Saturday, October 3, 2009

Backpeddling from premature promises

After a radio announcement Thursday morning that "the Branch Libraries open today," and news stories that they would open Monday, October 5th, I felt compelled to post the following text on our home page. I also made it into a flyer, putting copies at the Circulation, Reference and Childrens desks. I put the same information in our voice mail messages, and posted it on all three doors at each Branch:

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE BRANCH LIBRARIES?
Patience, Please!
HOMEWORK ASSISTANCE BEGINS OCTOBER 7TH
Although there have been announcements that the After-School Homework Assistance Program would begin on Monday, October 5, 2009, the Bridgewater State College students, who will be tutoring Brockton students from Grades K – 8, are finishing up special training to prepare them to help our pupils. They will begin meeting our young people on WEDNESDAY, October 7th. The program will take place in the basement of the East Branch Library, 54 Kingman Street, and the West Branch Library, 540 Forest Avenue, on Mondays (beginning October 19th, because October 12th is Columbus Day) Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM
BRANCH LIBRARY SERVICE STILL TO BE ANNOUNCED
There have also been announcements that limited library services would begin at the Branch Libraries October 5th. This was premature, and we regret any inconvenience or confusion caused by such announcements. The City of Brockton and the Library Union have been Impact Bargaining to put in place funding for library staff to re-open the Branch Libraries. If an agreement is ratified, we will need a little time to recruit and/or assign personnel. It is anticipated that service at the Branches would take place at the same time as the Homework Assistance. We will announce updates as soon as possible.

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