San Jose's new Martin Luther King Jr. Library will open in downtown this summer with all the pomp and circumstance befitting the eight-story, state-of-the-art structure.
About the same time, most of the city's aging and cramped neighborhood branch libraries will meet a different fate: 13 of 17 of them are scheduled to close an extra day a week, victims of a proposal to chip away at the city's largest budget deficit in decades.
City officials say they didn't plan it this way, and they insist that the $177.5 million downtown jewel is not coming at the expense of branch libraries. But the contrast could raise concerns nonetheless.
As the city spends an extra $625,000 to operate the new main library -- a joint project with San Jose State University -- it hopes to save $1.1 million by shutting the branch libraries one more day a week. They are already closed on Sunday.
``I understand what is going on. There are always constraints,'' said Alexandra Rowland, co-chair of Friends of the Willow Glen Library. ``It's just sad that smaller community branches would be so affected by the budget cuts, maybe more than the larger libraries. I would think people would be annoyed all the money is going downtown.''
The branch library proposal could be one of the more hotly debated ideas over the next six weeks as the city council tackles a deficit of at least $77 million, about 10 percent of its operating budget. And it may emerge as a test for Mayor Ron Gonzales, who has long touted his efforts to spread the city's largess from downtown to outlying areas.
The mayor did not return a call for comment. The budget proposal released early this month by City Manager Del Borgsdorf, in consultation with Gonzales, calls for 22 1/2 positions to be cut from the library department -- 15 1/2 in the branch libraries, and seven in custodial and training jobs.
The soon-to-open main library was spared staff cuts, unless the budget deficit grows substantially. Employees at the current main library downtown are being moved to the new library without adding new staff members.
San Jose Librarian Jane Light said branch library hours would have faced cuts even if the new downtown facility had not been planned. She also noted that the city will save about $900,000 on lease costs by moving city employees currently in rented office space into the old main library next to San Jose McEnery Convention Center.
``We want to get into that new building and offer the kind of services that people expect,'' Light said of the upcoming main library, which is expected to open in August. She said a vastly improved main library, with an expanded collection and significantly more space, will benefit the entire city.
Even if the city wanted to find a way to cut costs at the new library, it would have to renegotiate a deal with the university stipulating how construction and operating costs are split, Light said. The extra $625,000 San Jose is spending on the new library will cover its share of utilities and security and maintenance costs.
Closing branch libraries one more day a week would affect thousands of people and probably cause already crowded libraries to be even more packed. Parents who send their kids to the branches after school until they get off work would have to make other arrangements.
Homeless people who use the facilities to pass time until shelters open might linger on the street instead.
``It's really going to affect the community,'' Rowland said. At the 5,300-square-foot Willow Glen Library, ``There are already a lot of people jamming in there to use the computers and get books. This means there will just be more people using it when it's open.''
John Ramos, a member of the San Jose Library Commission, said he worries that staff cuts at branch libraries will mean fewer bilingual classes and programs. People at the Biblioteca Library in central San Jose rely heavily on those services, he said.
The 12 branches would close on either Wednesday or Thursday. The proposal was crafted so that a nearby library would be open on the day that a branch was closed.
There is relief coming, though for many neighborhoods it is still years away. In 2000, San Jose voters approved a property tax increase to expand existing branches and build six more.
The Vineland Library in Almaden is scheduled to open early next year, replacing the Almaden Library, which will close in December. The expanded West Valley branch library celebrated its grand opening Saturday.
Other projects would be completed during the next seven years.
The city could end up reducing the number of libraries that close another day. Light has applied for $400,000 from a pool of money derived from a settlement with tobacco companies. If she gets it, only nine branch libraries would have to close an extra day.
The city council also could decide to cut elsewhere to keep the branches open, a major feat given the size of the deficit.
``I have a great concern about it,'' council member Cindy Chavez said of the proposed closings. ``But anytime you say you're going to restore funding to a program, you're automatically taking away money from another program. It's a finite pool.''