West Side library targeted for closure

By Elise Mckeown Skolnick

The branch is within 3 miles of two other public libraries.

YOUNGSTOWN — As a cost-cutting measure, the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County will consider closing the West Branch facility.

The library system’s building and sites committee voted Monday to recommend the board of trustees close the branch. The trustees will consider the committee’s recommendation at their meeting Thursday.

Carlton Sears, library director, cited the cost involved in making repairs to the building as a reason to shut it down.

“It’s in need of major investment, and it doesn’t seem like a prudent use of funds, when you’ve got one library that’s seven minutes away and one that’s five minutes away, at this time when money’s very hard to come by,” Sears said.

Necessary repairs to the building would cost $160,000.

The West Branch building, located at 2815 Mahoning Ave. on Youngstown’s West Side, was built in 1928.

Fewer personnel, collections, equipment and utility costs will provide an immediate savings, he added.

The West Branch is 2.2 miles from the Austintown branch and 3 miles from the Main Library.

“We’ve got an awful lot of branches,” said committee member Judge Mary DeGenaro of the 7th District Court of Appeals.

Services can suffer if the organization is spread too thin, she said.

“When [the branches] were built, our society was much more pedestrian,” Judge DeGenaro added.

If the board of trustees votes to implement the recommendation, the closing process will begin immediately.

“Any time a library closes, it’s not a very pleasant thing,” Sears said. “I went to library school to run libraries, not to close libraries.”

Current West Branch patrons will be made to feel welcome at the other branches, he said.

Due to a decrease in funding, primarily from the state, the library system faced a $2 million deficit at the beginning of the year. Other cost-cutting measures, such as reducing its book budget, brought that shortfall to $841,000 in May. Other cuts will be considered.