartment
complexes, recreation centers or schools.

We believe that the time has come to replace the
current PPL administrators and top board members with
new leaders who can bring stability and peace to
the library; leaders who can work with the City
Council and the Mayor to appoint neighborhood
representatives to the library's Board of Trustees,
improve financing, and end the infighting; leaders who
can save the neighborhood branches and treat the most
affluent and the poorest sections of the city equally;
and above all leaders who can restore public trust and
confidence in Providence Public Library.

Althea Graves
Chair, Friends of Smith Hill Library

Ray Arsenault
Chair, Friends of Mount Pleasant Library

[magoldbe]

Here's an invitation to a "read-in" at the now-closed Washington Park branch library. Come read books to kids to support Providence library reform -- two good acts rolled into one!

here's the initial notice:

Friends, Library Patrons & Activists:

Please join the members of the library reform group, neighbors, patrons of
the library and other community members in a "Read In Rally" for kids and
patrons of the now-shuttered Washington Park Library. We are asking people
to give their time to read to youngsters, talk with youngsters in the Wash Park
after school program & generally promote the importance of community learning
centers. Volunteers, residents, children, etc., will be setting up on the
front & side lot area adjacent to the former Washington Park Library building.

We believe it is important to let those who depend on the public library
know that Washington Park is not forgotten and we as a community will work hard
to keep our Washington Park community connected to the branch library.

To join the Read In--please let us know when you plan to come and then show
up. We ask people to also bring a book to read to kids. For more information
and to sign up or help organize; pass the word etc. go to our Library Reform
website which you can get to at: http://www.libraryreformgroup.org

A related link is also worth your time: http://www.notaboutthebuildings.com/

ALSO--PASS THE WORD. Our goal is to fill up the plaza with people reading to
our kids, talking to our youth, library program members etc. EVERY THING you
can do is helpful and greatly needed, appreciated and will reinforce/sustain
hope and support for the reopening of the Washington Park branch library.

Rochelle

[Cotuit]

brain   ...   ex.. plod..   ...ing.    get...    help...

Library could put downtown library up for sale [ProJo 7to7 NewsBlog]

OK, the idea of selling the central branch is not what gets me, I could get behind that under the right conditions (like the building WILL NOT be torn down), but...

Quote

“This central library is in a neighborhood that’s not particularly easy to access and [lacks]parking. There may be another way to serve the public and to serve the neighborhoods,” Churchville said.

HOW THE F*CK IS THE CORNER OF EMPIRE AND WASHINGTON NOT EASILY ACCESSIBLE!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!? It's in the center of the maude-damned city!!!! OK, if you can't bear to park more than 10 feet from your destination parking may be an issue. Has anyone ever tried to make any arrangements with are lot owners? Has anyone ever tried to address the parking 'problem?'

[eltron]

Cotuit, on Feb 15 2007, 04:51 PM, said:

brain   ...   ex.. plod..   ...ing.    get...    help...

Library could put downtown library up for sale [ProJo 7to7 NewsBlog]

OK, the idea of selling the central branch is not what gets me, I could get behind that under the right conditions (like the building WILL NOT be torn down), but...
HOW THE F*CK IS THE CORNER OF EMPIRE AND WASHINGTON NOT EASILY ACCESSIBLE!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!? It's in the center of the maude-damned city!!!! OK, if you can't bear to park more than 10 feet from your destination parking may be an issue. Has anyone ever tried to make any arrangements with are lot owners? Has anyone ever tried to address the parking 'problem?'

I just thought the same thing...
this is f-ing ridiculous. The entire library board and executive staff should be replaced immediately. It really cannot go on like this...

not surprising though...just more idiocy coming out of that poor mismanaged institution...

[jencoleslaw]

the library's people need to get some better PR.  It is almost as if they sit around at meetings and try to come up with the most ridiculous plans, to see what peoples' reaction will be!   How in Cod's name does anyone think that closing the downtown branch, at a time when we are working SO FREAKING HARD to revitalize downtown, would possibly be a good idea? I have said it before and i'll said it again. The trustees need to be replaced. the library management/admin needs to be replaced.
certainly the neighborhood branches are important, but i don't want to have to go to five different branches to get my books. I like a central library, downtown, and i don't give a cr*p that there's no dedicated parking. I have never had a problem finding a parking spot within a block or two of the library any time i've wanted to go.

frankly i think people in power who complain about parking should be fined.

[runawayjim]

jencoleslaw, on Feb 15 2007, 06:13 PM, said:

frankly i think people in power who complain about parking should be fined.

people in power who complain about parking should be forced to take the bus... which happens to go right by the downtown library.  

that would be the logical solution because then they wouldn't have to worry about not finding parking to begin with.

[Cotuit]

There are 16 bus lines that pass within a block of the library, 7 that stop right at the library's front door (although the front door is closed and you have to walk around the corner to Empire). If the economic situation is so dire, the neighborhood branches should close and the downtown branch should be expanded. Everyone in the city can reach the downtown branch on a bus.

