Judith Davidoff
Monroe Street Library
The Monroe Street Library is slated for temporary closure as the Madison Public Library board proposes cuts.
While the Madison Public Library and its branches are still closed to normal business operations, the library is looking ahead to its 2021 budget. At the upcoming library board meeting on July 2, several options will be discussed to come up with the 5% decrease Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has asked of all city agencies.
Three scenarios are laid out in a document attached to Thursday’s agenda. All options start with closing the Monroe Street branch.
“Physical restrictions during the pandemic will not allow us to open Monroe Street safely,” says library director Gregory Mickells in a phone interview. The smallest of Madison’s branches, Monroe Street could open, but “maybe with one person inside,” says Mickells.
Mickells knows the importance of the Monroe Street branch to the neighborhood. “It is intended to be temporary,” the director says. “It’s not been an easy decision or easy to propose.”
Mickells says he has been receiving a lot of emails: “Many writers share their age and how long they have lived in the neighborhood. The older population uses the library a lot and that is the very population we don’t want to put at risk. That is a huge priority,” Mickells says. Monroe Street opened in 1944. It is about two miles from the Central library and about two and a half miles from the Sequoya branch, Mickells notes, so services are available nearby. Even so, “this is their neighborhood library. We understand that.”
Madison Public Library reopened some branches for limited public computing on June 22. “You see how it’s needed,” Mickells says. “Those resources are important. Imagine going without internet for four months. For some people, the library is their only access for that.”
Mickells says that library staff are preparing more alternatives before Thursday’s meeting before the board.
Current options listed on the agenda are:
A) Close Monroe Street and reduce operating hours to one shift at all other locations. Central, Pinney and Sequoya keep Sunday hours.
B) Close Monroe Street and eliminate Sunday hours at all locations. Sequoya, Pinney and Alicia Ashman reduce hours to one shift. Meadowood, Lakeview, Goodman South Madison and Hawthorne remain at regular operating hours.
C) Close Monroe Street and eliminate Sunday hours at Central. Sequoya, Pinney and Alicia Ashman reduce hours to one shift. Meadowood, Lakeview, Goodman South Madison and Hawthorne remain at regular operating hours.
Members of the public wishing to register support or opposition to an agenda item must register at https://cityofmadison.com/clerk/meeting-schedule/virtual-meetings/open. Those who register will be sent an email with the information needed to join the virtual meeting. Audio is also available by calling 877-853-5257. Written comments on agenda items can be sent to mpllibraryboard@madisonpubliclibrary.org.
Update: Library director Gregory Mickells has passed on the following information:
Here are the exact numbers using a calculator that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has provided to all Wisconsin libraries to calculate their occupancy in order to be in compliance with their local public health guidelines. Madison Public Library does strictly follow the guidelines for the safety of our staff and the public. You will also have to consider that capacity is only when people respect the social distancing rules in which Monroe St. Library offers very little flexibility.
Here is the DPI calculation:
For Monroe St. Library
Total square footage: 2,500
Total square footage of inaccessible space (basement, work closet):750
Total square footage of space closed to the public (meeting room): 450
Approximate size of collection: 500 square feet
MSB public space: 800 square feet
10% Occupancy: 1 person
25% Occupancy: 3 people
50% Occupancy: 7 people
With the main floor being about 2/3 of the space, it would be about 4 or 5 people total at 50% occupancy rate.
Those numbers would have to include staff. We never staff a building with only 1 staff member. Monroe will usually have 2-3 staff. That is how I arrived at the 1-4 estimation for customers that could maintain safe social distancing.
