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Local Library CutbacksWon%u2019t Deter Upward MobilityBY MARTHA DOGGETTA year ago, Brooklyn Public Libraries were barely limping along. Reacting to the city-wide fiscal crisis, the library administration decided that branches would only be kept open two or three days a week. Library, users formed groups called %u201c Friends of the Library%u201d to lend support, financial and otherwise, and to lobby for better service.Though still faced with severe budget cutbacks, area libraries seem to again be functioning normally, or at least moving in that direction.Salvatore Scotto, member of the Brooklyn Library system board of trustees, says things have definitely improved. %u201c Needless to say, the outlook is much brighter,%u201d he said, adding quickly, %u201cwe%u2019re certainly a long way from where we were. We were right at the point of closing down branches.%u201dScotto credits the system%u2019s success to the Friends of the Library groups. %u201c It wasn%u2019t until we made an appeal to the public that the situation started to improve. We got a tremendous response from the public.%u201dOne of the first %u201c Friends%u201d groups formed at the Clinton Hill branch. %u201c We started in the fall 1975 to help the library in any way we could,%u201d said chairperson Mary Cole. Since then, the group has raised 33,000, used to pay the salaries of part-time help, install a security system, and replace broken windows.But Cole says the %u201c Friends%u201d do not limit themselves to financial contributions. The group holds quarterly book discussions, runs a book pick-up for elderly and home-bound, and plans a tool rental service as a help to community groups.Scotto says the city%u2019s fiscal problems made it necessary to %u201c appeal to additional sources of funding, such as the Friends and Associates. We now have CETA workers, for example, for an art program funded by the New YorkState Council on the Arts. We sought out more community participation, more imaginative sources of fundings, and have tried to \the libraries for purposes other than what they were originally intended.%u201dThough all local branches are now open at least five days a week, and programs have expanded, the borough%u2019s system--termed %u201c quasipublic%u201d since it%u2019s a city program but receives private as well as city, state and federal funding-is not yet free of problems. An informal survey of area branches shows rising book costs and falling book budgets constituting the two main problems\concern this year,%u201d said one librarian. %u201c The cost of books has risen. The average price is now $10 while before it was $5.95 to $6.95. Especially when you have Nixon at $19.95.%u201dGO FOR POPULARBranch librarians say they now buy more paperbacks and only ohe copy per title, while they used to buy three or four copies of the more popular books. They have also cut down on the number of %u201chigh-risk%u201d books purchased, meaning books which may not have wide appeal.In reality, the budget allotment for books, $2,200,000, has remained constant for the last three years. This part of the system%u2019s $17 million budget is paid by the city, which is then reimbursed by the state.Though library spokespeople refused to give budget information for the individual libraries, several branches reported book budget cutbacks of up to $3,000.Recently, library administration has decided to cut borrowing time from four to three weeks in order to keep as many books in circulation as possible.Though the measure has only been in effect since September 21, there is some indication that librarians are not happy about it.iDespite the fact that most are unwilling to express themselves for publication, one employee did venture: %u201c Our book budgets have been cut severely-to the bone-and in order to keep books in circulation, they%u2019ve cut the borrowing time. But I can tell you, it%u2019s only a stop-gap, because if things go on it%u2019s going to get worse and worse.%u201dVandalism is a problem mentioned repeatedly by those associated with the libraries. %u201c We have a very serious vandalism problem borough-wide,%u201d says library Deputy Director Larry Brandwein. %u201c At this point we have about 800 broken windows. We board up a lot of them because we%u2019re short of maintenance funds. We have about $300,000 to $500,000 lower than what%u2019s needed.%u201dThe four-year-old Red Hook Branch, at 7 Wolcott Street, is one of the libraries with boarded up windows. %u201c We%u2019ve been robbed so many times and glass is so expensive,%u201d says branch librarian Joyce Jackson, %u201cthat they put up steel plating.%u201dMAINTENANCE PROBLEMSThough many branches complain of maintenance problems, by farthe worst off is the Park Slope branch at 431 Sixth Avenue. Several years ago $400,000 was allocated in the city budget for a major renovation of the 74-year-old building. Due to the city%u2019s financial crisis, the item was dropped and not reactivated until July 1977. Says Chief of Support Services for the Brooklyn Public Libraries, %u201c It%u2019s been kicking around through the red tape since then.\Meanwhile, conditions at the library are serious. Several sets of encyclopedias and two or three periodical titles must be kept on trucks so they can easily be moved when it rains.Recently Park Slope %u201c Friends\raised $400 to match funds with the library to pay for the repair of broken windows. Since the work was completed in September, five or six more windows have been smashed.Tennyson says the project has been held up because the original funding was insufficient by present cost levels. The Office of Management and Budget allocated an additional $113,000 on July 31, 1978, and approved preliminary plans drawn up by the Division of Public Structures.Park Slope Friends were recently told the project could, at the earliest, get underway in May 1978. Final plans should be finished by the end of December, and bidding is expected to take 90 days.The library's physical problems have naturally affected its services. \the pairing,\Thelma Black, referring to the reduced service prior to September 1977. \going to the main branch and just never came back. The pairing really threw the public out of kilter. Our windows were boarded up and a lot of people thought we were closed.