Library at Vancouver mall may survive

How’s this for a page-turner:

Services for thousands of Southwest Washington customers hang in the balance today when the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District board must decide which program and staff reductions are needed to balance a grim 2009 budget.

-- The library district’s Books-by-Mail program? Likely to be killed, or scaled back sharply.

-- Bookmobile service? Probably safe for now, given insufficient time to study the resulting impact or any alternatives.

-- There also might be a reprieve for the popular Vancouver Mall Community Library, marking its 25th year in the Westfield Vancouver shopping center. Library officials report progress in talks with Westfield management over lease adjustments that could help keep the branch afloat through 2009.

-- Even so, public hours and days of operation at several FVRL branches could be trimmed to reduce costs.

-- The district also could choose to impose fines on overdue books and other materials. The long-avoided step would bring unknown extra cost, along with new revenue.

The regional board will hold a public budget hearing at 2 p.m. in the downstairs meeting hall at the main Vancouver Community Library, 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd.

Board members must bite the bullet and approve a final 2009 spending plan of about $18 million, one that assumes at least $1 million in spending reductions.

Several high-dollar options are on the table that would mean significant changes for library users.

When the board last met Oct. 28, closing the mall library was, by far, the biggest item: A nearly $600,000 savings was projected, pushing the district halfway to its budget goal.

But FVRL officials say Westfield has been receptive to efforts to save the branch. The mall library averages more than 700 checkouts a day while operating seven days a week, making it the third-busiest of 13 FVRL branches so far in 2008.

Already, Westfield has postponed a major interior remodel job it demanded of each tenant, part of a larger mall makeover. If the library district can delay until after 2009 about $500,000 in cosmetic upgrades, the branch may stay viable, library officials say.

“We are in negotiations. They are interested in keeping us in the mall,” Patty Duitman, FVRL operations director, said Friday. “We did get their attention. The leasing agent and I have been in contact every day” since potential closure of the mall branch library was first reported, she said.

A Westfield spokeswoman Friday declined to comment on the talks, other than to say the company “values all of its tenants.”

Duitman spent last week crunching budget numbers, trying to whittle about 6 percent from the district spending plan.

Planned spending for employee training has been halved, limited to essential work with new technology. Only in-district travel is budgeted. Scheduled district vehicle replacement and various building improvements have been shelved, as have most small equipment purchases.

The proposed budget also assumes 10 to 15 unspecified staff layoffs in 2009, Duitman said.

Jack Burkman, FVRL board member and budget committee head, said he’s heard from many patrons. Reaction was swift from mall branch supporters, followed by that from Columbia River Gorge residents who rely on the bookmobile and other services, he said.

“Personally, I’m optimistic we can keep the Van Mall branch open,” Burkman said. “But we don’t have all the information yet.”

He said the public understands the district isn’t alone in facing budget pressure.

“The general theme I’m reading (in e-mails) is, everybody’s hurting. Do the best you can,” Burkman said.

Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.