Good afternoon.

My name is Ben Weber.

I'm the Boston City Councillor for District Six, and I'm the chair of the Ways and Means Committee.

For the record, uh, today is May nineteenth, two thousand twenty-six, and the exact time is still two.

M.

Uh, this hearing is being recorded.

It's also being live streamed at Boston.gov slash city dash council dash TV at broadcast on Xfinity Channel eight, RCN channel eighty two, and file channel nine sixty-four.

Uh, just I have a couple preliminary things and then we'll we'll get to the panel.

Um, the council's budget review process encompasses a series of public hearings beginning in April running through June.

We strongly encourage residents to take a moment to engage in this process by giving testimony for the record.

You can do uh this in several ways.

Uh you can give testimony at one of our public hearings, or all of them if you uh if you can.

Um, you can do so in a couple ways.

One, you can show up in person to a hearing, uh sign in on the sign in sheet near the door, and you'll be called on uh for the public testimony portion.

You can also testify virtually at any hearing uh for virtual testimony, sign up using our online form on our council budget review website, or by emailing the committee at ccc.gov or by emailing our uh our budget analyst right here, Karish Machon at K-A-R ISHMA.CHO U H A N at Boston.gov, and you'll get a Zoom link to testify.

You can also uh come to the last or fourth of four listening sessions, which, and I've been saying, I've been reading the script and saying it's on Thursday, May twenty-sixth, but May 26 is a Tuesday, so it's Tuesday, May twenty sixth at 6 pm, right here in the chamber.

Uh anyone in the public, please come and counselors will be here to hear your testimony about what you want to see in the budget.

Again, at that listening session, you can testify in person or virtually.

So follow the same steps to get a Zoom link if you can't make it in person.

In addition to testifying and hearing virtually in person, you can email written testimony to the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov.

Lastly, you can uh supply your testimony by submitting a two-minute video of your testimony through the form on our website.

For more information on the council budget process and how to testify, please visit the council budget's budget, city council's budget website at boston.gov slash city-sorry, that was wrong.

Boston.gov slash council-budget.

We will have in-person testimony following a presentation from the panel and our first round of counselor questions.

Again, you'll be called on in the order you've arrived, or you signed up in, or um get a zoom link from our uh legislative budget analyst, Karishma at K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A.CHO-U-H-A-N at Boston.gov for the zoom link, and your name will be added to the list.

This afternoon's hearing is on docket numbers 0733 to 0740, an overview of the fiscal year 2027 operating budget for the Boston Public Library.

This is one in a series of hearings to review the fiscal year 2027 budget.

These matters were sponsored by Michelle Mayor Michelle Wu and referred to the committee on April 8th, 2026.

I'm joined by my colleagues in order of arrival, Councillor Flynn, Councilor Murphy.

I've received letters of absence from Councillor Louis Jan and Councilor Culpeper.

Now I'm just going to introduce the panel and then you can give a presentation if you have one.

We're joined today by the president of the Boston Public Library, David Leonard, the Chief Financial Officer of Emily To Karzik.

Great.

Okay.

The Director of Library Services, Michael Colford, and our director of neighborhood services of the Boston Public Library, Priscilla Foley.

Okay, so that's that's it for me.

I'm gonna hand it over to the panel and then we'll go to questions from our the counselors over here.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh it's a pleasure to be back with the council once again.

I believe this may be my tenth time uh presenting on our budget for the library.

Uh and it remains uh although we are a complicated institution with our own challenges, uh, it remains a joy and privilege to lead this institution uh for all of the residents of Boston and and beyond.

Um we have a number of slides to present on, but I'm just gonna pick off a couple of highlights from the slides so we can get to your questions uh in particular, uh, and which will also lead us into the budget picture.

Uh aha, you warned me about this, not to be too aggressive with the clicker, right?

So let me start right here.

And um you have all of this information in your packet, uh, but the BPL 2025 calendar year snapshot of performance.

Um, a few highlights that I want to um point out just to give context to the work of our staff and the institution system-wide.

So in 2025, we had over 3.2 million visits to the central library and all of our branches.

Um, our circulation numbers, i.e., the books borrowed, um, 1.9 million items in uh physical items, actual books, um, uh, which is actually an increase over the previous year, and 5.4 million um items downloaded as ebooks or e-audio books.

Uh the other number I want to point out is the sign-up of new library card holders at 129,000, which is uh which is kind of the norm for us uh from year to year.

Uh so what I want you to take away from this slide is a really strong year for the Boston Public Library in terms of serving the community.

Um, we base all of our messaging on our new strategic plan from 2024, which centers four key roles of the library in our work in community.

Those are our role as a lifelong learning and research partner, our work as a community engager, our work to present a welcoming destination at all of our physical and online locations, and our work to be a trusted resource.

Briefly taking a highlight from each of these four roles in community, from the lifelong learning and research partner role.

I just want to point out that last year we delivered an all ages summer reading program, whereas normally it's just for our young people, but last year we did a very successful program for people of all ages.

That was augmented by uh some work with our Lego grants.

So learning through play is an important part of how we animate kids' programs across the system.

Continuing in this role, one of the other highlights relates to our workforce development program, including our ESOL services, which continue to have wait lists and be much in demand.

And then looking at bringing history to life and bringing engagement to life around our arts and culture work.

We had 98,000 visitors to our revolutionary art exhibition at the Central Library.

The current exhibition, which will be up through September, focusing on the declarations of independence, has all eight copies of the original printing that the Boston Public Library holds for the people of Boston and the Commonwealth.