[quente]

Cotuit, on Feb 15 2007, 07:28 PM, said:

There are 16 bus lines that pass within a block of the library, 7 that stop right at the library's front door (although the front door is closed and you have to walk around the corner to Empire). If the economic situation is so dire, the neighborhood branches should close and the downtown branch should be expanded. Everyone in the city can reach the downtown branch on a bus.

It has nothing to do with accessibility or parking or bad feng-shui; it has everything to do with money.

The article said the property's valued at $16 million, at least one developer has expressed interest in it, and boy, they could really use that money for other things.

I think it's absurd that they're even considering this and there's no friggin' way that building's going to be demoed without a major fight. The only explanation is that this is more posturing in an effort to get additional public support. They can't possibly be that stupid - or can they . . .

[Cotuit]

I'm assuming if they were to sell they would just no longer have a central branch. I can't see buying land and building a new central branch for under $16 million.

[jencoleslaw]

i know i watch too many cop shows, and movies about conspiracy theories, but does anyone else thing that the confluence of events--the DeJong report on schools that has everyone with a kid in public school all worried, Grove Street School demo which has preservationists and most of the west side all up in arms, the Library which will have just about everyone in an uproar, etc are all just red herrings to keep us all occupied while something truly awful happens right under our noses?

[runawayjim]

jencoleslaw, on Feb 15 2007, 09:13 PM, said:

i know i watch too many cop shows, and movies about conspiracy theories, but does anyone else thing that the confluence of events--the DeJong report on schools that has everyone with a kid in public school all worried, Grove Street School demo which has preservationists and most of the west side all up in arms, the Library which will have just about everyone in an uproar, etc are all just red herrings to keep us all occupied while something truly awful happens right under our noses?

they're tearing down the statehouse as we speak.

[jencoleslaw]

runawayjim, on Feb 15 2007, 09:21 PM, said:

they're tearing down the statehouse as we speak.

With legislators in it, or empty?  i think it matters on the outrage scale.

hey, i've been here over 20 years. when something horrible happens i am totally going to say "i told you so!"

[runawayjim]

jencoleslaw, on Feb 15 2007, 09:28 PM, said:

With legislators in it, or empty?  i think it matters on the outrage scale.

hey, i've been here over 20 years. when something horrible happens i am totally going to say "i told you so!"

empty of course... no one would be angry if the legislators were in it.

[Cotuit]

Well the woman they talked to on Channel 10 tonight said a new location could have, and I quote, "...a large parking lot." She needs to be removed from the board, she does not understand the city she serves. Channel 10 happily said that the patrons they talked to today did not express that parking was a problem for them. I assume they are aware of the 17 bus lines that run within a block of the library.

[Cotuit]

The buses that run off the bottom of the page run to Narragansett, Jamestown, and Newport.

One can take a bus from NEWPORT and step out on the doorstep of the library, how exactly is this "not particularly easy to access?" And these are just the buses that are within ONE block of the library. Almost every bus in the state runs within about 5 blocks.

[gregw]

When I first saw this I thought it was April Fool's but then remembered it was only February. The PPL board is so utterly incompetent. Their behavior has been disgraceful with their gag order on PPL employees, their bungling with the Washington Park branch, their costly do-over of the Central Branch with the closing of the Washington St. entrance, I could go on and on.

Edited by gregw, 16 February 2007 - 07:01 AM.

[gregw]

http://www.projo.com...P38.f2d635.html

At least the article says that the originial building would not be knocked down without a huge fight and that Struever is a potential developer.

Even so, this is a terrible idea as it would erode downtown's cultural offerings and quality of life. But it may come to nothing. You know, this might just be a ploy from Thompson to get more money from the city. She has done this in the past by threatening to close local branches.

Edited by gregw, 16 February 2007 - 07:34 AM.

[eltron]

Cotuit, on Feb 16 2007, 01:42 AM, said:

The buses that run off the bottom of the page run to Narragansett, Jamestown, and Newport.

One can take a bus from NEWPORT and step out on the doorstep of the library, how exactly is "not particularly easy to access?" And these are just the buses that are within ONE block of the library. Almost every bus in the state rund within about 5 blocks.

Not to mention that there is a very large and diverse population that is within easy walking distance...or that it is NEVER difficult to park within 3 blocks if you choose to drive.

People in this town are more idiotic than I ever imagined...
And the Library administration and trustees are at the very tip top of the list...

[Liamlunchtray]

Why oh why is the Library not run by the city? This is just disgraceful.

[gregw]

eltron, on Feb 16 2007, 09:48 AM, said:

People in this town are more idiotic than I ever imagined...

You're not kidding. Look at some of the ideas posted the Projo's survey related to this story. My favorite is that the Providence Public Library should move to the Warwick Mall.