By Terry Oparka
C & G Staff Writer

TROY — Troy resident Patti Koerner, 51, describes the Troy Public Library as a community gathering space and “the social hub of Troy.”

She said the Troy Public Library has been a lifeline for her since she was afflicted with West Nile Virus in 2002. Koerner said she woke up from a coma and had to learn to do everything, even the simplest tasks, again.

A former accountant, she used to read a paperback book in one weekend. Now one book can take her up to four months to read. She said the Troy librarians work with her to ensure she can check out the materials she needs for as long as she needs them.

“I check out books in the teen section,” she said. “The library has been a great resource for me. I can’t keep up with the computer or TV. It’s devastating, the thought of closing this library. It serves so many.”

Troy City Manager John Szerlag has said that in lieu of new revenue to close a projected $22 million city budget gap over the next five years — due to falling property values and state revenues — the city must make deep cuts, which could include closing the library.

While the Troy Public Library budget is not as large as some neighboring libraries, the number of items circulated — over 1.5 million — is more than three local libraries with higher budgets.

Troy also is near the top of the local pack on annual visits, 655,266, coming in behind only Rochester Hills at 697,000.

According to information compiled by the Troy Public Library at the request of the Troy Times, the Rochester Hills Public Library has an annual budget of $4.866 million compared to the Troy Public Library budget of $3.79 million. Total annual circulation at Rochester Hills was 1.6 million to Troy’s 1.532 million. The Bloomfield Township Public Library has a yearly budget of $6.2 million, circulated less items than Troy this past year, 821,700, and had less annual visits, 377,133 to Troy’s 655,266. The Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham has an annual budget of $3.84 million, circulated 736,074 items, and had 373,022 annual visits.

In addition, in Macomb County, the Warren Public Library, with an annual budget of just over $3 million, had less than half of the number of items circulated as Troy, 606,049, and a little over half as many annual visits, 340,000.

Troy resident and stay-at-home mom Katrina Cortes, 31, said she has brought her son Diego, 16 months old, to story time at the Troy library once or twice week since he was 8 months old. “He loves it. It’s his favorite time of the day.” Cortes said that Diego has no relatives at home his age and really enjoys his outings at the library.

Troy residents and Oakland Community College students Alex Depalma, 20, and Chris Discenna, 18, said they go to the Troy library a couple of times each week to do their homework. “It’s quiet, there are no distractions, and the computers are here if you need them,” Depalma said. “This is the third or fourth time we’ve been here in a week,” Discenna said as he worked on his algebra.

Szerlag’s plan, with regard to the library, calls for two options: to close the library completely or operate it on a part-time basis.

Troy Library Director Cathy Russ said that running the library for eight hours on Fridays, the least-trafficked day, takes 360 staff hours, at an averaged cost of $5,825.

“Utilities cost about $367 a day, and we still have to heat the building and keep the water turned on if the building is closed,” she added.

Library programs and operations get significant boost from community volunteers. All the programs offered at the library are free to patrons, and the Friends of the Troy Public Library pay for materials for the programs. In 2008-2009, the library offered 1,138 programs, of which 27,963 people attended. “What the Friends don’t pay for is staff presence,” Russ said. “If we cut the staff, we would have to reduce the programs.”

A number of volunteers help out with various library projects. For example, when the library implemented a radio-frequency identification program for checking in and checking out materials, 129 volunteers contributed 1,803 hours. “If we had paid minimum wage, that would have been $13,342,” Russ said. 

In addition to the RFID project, 321 volunteers logged 14,572 hours of service time at the library, an average of 45 hours per volunteer, Russ said. “We have a community who really likes the library,” she said, adding that volunteers include high school students working needed service hours, Wayne State University Library Science majors, and people looking for experience to put on their résumé.

The library continually looks for ways to cut costs, Russ noted. The Troy Public Library recently changed to a new stand-alone automation system, Polaris, from the old system it shared as part of the Suburban Library Cooperative, of which Troy is still a member with 20 libraries from Macomb County. The SLC shares materials and resources. The complete cost for the new system was $210,000 and will save the library $450,000 over the next five years.

“We were paying $207,000 to the co-op for the old automation system, almost one-third cost of the whole system, because it was so tied to so many computers and we had so much business,” Russ said.

“Savings this year will be $90,000,” she said. The library went live with Polaris Sept. 30.