Moving to our welcoming destination, I am actually just going to talk about our major capital projects.

Fields Corner Branch is almost almost done.

And we look forward to an opening in this in the fall.

This is probably one of the two fastest projects in terms of the building going up.

And for those of you in the neighborhood, you can actually see it happening right in front of you.

That's more complicated, so we'll take a little longer, but but absolutely underway.

And we have work underway to support a future renovation of the remaining parts of the Central Library, the old McKim building on Copley Square.

Within our trusted resource category, I just wanted to highlight our intellectual freedom training, very relevant to today's period, that all staff who are very familiar with these principles and concepts, but it's always good to get retrained on things, as well as our books on band program, where we offer through private funding resources to those in other parts of the country who are unable to access resources in their local neighborhoods.

Our social service program servicing those who are housing insecure.

We continue to double down on that, again, supporting some with supporting that work with some external grants.

This year we're also able to extend our block programming to all 25 branches, and so uh, you know, whereas in years past people may have focused on just borrowing a book or going to use the space at a branch, programs and services are key to the work serving all of our all of our communities.

We also have work underway around civic engagement because we want people to be able to participate in our society and see the library as a resource for that work.

There's a whole set of accomplishments around our internal equity, diversity, and inclusion programs, workplace culture, and collaboration and communication.

We have our coming up on a year of our first data analyst on the staff who's able to help us look at our programs, understand who we're reaching, where they're from, and what they may might need.

And so there are a number of of programs that we are continuing to do either patron facing or internally to augment the work of staff.

Which leads us to a set of goals for next year.

Each of those slides also included some goals.

Those are aspirational, but they are contingent on what our budget capacity will be as we go into next year.

And so I believe we want to leave the budget conversation for questions.

But I do want to note that our proposed operating budget from the City of Boston is proposed as a $50 million $724,000 budget.

And so while we were originally asked to do a 2% cut across the board, we were able to look at a more modest set of reductions and cuts, because we want to avoid this is the guidance from city administration.

Was we want to avoid a situation where we have to entertain the possibility of layoffs, and we also want to ensure that our operating hours across all locations is currently maintained.

And so we've been able to achieve that within the flat budget, largely by holding trimming here and there, but uh holding a number of vacancies as unfilled going into next year.

You may have questions about that capacity.

This is about 1.5 million dollars below what our maintenance budget would have been as proposed.

Um so this will not be easy.

Uh, but it compared with many of our colleagues and what they are facing.

Uh we believe this is a fiscal responsible budget right now, and we will do our part um with belt tightening and other measures to ensure that it works.

Um we will be working with our city colleagues to ensure we don't hold too many vacancies because we could easily dip below the minimum standards of service across branches across central and across back of house spots.

Um then just uh a note on our capital budget.

Um the five-year capital budget uh totals about 231 million in proposed renovations.

Right now we are very focused on the uh Fields Corner and Chinatown branches, I mentioned earlier, which are well underway, and on ensuring the next project, which is the South End branch actually uh goes into construction uh during the course of the next year, and then there are a number of projects in the out years where there is a level of uh still of uncertainty about when they could start.

Um, did you want to add anything, Emily, or shall we move to uh counselors' questions?

No, I think if we can go ahead into questions and and we'll add some detail for you.

Okay, thank thank you very much.

Uh so we've been joined by Councillor Fitzgerald.

Uh, we have six minutes uh for a first round uh whenever you're ready, Councilor Flynn.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you to David and the library team for being here for your professional work.

I share David, as you know, the South End with uh John Fitzgerald and Reverend Cole Pepper were concerned about the South End Library.

David, can you make a commitment?

Is the money in the capital budget for the South End Library?

What is the delay when are we going to get this built, David?

Um yes, the money is in the capital plan.

Uh we recently got the release authorization from the budget office to ensure it can go forward, which means uh the uh early pre-qualification and uh bidding for uh contractors can begin imminently.

Um there is one uh outstanding issue, and we're both Priscilla and I are rushing off to a community meeting after this hearing.

I'll be there specifically to gather um community input on this last issue, which actually doesn't relate to the branch itself proper.

That design is done and fixed, but rather uh to ensure uh what is the best option for the alley behind the branch so that the our our colleagues in the public works departments can continue to service the residents appropriately.

Uh that particular matter uh took a little bit of time for our colleagues to get their arms around, and we believe we now have three options for how to deal with that, and we want to get one more piece of community feedback on those three options that will then uh once released and decided, allow the architect to get those documents ready to go out to bid.

Um so that will be a three to six month process to complete that and then be in construction uh within the next uh over the course of the next fiscal year.

Thank you, David.

I'll I'll be at that same meeting, you'll be at tonight.

I think it's either at 5 or 5 30.

David, do want to say that I did a walk through with some residents in the South End in Vac Bay on Friday, and some people from the Boston public library um team where they're out of Copley, want to say thank you to to them, to you, uh, for their professionalism um in joining us, but also for their input um in in addressing quality life issues, public safety issues.

So, wanted to start off on on that, thanking them.

Um so on the public library in the south end.

What are we doing or what steps are we doing on potential for any type of flooding, any type of heavy rain?

Um, as you know, that's what damaged the the library in the past.

But what is our strategy?

What is our plan?

I want to make sure my constituents, John's constituents, Reverend Reverend's constituents have the best public library that they possibly can be.

What are we what are we going to do, David?

