STONEHAM, Mass. — Town Administrator Dennis Sheehan said nothing has been decided -- but the idea of closing down Stoneham Public Library to help close a budget gap was floated at a recent Finance and Advisory Board meeting.
That drastic move grew legs after voters turned down a nearly $15 million Proposition 2 1/2 override on April 1, that would have funded several town departments -- including schools, fire, and police.
“Now they’re trying to find money to fund all the departments,” said Library Trustee Tricia DiPietro -- a former school librarian and teacher. “They’re looking at scenarios. Nothing’s set in stone. We’re just kind of in a limbo. We’re just waiting.”
But the mere idea of closing the library has some patrons outraged. At the check-out desk, many have registered their thoughts in a guest book.
“The library is the backbone of a community,” wrote one library user.
“I am in shock,” wrote another.
DiPietro said the operating budget of the library is about a million dollars, and it employs eighteen people. Given its use, she suggested the library is a good return on investment.
“We had over 67,000 people between March ‘24 and March ‘25,” she said. “So it’s a well-used library.”
The library also serves as a meeting place -- for toddlers at story time and teens after school. And DiPietro said town residents save about $500,000 a year borrowing books from the library rather than buying them.
“Libraries are my life,” she said. “I can’t imagine my life without a library. Libraries provide lifelong education for people. So I do think it would be a major loss for any community that didn’t have a library.”
Stoneham residents recently saw property tax bills rise by an average of $1,000 to pay for a new high school. The town also continues to pay down debt for its new middle school, which opened ten years ago.
While few will likely face closure, libraries nationwide are already seeing the results of an executive order by President Donald Trump, which essentially stopped federal grants to libraries administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. That prompted the American Library Association to file a lawsuit -- based on the fact Congress had already appropriated $295 million to the IMLS for disbursement to libraries. ALA annually gets about $2.5 million from IMLS.
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