Stacks of problems: New N.O. libraries quickly in financial peril; WWLTV.com, 4/24/14

David Hammer, WWLTV.com; Stacks of problems: New N.O. libraries quickly in financial peril:

"Lacking leadership?

In December 2011, the New Orleans Public Library Foundation, a nonprofit that collects donations in support of library services, hired consultant Louise Shaper to assess the system’s performance.

New Orleans Public Library “is an underperforming organization that sorely lacks the leadership, clarity of purpose, and resources needed to provide even average library services,” Shaper wrote. “This state of affairs is a chronic condition, predating Hurricane Katrina.”

Charbonnet said that since the new libraries have opened, residents have been largely unaware of the underlying fiscal problems because of the spacious reading areas, interesting artwork, banks of new computers and the host of librarians.

But if the city can’t find new money soon, Library Director Charles Brown said he will be forced to cut back on staff, reduce hours of operation and cut back on maintenance.

Library leaders have not hidden their financial struggles, appealing each of the last few years at City Council budget hearings for at least some city general fund money. But with court-ordered costs for police, firefighters and the jail taking center stage, the libraries’ needs have received little public attention."