Yeah, I mean, the the original reason that the branch had to close was because of the two flooding incidents in the basements, um, the basement.

And um, unfortunately, the prior design involved locating all of the mechanical uh plumbing, electrical work in the basement of the branch, and the current design um actually raises the branch um up uh the new design, and most of the uh equipment is located either on the interior or on the roof.

Uh so we we will not have that problem um again for sure.

Okay.

I've been active and engaged and involved in the Chinatown library.

I think the temporary library is great, the staff there is excellent.

Enjoy going down there and talking to them.

I want to acknowledge May of Mayor Marty Walsh also for pushing this public library in Chinatown.

Um, David, my question on Chinatown is how are we going to ensure, and I think your team does this well, but how are we going to ensure that Cantonese speaking residents are included, their voices matter, and that there will be books programs for the seniors that mostly speak Cantonese that they're included.

Yeah, I'm gonna turn to uh Priscilla Foley, our director of neighborhood services to answer that question.

Okay, thank you.

Um we actually had a wonderful meeting just last Monday, uh where Melissa was joined us in um for meetings like that.

We do make sure we have interpreters on site, but with that, uh the staff there are uh majority uh multilingual, and uh there are certain um positions that we have that we do require language uh in so making sure that we have either Mandarin or Cantonese speaker um at the branch, and um part of that is also bringing in community partners as well.

So the staff that are there, as you said, they're excellent, and they make sure that they're connecting with the um Cantonese speaking um community there.

Uh there will be, uh as you said, it is a smaller branch right now.

We will have about the collection itself will be about half um Chinese.

So we will be able to be continuing to serve uh residents there and then across the system.

Thank you, Priscilla, and thank you for your important leadership.

My final question, I think I have 24 seconds left.

Um, David, you you forgot about the residents of South Boston, though.

Um you you've um forgot about the community for the longest period of time.

We were trying to get a library built there, and you you said we were going to get it done, and then you know that fell off the um fell off the map.

And uh here we are.

What would happen to the plan for a brand new South Boston library?

So counselor, I assure you we did not forget about our uh friends and important residents in South Boston.

Um the uh next step always was and still is um a programming study uh to look at the conditions of the branch to look at the needs of the neighborhood.

We may even be able to use that vehicle to uh as we stated before uh to have one eye on the needs of the South Boston waterfront or the seaport.

Um, it there is remains funding for that study in the five-year capital plan.

Now we both know that it's a rolling five-year capital plan, and so that's one of the difficulties about no being able to say when things are in the later years, when exactly will we have capacity to do that.

Um so our set of our list of priorities has not changed, our order of precedence has not changed.

Uh, but as I sit before you today, because it's in the latter years of the plan, um, I cannot give you a guaranteed year when we will be able to do that work.

The good news remains that it is still in the plan, and so we have um it on our horizon to do as we have the available funds and capacity to execute.

Thank you.

I I receive not complaints, I receive um questions all the time from residents as young as like two years old, three years old.

And the little kids are they love the library, they're there with their their mothers or fathers or nannies at times, all the way from two years old to my parents at age 87 years old, who are frequent users of that branch.

Yeah, so they won't be they said to me before um they pass along they want to see a brand new library, and how can you say no to your parents, David?

You know, I understand I understand your quandary uh very well, uh, very well.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, counselor.

Thank you, David, and thank you to your team for always being professional.

Um thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Okay, thank you.

Counselor Murphy, uh six minutes.

Thank you.

Council Flynn, I have a young and old story to share.

I first want to thank you all for being here, but also give a shout out to Miss Celeste from the Rosendale branch.

So I'll share with you this digital image she created yesterday.

So that would be my great niece, my niece Murray's daughter, who's 10 months old, and they have a program there of the um 1,000 books before kindergarten program.

So she is the youngest ever.

She got there at 10 months, but she visits the library I think daily and is continuing and has already hit a thousand books um way before kindergarten before her first birthday.

So it's just shows the you know the importance of our libraries, but also I know I've called you and talked before about like the chess club that moved from the Adam Street branch to the Lower Mills, and it must still be going on because I went over Monday night to help my mom like watch my dad while she went and she had her chess bag with her.

So I want to thank you for that also.

Libraries are just places there.

All of our residents can visit, hopefully, and just thrive there.

So it's important that we continue to fund.

So I'm glad to hear that we don't have cuts.

Unfortunately, this is you know a year where we may have to, you know, make hard.

We do have to make hard choices, but I'm glad that we don't have to make hard choices with our libraries.

They're like life-saving spaces for our neighbors.

So and also want to shout out and thank my district counselors who I know speak eloquently about advocating for the branches in their neighborhoods as an at-large counselor.

I obviously represent all of the branches and care deeply that we continue to invest in them.

Um, so I really don't have more specific questions.

I know you're always open and just a phone call away if there's any questions or um advice or just information I want to pass along.

But Priscilla, if you maybe could just speak to if there are any libraries, I know some if they're under construction, they're just try to be creative.

But if there are there's certain branches that you've been needing to give, you know, a little extra support to to make sure they can continue to provide services if they're in some sort of in between stage, either with staffing or construction.

Yeah, so we actually uh along with our operations team uh we actually did a furniture survey, which I know that that seems like something that's so basically so important to have the right chairs, the right tables, the right size, and we are actually working to just on that basic thing with making sure our furniture is accessible because if we have a table from 1930, it's not necessarily gonna fit 2026 standards for how we use the library.

So we're looking at that for our branches that maybe are further out on the capital plan and making sure that we are getting furniture for that.