%u201d%u201c Our membership is terribly disappointed,%u201d says %u201c Friends%u201d chairwoman Eleanor Flynn. \has been in the making for two years. They tell us we are a top priority, so whose responsibility is this delay? We%u2019ve worked very hard. We feel we%u2019ve waited long enough.%u201d%u201c It%u2019s been one of our highest priorities,\has happened since is a bureaucratic problem.%u201dBoroughBY GARY FREDERICKThe restoration of Brooklyn%u2019s Borough Hall, already a city landmark, inched closer towards becoming a reality with the recent formation of the Borough Hall Restoration Foundation.Comprised of a selection of local people from government, industry, labor and commerce, the 16- member foundation will decide on architectural designs and organize fund-raising drives from public and private sources.According to Harvey Scl.altz, executive assistant to Borough President Howard Golden, who is honorary chairman of the foundation, $35,172 has been raised so far. He said that the figures falls short of the final figure needed for the project. While no one is sure what the figure will be until final plans and designs have been decided on, Schultz said, estimates run in the %u201c millions of dollars.%u201dFor additional money, the foundation is relying heavily on the State Park%u2019s and Recreation Commission to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places. This would make Borough a national landmark, entitling it to receive federal matching funds.Whatever the sum needed, and whatever plans are finalized, even the first phase of work is not scheduled to begin for at least a year and a half.Hall Foundation Brings Restoration CloserIn the meantime, according to Schultz, the fund is on deposit at Chemical Bank-and with any luck, will grow.Money received has come from a variety of sources, including some private donations. However, the largest chunk was raised last June at the %u201c 353rd Birthday of Brooklyn Gala.%u201d Held at the River Cafe, the event netted $27,000 for the %u201c Restoration of Borough Hall.%u201d Additional money was raised September 30 at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce 60th Anniversary Ball. Although no official figure has been released yet, an estimated $1,500 was collected from proceeds of an advertising souvenir journal of the ball. FUNDRAISING PLANSRobert Tammero, president of Abraham and Straus, who is serving as chairman of the foundation, said plans have to be made for future fundraising events. A gala similar to the 353rd Birthday event is scheduled for A&S on June 6.%u201c It%u2019ll have to raise quite a bit of money,%u201d said Tammero, who added that he is hoping for much more than $27,000.The foundation, an incornorated. tax-exempt, non-profit organization, has met only once since its inception and really has not had a chance to plan strategies, said Tammero. Another meeting scheduled for October 27 will dealwith fundraising and actual restoration issues.Tenative plans for restoration have been discussed, according to Marion Scotto, special events director for Borough Hall and treasurer of the foundation. They include two phases, the first involving the rotunda of the 129-year-old structure. The floor will be retiled, and the bell, which now stands in the rotunda, will be rehung in the tower, which must first be repaired to accommodate the bell.During the second phase, the third-floor courtroom will be renovated, including repair of the floor and ceiling, and removing brown paint from bronze columns.The 1849 Greek revival structure, which originally served as Brooklyn%u2019s City Hall, was designated a city landmark in 1966.Tammero said he chose to be on the foundation because of his and Abraham and Straus%u2019 %u201c Great interest in Brooklyn. It%u2019s a helluva structure, a beautiful, beautiful building even to a Manhattan person iike me,%u201d he added.GOLDEN: DRIVING FORCEAnother member. Harold Fisher, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a lifelong resident of Brooklyn said, %u201c For anything that concerns Brooklyn, they can get me.%u201dMany members also creditBorough President Golden for being the \the restoration. %u201c The restoration is the second best thing to happen to Brooklyn,%u201d said Scotto. %u201c Howard Golden is the first. We saw how the city comes in, paints the building and scotch tapes it.%u201dScotto said it could be one and a half years before actual work begins.Golden was not available for comment.Other members of the foundation include: vice-chairman, Joseph Hydok, vice-president of Con Edison, secretary, A1 Sprunck, president of the Brooklyn Chamberof Commerce; Mrs. Robert F. Wagner, chairperson of the 353rd Gala; Congressman Fred Richmond; Allen Smith of Brooklyn Union Gas; Max Schulman, president of May's Department Store; Curtis Wood, president of the Bedford-Stuyvcsant Corp.; Donald Mahoney of New York Telephone; Paul Hall, president of the Seafarers International Union; Anthony Scotto, president of Local 1814 of the International Longshorem en's Assn.; John E. Zuccotti, former First Deputy Mayor of the city; and Donald Elliot, former chairman of the City Planning Commission.Tunnel Collapse I ragedy AvertedA swift response by fellow construction workers rescued a workman nearly buried by a partial cave-in on October 10 at an interceptor sewer construction project in the North Heights.The heading on a portion of the underground tunnel being built on a construction site between Vine Street and the BQE underpass gave way shortly before 1:30 pm ande e * i %u2022 %u2022 nc u c t u v c i ) u u n c u u c i i j a i i i i uMurray in the tunnel.The shifting mass of soil and stone left only Murry%u2019s face visible when his co-workers began to dig him out, but he was quickly uncovered and taken to Long Island College Hospital for x-rays andobservation and subsequently released. Work on the project was temporarily halted while the tunnel's heading was shored up, and then, the work on the lastest leg of this sewer intercept for the multimiiiion dollar Red Hook Pollution Control Project resumed.A spokesman for Red Hook Construction, contractors for the Project%u2019s sewer construction,* U n n n . %u00bb , r * %u2022%u00ab %u201c I I O I %u2019 ' K illindicated that predominately sandy soil, such as is found along the Brooklyn Waterfront where the majority of the interceptor sewers will be laid, does increase the probability of such occurrences.o c i o o e r 1 2 , 1 9 7 b , i H E r K u i m X , r a g e s