By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
ASHTABULA — Saturdays are great and Sundays are OK, but Wednesdays were the best day of the week for Jake Forney.
Jake, 10, looked forward to after-school programs and snacks at the Harbor Topky Library on Wednesdays. Wednesdays were the best day to take his time through the shelves of books and pick the right one to read before bed.
But state budget cuts have closed the library on Wednesdays.
“I don’t like how they closed the library on Wednesdays,” Jake said. “I would be really upset if they have to close the library another day, too.”
Shutting the doors of the Harbor Topky Library for two days a week is a possibility, library director Joe Zappitello said.
“We reduced our staff by four by dissolving four positions,” Zappitello said. “We are buying books sparingly and we are open to the public just 38 hours a week.”
Zappitello said Harbor Topky Library will go to the public in November with an operating levy to restore library programs, services and hours of operation.
“The public has been so good to us, we just need a little help to bring back what we were forced to cut,” he said.
Zappitello said the 2-mil levy is not “a moneymaker,” but will help restore the library to its 2001 funding status.
“The cost is about $1 a week to the residents,” he said.
Zappitello said library officials were forced to make some tough decisions when the Ohio Legislature cut Public Library Fund money by $84.3 million over two years, but had threatened to cut $227 million as recommended by Gov. Ted Strickland. Public library funding established at 2.22 percent of the state’s general revenue by legislative action in 2007 was reduced to 1.97 percent. Also, $10 million to fund the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) will come from the Public Library Fund.
This 11 percent state budget cut is money taken in addition to the 20 percent cut initiated in May, Ashtabula County District Library Director Bill Tokarczyk said.
Harbor Topky children’s librarian Kathy Eames said the library has cut children’s programs already — programs that some children count on.
“It is hard to explain to children why their programs have to be cut or moved around. We have taught them that the library is here for them and then we close the doors,” she said.