So that's like the basics, making sure we are still a welcoming environment.

And in additionally, we work with um the Boston Public Library Fund to uh all of the branches are able to request additional program support, which is one of the ways that we have this amazing chess um programs in the system.

So we we have a lot of different opportunities to be bringing in uh different kinds of programs.

There's sort of maybe a riskier program.

Like, oh, we've never done this there before, and like you know, they like the Brighton branch just started, they're shut up and write, and so people just go in there and they write together and they can share what they want, and they you know, we've been in there since 2010, but again, with the furniture uh we need to be looking at that.

So we have a lot of different opportunities to continue to welcome people across the system.

Awesome, thank you.

Just thank you for all you do, and we'll all be advocating and making sure your funding stays strong.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Okay, thank you.

Uh, we've been joined by Councillor Braden, uh, Councilor Fitzgerald.

You're up next.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, Ms.

Lynn, I know you say uh on the cuts where everyone's taking a haircut, and just the what do you feel the most?

And I asked that because I know you said you're keeping some of the jobs uh the vacant jobs available where a lot of others are the vacant jobs are being cut from departments.

Just talk to me about the strategy a little bit more in depth and sort of where you're feeling more the heat or what you're concerned about, and if you could uh what would you want to preserve?

Yeah, I think um uh and uh our CFO will be able to give you a couple of examples related to the collections budget because um uh that is still our bread and butter.

Uh, you know, the thousand books before kindergarten, those thousand books have to come from somewhere.

Um, so uh and in last year's budget cycle, the council actually restored part of the collections budget cut that we experienced.

Um the council restored a hundred thousand dollars of a two hundred thousand dollar cut, uh, and that cut is actually being carried forward to this year, so in exactly the same position against a backdrop where uh materials are costing more and where the demand for more expensive ebooks is actually increasing.

Um, so that's one area if you'd like to talk a little bit more about.

Sure, no, I can jump into that.

Um, so our collections budget, we are eligible for state aid funding, to particularly to service operations, building operations for the library.

Um, so to be eligible for our state aid funding, we need to spend the equivalent of 12% of our city operating dollars on collections.

So for us, that's a little bit over six million dollars annually.

Um the city operating budget typically is between like 3.5 to 4 million dollars that the library receives for collections.

Um, and what we're seeing recently, a couple of different things.

Um, one the cost of materials that David just referenced.

So a physical book itself, the average cost is around $20 for us to receive a digital format, whether it's an audiobook, an ebook, is around $70 per item, and those are actually only valid for two years.

So you're essentially leasing the leasing the item.

Um, what we found over the past few years is the demand for the digital copies to actually far exceed the physical.

Um, so I think 2025, um, the audiobook actually was the um the most checked out circulated item that we had through our collections.

Um that's not only an easier way for people to to receive items, it also provides an accessibility.

So people who may not be able to hold a book, um, may not be able to focus on a book for that long or perhaps turn pages.

We're actually providing additional access through our materials by uh purchasing more of these digital collections.

Um, and what we're finding though, because of the demand, um the hold times are exceeding.

So we have six million dollars, it's actually um providing us fewer quantities um of books in our collections.

Um and I wanted to point out um right now our largest hold um across the system is a book, a fiction book that just came out last year, or excuse me, last month called yesteryear, um, and currently the library holds 417 copies.

Um there's over 4600 people on hold.

So what that equates to is 305 days hold for an ebook, um, 270 days hold for an audio book or 50 days hold for a print book.

Um if we were to say a reasonable time period, um we will fulfill all of these holds within a month, it would cost us $55,000 just to do that for this one title.

Um so the collections budget and the demand that we're having, we're trying to keep up with it in service um the community.

The other piece of this on the flip side, um uh going back to the vacancies, um, these holds aren't gonna go away.

Um, so what we need to ensure is that there are staff in the buildings who can respond to people coming in and saying, why am I waiting nine or ten months for this book?

Um, and actually being able to engage with them and say, here's something that you can get off the shelf right now that's equivalent, it might be in the same genre, and making sure that we're we're engaging with these folks and supporting um uh reading for pleasure, um, and and like David said, um, you know, our core responsibility here.

Awesome.

Thank you for that answer.

I would add if I could that when it comes to vacancies, if a a small branch has six staff or a medium-sized branch has eight staff, and maybe they have one vacancy, they'll still be able to open successfully and maintain hours, but where is the time for programs and outreach work that brings this fully to life?

So again, this is workable, this is fiscally responsible right now.

Uh, but we're one or two vacancies away in any place from uh not being able to meet that.

So we we're we're we have a commitment to continue working with our budget colleagues to ensure we don't we don't pass that threshold.

Thank you.

Um I know I'm running out of time.

Do you think yesterday is in high demand because everyone just wishes it was yesteryear as opposed to today?

You know what?

I haven't been able to get it off the shelf at that.

So I'll have to give back to you.

Okay, you're probably yeah, you're you can't bump yourself up in line there, right?

Um although I do find it odd that uh by going to electric, I thought everything was supposed to be faster, it's more expensive and have slowed things down.

That's not a great sign overall, but I that's just an aside.

Um to some of the physical aspects very quickly.

Um thank you for the fields corner branch, looks beautiful so far.

I can't wait to be at the ribbon cutting, it's gonna be awesome.

Um, and I love the little triangle we have there of academics, athletics, and arts with what's going on uh in across at the old Iblad's building.

