The Money May Be Low, but a Library Refuses to Go Quietly.

[elleng]

'But in the losing battle of the square-mile city of Central Falls to avoid bankruptcy this year, parts of what made this municipality a community became expendable, among them: the Adams Memorial Library, a handsome Greek Revival building that, for a century, has been an intellectual refuge amid an urban expanse of triple-deckers and old mills. . .

But some people refused to close the book on a place that deeply mattered to this financially poor, ethnically rich city. Central Falls has more than enough boarded-up buildings; no need to add its library too.

The library’s survival hinged on the fact that while its operating costs are covered by the city, the building itself is owned by a private trust. Seizing the moment, the trust’s board of directors used this enforced downtime to make repairs in the old building and to install a library card system for Central Falls alone.

A month later, on Aug. 1, the Adams Memorial Library re-opened with limited hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Its reference and check-out desks are now staffed by a rotating band of volunteers, including Jerauld Adams, 41, the board chairman of the library trust, and Thomas Shannahan, 68, a board member and former director of the library. They hung a sign on the front door that said, with some defiance:

“Welcome to YOUR library.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/us/central-falls-ri-library-fights-to-stay-open.html?hp