The San Jose Public Library Foundation, a non-profit that brings in money to support the city’s libraries, is hoping this year’s city budget will include $2 million which the group says would allow the libraries to return to their normal operations before the pandemic. Library locations throughout the city started reopening in the spring of last year and have yet to come back to their full, pre-pandemic operating hours.
Since the city of San Jose is dealing with a budget surplus of $27 million this year, library advocates are hopeful city officials will give them the money they need. San Jose Vice Mayor Chappie Jones is one of those advocates. “It’s going to be a challenge. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s a big ask. San Jose is probably one of the most underfunded, understaffed cities in the country. So every budget cycle is always a challenge to provide funding for all of our priorities and key initiatives,” Jones told San José Spotlight.
In a request separate from the San Jose Public Library Foundation, City Librarian Jill Bourne also asked city budget directors to include roughly $2 million for her department. “Restoring our hours and the programs that we provided prior to the pandemic are our No. 1 priority. Libraries aren’t just buildings with books in them. When they’re open, they need staff to be able not only to help people find the resources but to hold all of the programs that we have from citizenship to digital literacy,” Bourne told San José Spotlight.
If the money is granted, it would be used to restore many programs that went away during the pandemic like classes that teach English as a second language. The money would also pay for 30 positions, both full-time and part-time, which include new security guards. Shockingly, according to San José Spotlight, “San Jose’s 24 library branches share a single security guard.”
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo recently released his budget recommendations and funding libraries were not at the top of the list of priorities. Homelessness, public safety, and battling blight were his top three issues, followed by climate and seismic resilience, equitable economic recovery, and fiscal sustainability. Based on those priorities, a budget plan will be released in May and must be approved by the city council to move forward. The libraries will have to wait until then to see exactly how much money the city will end up giving them, but given this year’s $27 million surplus, there is a lot of hope the $2 million funding request will come to fruition.