There should be like an arts thing going in, and then you have town field to cross.

I think if you can do all three, you'll become a good individual.

So I'm excited to bring my kids down there.

Um the Uphams Corner branch.

I know that there's we got a public-private partnership housing going in.

Just explain to me where we're at.

I think the holdup is on the housing side, if I'm not mistaken.

Uh, but maybe.

Yes, it's the housing um funding specifically.

Uh we we have a developer on board.

Uh we have our own architects on board.

Uh they've gone as far as they can until uh the developer is able to get the right combination of housing subsidy and housing funding for the overall project.

Um so you know, we're good on the city side, we're good on the um on the library side, um, and they are dependent on uh a variety of commitments uh either from the city uh through housing or more directly from the state for housing subsidy, so ready to ready to go when when they are.

Um, and that's what it will follow the same path as the Chinatown timeline, for example.

That sounds great.

And uh I know my time is up, but I just want to say, as a neighbor to the Adam Street branch, uh I just saw a riveting performance of Peter Pan uh by my oldest son who's in the third grade at the Kennedy School.

Uh, and we thank you guys for letting uh the school and the library having such a close relationship being right next to each other, and um, it really works out awesome, and my kids love going to the library after school, and so I don't want to um disincentivize that even when the time is not there.

Like it's hard to say look at your kids and be like, no, we're not gonna go to the library, right?

Like that should be the only thing you want your kids to do.

Um, but so thank you for that opportunity for myself.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Okay, thank you very much.

Councillor Braden.

Good afternoon.

Um, a couple of things.

Um, the audio visual equipment that we got funding for for the Holman Library.

Um, are we are we in the procurement process or where's that at at the moment?

Go ahead.

Um thank you.

Um we're uh going through a couple of things right now.

One is we have a gift agreement that we're working through with Harvard for receiving the funds, and then part of what we need to do uh basically is show them a scope of work.

So this is what we've outlined for the location, the costs associated.

I know um they like specifics on um updates and and making sure that um the material and the software that we're using actually can last you know five, ten years.

Um so we're working through the scope, um, and I hope to have the gift agreement um complete soon.

Very good.

And um are we fully staffed in all of the branches like the Holan?

I think they had they were down one, maybe.

Um, Priscilla, you know, I do know.

So we actually have a vacancy of the branch librarian, Karen O'Connor retired earlier this year, and we're uh currently in the search for um a new branch librarian.

We have extended an offer uh for a children's librarian.

Um she's coming up from Texas to come work here, which is fabulous, and uh we anticipate her start date in June.

So Alston Brighton will have full staff we expect um you know in the next few months once the Horn and Austin position is held.

Excellent.

Um and then um I'm just thinking about this is the 250th, and uh we are our Boston public library is uh pride of joy, uh, our pride and joy in the center of town.

Um, are we doing any special programs around the history given the incredible history that the Copley Square Library has as a repository for presidential papers and God knows what?

Why, yes, we are.

Um so uh we just completed um the uh larger exhibition, 120 objects from our collection, uh, revolving around different stories of revolutionary art, uh basically telling the story of the history of the country through different pieces of art in a very inclusive manner right through all of the decades, not just dragging something from um you know uh 250 years ago, but really telling the whole story as a journey.

Um, right, and that had that was that had 98,000 visitors while it was open.

Um, right now uh we have our declarations of independence uh exhibition up at the central library.

Um that has um not one, not two, but eight copies of the declaration of independence on display, which we hold and have held for many many years.

Um they've never been on display together before, uh, and so that will be up through September.

That is our premier contribution to um to the celebration of the 250th anniversary.

Um, our programs team and several of our branches are doing other programs as well.

Excellent, and then um are you can you outline any new or strengthened partnerships for schools, community centers, or nonprofits in the upcoming year?

Um so we have an ongoing relationship with the Boston Public Schools in particular.

Um, and I believe there is a program actually uh in the next week or two uh specifically around supporting um the GSAs of the Boston Public Schools.

So we continue to look to different opportunities uh for collaboration.

Um the Boston Public Library is also an infrastructure provider to the school library system through the Metro Boston Library Network, and we continue to support uh support that work.

Um, I think Priscilla and I probably both agree that um at the local level, um, it's the where the branch librarian or the children's librarian has a strong relationship with the local principal or teachers.

That is where it really comes to life in a meaningful way, and we want to continue encouraging those collaborations really across the city.

We continue to develop multiple partnerships across the arts and culture space, across the education and learning space, and across human services and civic engagement.

For his years of service in community impact, really through seven years of collaboration.

Okay.

I've got uh 45 seconds left.

Let's see what it can do.

Um in terms of um programming for residents with limited English proficiency.

I know we all we have a network across uh the city and then Alton Brighton in particular, we have our adult learning coalition.

Um I think that includes the librarians.

Uh in this moment, are we able to keep up that level of service and and offer those and ask Michael to respond to that?

Yeah, we're actually doing quite a bit in that area.

We um we bundle our English language learning with workforce development and digital literacy and entrepreneurial support, social services and community connections.

We don't view them as isolated programs but really work really well together.

Um we continue adapting our services in that area in response to any changing workforce and immigration trends.

We're focusing on a few areas right now.

Um multilingual ESOL instruction and workforce curriculum development together to help people find better jobs or find jobs.

Um we're doing one-on-one workforce support and continued case management approach with uh people who are looking for work, and then really we just entered um received a fairly large grant where we were able to hire a grant-funded ESOL and work readiness instructor who um speaks several languages, and he's gonna be really um build on the workforce education that we're already doing and training system-wide across the entire system.

So we do have currently 20 excuse me, literacy classes, including workforce focused classes and a chorus that helps people learn English by singing.

Seven of those classes are at six branches, Mattapan, Roxbury, Grove Hall, West End, Chinatown, and Rosendale, 11 are at Central, two are online.

Then we also have 11 conversation groups where people can come and practice the English together.

They're at 10 branches, they're at Jamaica Plain, Honored Alston, Parker Hill, East Boston, Fanuel, Rosendale, Connolly, Chinatown, Lower Mills, and Common Square.

We also have Tenet Central and Four Online.

So as David mentioned in his opening remarks, I think before you got here, we can we are having trouble keeping up with demand.

There are many, many people who are um looking for these services, so we're just trying to keep keep ahead of it.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My time's up.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, thank you.

A couple questions from the chair, and then we're gonna go to public testimony.

If anybody is here and they want to give public testimony, please sign in on the sheet near the entrance.

Um, okay.

So uh I guess one thing I I don't think I heard about was Egglison Square branch.

Uh maybe I wasn't listening close enough.

But uh where are we at?

Um I think last year we talked about having designs being near nearly finished.

So, yeah, so on the capital front, um, we're effectively waiting for there to be um uh funding available uh for it to go next essentially.

Um the South End is uh as we talked about earlier um is will be happening next year, and the funding has been released for that.

Uh, South End does not have a branch right now, and so um it was very important that that go and go first of the ones that are uh not already shovels in the ground, and from the library's point of view, uh we would we would um we would see Eggleston Square go next as soon as funding's available.

And what's the what I what is a timeline on that?

Um I don't think five years, 10 years, isn't it?

The funding remains in the five year capital outlook.

So it's really about the cash availability and on that front um that that is the balancing act that our colleagues at the capital office in finance have to have to balance across the city.

Okay.

And then I I guess so I I've been asked about and I think Councillor Braden uh got to this um but like foreign language programming uh you know in Jamaica Plan and I I've heard that there's been a calls for more of it I or some of it I don't know what we're offering uh right now.

Oh there we go uh we have language uh programs available all over the and as um we were talking about uh we have an endless need of ESOL classes but like for example at Connolly we have um Maria who's a fabulous librarian there who started a Spanish language book club so we do want to make sure that our our key roles of making sure that we're connecting language access to uh workforce development but we also want to make sure people are having fun and which is really important and so we do have um you know classes that are for that or uh even just uh people that don't speak Spanish that are learning Spanish at the Connolly branch and so we do have multiple um language programs that are for you know some of them are targeted and some of them are for open for everybody.

Okay and then it's so you just have but is that just your funding staff who are already there so happens to I mean or is that how the that the programming for that works or do we have it yeah so I was saying it works so many ways.

Yeah.

I think in an in our ideal world that we understand for each community what are the languages other than English that are spoken predominantly and we rely to a little a little extent on the BPS data for what what languages are spoken in the home.

From our point of view having collections that are responsive to those languages having programs the partners that we engage to help with programming and then incending staff either they already have the multilinguage capability or um can um become um can take on a challenge of at least being conversational perhaps in those languages that's that's our ideal so um in terms of partnering with the Office of um language access uh in the equity cabinet in the city as well as our own um equity diversity and inclusion managers uh focus uh being able to deeply understand what the needs are so that we can be a multilingual institution but that is not an overnight proposition as you can imagine.

And I think last year in the budget I think there was like a fifty thousand dollar maybe amendment from from us for diversity in hiring at the BPL has that been used and has it.

Yes and Michael can speak to the specifics I think we have three individuals in September.

This is the yes um we have a partnership with Simmons University and so um we are people who are going into the uh master's degree in library science we have um availability for three positions we currently have one external candidate who is going through the first year of their program and in September they'll be starting in the second year of the program which has them working in the um in the system and then also starting to in September we have two more candidates that ended up being internal candidates who will um who are not who do not have the library degree and will be starting their first year of the program the program tends to be out about two to three years um and it is to try to diversify the um the pool of library uh applicants and we're very excited about INEX three to have our three in September.

They'll also help us fill out some of our vacancies and do some of the work and line.

Thank you to the council for um ensuring that was preserved in last year's budget.

Okay.

Uh and then just going over the budget uh for the library department.

I see you know for for permanent police it's it's about 35 million.

Is that right?

That's I have 51.

Correct.

Thousand.

Um is the line I is this the number five one zero zero zero uh so and that's down 500,000.

Is that impacting your staffing levels or sure?

So the the library city operating budget um is personnel heavy.

So we're about 70 percent toward personnel and then 30 percent um remaining expenses that that get allocated to city operating budget.

Um this was part of the challenge um when we were coming up with our budget submission for this year.

Um we did focus on uh current vacancies.

We wanted to make sure that we can maintain operating hours um and avoid any changes to filled positions.

So uh the drop that you see there is related to our um budget reductions that we proposed around holding some of the vacancies.

Um I think there were a couple of um long-term um old positions that aren't actually current anymore that were removed as well.

So that's why you're seeing the drop there.

Okay.

And then like I there's a large increase or a couple hundred thousand in utilities.

I don't know is that just it's expensive to keep the lights on.

Sure.

So that's a centrally um budgeted line item there.

Um I know the city utility rates fluctuate year to year, um, but we noticed that as well.

Okay, okay.

Uh so it's gonna wrap up the first round.

I don't know if anyone sign up.

Nobody, nobody's here to give public testimony.

No, you sure.

Uh going once, going twice.

Oh, did you sign up?

Okay, great.

So, in the order you signed up, you can come down and read your name out.

Uh you'll have two minutes each, and then we'll go to a second round of questions from my colleagues.

Um, um just give me a second here.

Uh, and then to watch the clock, and at two minutes, again, like just you know, we can work together on this.

I'm used to being told to wrap it up.

Okay, I'm not gonna cut you off.

Just uh please, you know, just acknowledge that you're aware of the the time and uh work.

Okay, whenever you're ready.

Sure.

My name is Bryce Kieran Healy.

I've lived in Boston since 2008, and I've worked at the Boston Public Library since 2014, where I'm a cataloging supervisor as well as the chief steward of the Boston Public Library Professional Staff Association.

I'm here today for the latter because the city's proposed budget cut for the Boston Public Library is a step in the wrong direction for the library, a step back for the city of Boston, and an attempt to balance the books on the backs of library patrons and library workers alike.

For a system that is already barely trading water, this budget seems designed to break rather than build the library.

Our own strategic plan highlights how the BPL is critically underfunded and understaffed relative to peer public libraries and pure American cities.

In my own department, staffing cuts on filled positions and an increased workload is ensuring that we are falling behind and are struggling to process materials in order to meet the public's needs.

We're entering a period of sustained economic crisis and social uncertainty, and the library will be needed more, not less in this time by the public.

Library funding therefore needs to be sufficient to the task at hand, and it is presently not as city workers.

We cannot make all the city does possible on mere thanks alone.

We need resources and we need support.

We cannot do more with less, we can only do less with less.

The library needs increased funding for more collections, for more programming, for more resources for patrons, and for more staff, and for better compensation for those staff because we have to live in the city.

And we deserve not to just be able to get to just a scrape by here, but we deserve to be able to thrive, and our communities deserve to as well.

They deserve a fully funded, fully staffed library that can fully meet their needs and allow them to thrive as well.

As a representative of the BPLPSA, I'm calling for the city to course correct, reverse these cuts, and to raise the budget of the Boston Public Library so that the library workers can meet the needs of our patrons and our communities.

Thank you.

Thank you, and well done with the time.

Uh Alison, uh Khan, I think.

So I'm misreading here.

Hi, I'm Alison or Ali Hahn.

I'm the president of BPLPSA, and I am also the children's librarian out at the Brighton Branch Library, um, more fondly referred to as Miss Alley out there.

Um, and I'm here today to say it maybe a little nicer, a little less nicely than my um the senior leadership team has presented.

They're doing a really good job of reassuring you that we can continue that what our services are with the money that we are being given in this budget, and that is likely true.

Our staff is dedicated, our staff is self-sacrificing, our staff they are public servants through and through.

None of us get into this for the money for sure.

But these budget cuts, even though they might look small on paper, have incredibly large impacts in our communities.

A loss of collections as we face those rising costs of physical and print books that Emily went through, books that we don't even get to keep at the end of all of that because they are digitally snatched back from us, makes demand hard to keep up with.

While Boston is prioritizing keeping their library open in this fiscal crisis, that is not true across the commonwealth, and we serve as the library for the commonwealth, in addition to serving as the library for the people here in Boston.

So as other libraries across the state close or have to reduce their service and reduce the collections that they have there, BPL is there to catch them.

We are, as Bryce said, treading water.

This budget will allow us to continue, and that is much better.

We will not have to lose our staff that are currently employed, which is of the utmost importance to all of us, and we will be able to keep those doors open for the people that need us the most.

But at the end of the day, this budget has incredibly real impacts on the people who need us the most, the people who will be relying on us when things get harder.

Our free classes, our free books, our free programming for children.

It is in a lot of ways.

I serve as the preschool for kids who are not in preschool.

I get them ready for kindergarten the same way a private education might get them ready for kindergarten, but I can only get less kids ready if I don't have the funding I need to support their growth and education as part of the library.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay, no one uh virtual, so go for a second round, uh five minutes.

Counselor Flynn.

Thank you.

David, just want to follow up the on that public testimony.

Are there programs that are being cut that impact youth children in terms of literacy or or other educational programs?

I think I would characterize it as capacity rather than individual programs.

And we heard in the uh public testimony from our colleagues about the challenges that already exist, uh, and that certainly I shared last uh year with the council in referencing our strategic plan, which did in fact look at us compared with our more well-funded peers across the country.

Um, and so had we not been in this more broad fiscal crisis this year or fiscal um challenges this year, I would certainly be sitting here advocating for deeper investment in the library because the need is so great, as you also heard from our colleagues.

Yeah, but but getting back to the question, capacity is the word use.

But if there are programs being cut for youth, for educational programs for children literacy programs, that's what I'm trying to get at.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Um, to David's point, um the loss that we may see is regarding uh delay of vacancies being filled.

So the actual programming dollars, the funding for the classes or the materials, or the outside contractor coming in, those um are not currently in our city operating.

Okay, because basically because there's a hiring freeze or we're not moving forward on potential new hires, that person is not able to provide educational programs, outreach literacy, literacy programs for youth.

Is that fair to say?

The staffing would not be there to provide those programs.

The actual funding for the vast majority of our programs, however, does not come from the city budget.

It actually comes from external funding, and uh mostly through the Boston Public Library Fund, our 501c3 partner on this effort.

Um, they are not predicting a fall off in their funding this year.

Um, so it's from the library's point of view, the risk factor here is about the staffing levels.

David, the Boston Public Library Foundation, yes.

How much do they have in the bank?

Um I don't have that information um with me.

Does anybody there on the panel have that information?

Not to me.

Is that public information?

It's a private 501c3 entity, so uh we would have we could request the the balance sheet.

But do they fund the public library system?

They fund programmatic um aspects of our work.

How much do they provide each year?

What we have available on the website, and I apologize I didn't bring those figures today.

Um we do post annually what's called a gift report.

Um so all of the funds that come in from external sources, um, we have the totals there for all of those donations.

And you will see in the budget packet a reference to the external funds budget, which includes uh funding on an annual basis.

So for example, in FY24, the total um from uh those sources was 3.4 million in 25 3.8 million, and we don't have actuals in the budget for 26 or 27 yet.

That's what they yes, that's what they donate to the uh public library from multiple sources, but yes.

Okay, so how would I get that information about how much they they have in the bank?

Uh we could request that.

Okay.

So those trustees are appointed by the mayor, is that correct?

Those are not.

Those are not that's a self-perpetuating uh board privately um privately uh incorporated.

Okay, then then the one that's appointed by the mayor.

What is what is their role?

Uh so they have um care and custody of the library, uh, which means that we kind of have dual reporting both to the mayor and the council, but also to the the library's board for oversight of policy and strategy.

Okay, and just uh just one another question.

The public library property, or the public libraries in Boston, that's all owned by the public library.

Is that accurate?

City of Boston.

It's owned by the city of Boston.

It's not owned by the public library.

It is not okay.

Ownership of the land and buildings I think is almost exclusively, if not entirely, uh City of Boston.

Same with Copley?

Yes.

Okay.

How much how much of the property at Copley at Copley is City of Boston property?

Do you have an idea of how much like all of that area outside?

Do you know how much?

I don't I don't have that off the top of my head.

Uh, I mean, the the total square footage of the two complexes is just shy of a million square feet.

Um that includes all of the interior space and the exterior space.

Okay, thank you, David.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, thank you very much.

Councillor Fitzgerald.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, I don't really have any further questions.

I just want to say thank you to the folks that came and testified and those that work.

I think the great thing about these hearings and hearing from folks who are on the ground is you always learn a different way to sort of look at the job and your perspective of hey, we are the we are the teachers before they even get to teachers, is uh is a is a light that I hadn't thought about it in, and I think that's a very cool way to look at your job.

So I appreciate I have that much more appreciation when I see it under that light.

So thank you for describing and educating me in that light as a librarian is ought to do, right?

So thank you again.

Um, but also to uh all the librarians and all the Dorchester libraries.

I thank them, especially the ones at the Adam Street, and thank you all for the work that you do and provide for the city.

So uh that's it, thank you so much, guys.

Okay, just a couple questions from the chair.

So, in terms of vacancies, is is there a hiring freeze?

Like what?

There is not technically a hiring freeze.

We are running between 45 to 55 active vacancies currently, and about half of them are released to be to be filled um currently.

Okay, uh and let's see, so uh different topic.

Uh West Roxbury Library, uh, we would love to have a new carpet, especially in the children's room.

How do we get that done?

Is that does that come out of capital?

Is that you mean?

Um we have, as we said, uh we have our operations team is working through and then identifying locations that we do need to have some consistent uh upgrades and and replacing that but we we will um definitely include that in there but it's um that there would be a mixture of capital depending on how um how extensive the project is okay yeah I mean it seems like a small ask you know but uh it would make a huge difference and the it's very heavily trafficked and the carpet hasn't been able to hold up as well as we we had hoped um uh okay uh let's see so that there's um there is like an external funds for permanent employees it goes down from several million to like 400 thousand uh can you just explain what impact that has I think yeah um so yeah it's going actually oh no no you know again it's going up sorry I misread this so it's going up 477 can you just explain what's happening with that then so it's going from 5.1 to 5.6 million sure so there are um contracted increases to the salary so that's uh year over year um and that's what that figures representing okay and yeah who who would the external fund permanent employees what's the who who's doing that except for the um it's it's a combination so um uh some we have some library for the commonwealth um funding we have our associates another one of our um philanthropic uh uh arms funds some positions as well um it's a a combination I would note counselor that all of the employees regardless of funding are city of Boston employee and subject to the same standards whether those be um through one of the two unions or exempt positions so even though the funding source may be different um the entirety of the population is uh uh staff population is is one body okay uh okay and then um there's another drop in the budget for library administration personnel services can you explain what's going on there I had to explain it to myself Counselor Webber um so we did notice that as well um when we put in our budget reductions um for this year and like we've already pointed out um we were focusing on the vacancies so when we actually submitted them into our budget they were um uh qualified as salary savings within the president's office which hits that administrative line um so that's where the salary savings um the reductions that we made were captured um they are not all going to hit the administrative line it's it's vacancies across the system but that's um what that that figure is showing okay okay thank you very much uh so that that's that's all the questions I have uh counselor forcher thank you very much for sick and round at the end um I want to thank the panel for for coming in and answering questions I want to thank everyone who came in to give public testimony and central staff for making the hearing happen and and all the staff for the our libraries that we I mean you know we love our Boston public library system and and uh look forward to all the great work you're gonna do in the next year okay with that said uh this afternoon's hearing is now adjourned.

Thank you Mr.

Chairman Okay