Faced with a massive budget cut expected to take effect this summer, Kuskokwim Consortium Library (KCL) Director Cheri Boisvert Janz is brainstorming ways to maintain services in this remote western Alaskan town of Bethel, a community she said needs its library for a lot more than borrowing books or DVDs. A town of about 6,000 perched on the Kuskokwim River, Bethel is located about 400 miles west of Anchorage, the hub city of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Its library serves a population of about 26,000 spread out over territory roughly “the size of Oregon,” Janz said. KCL’s shelves are stocked with 36,042 volumes, according to libraries.org. The library circulates more than 11,000 items per year, with about 7,500 computer users, Janz said. Recently, the facility gained access to ebooks. There is not a single road connecting the more than 50 villages and Bethel itself has only one paved street with no routes in or out of town. The town is accessible only by plane or by crossing the tundra via snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle. Cars are prohibitively expensive to own, so most residents get around by walking or hiring one of the community’s many taxis. (A recent Atlantic Monthly article described Bethel as “the city in America with the most taxis per capita.”) KCL currently receives $26,000—about 80 percent of its total budget—from the Kuskokwim Campus of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. The remaining 20 percent comes from the city. But the Kuskokwim campus, pressured by impending statewide cuts, plans a 40 percent reduction in its library contribution for the fiscal year starting July 1. That $10,000 budget cuts means KCL would be forced to eliminate one of its three full-time positions, Janz said, reducing its entire staff to her and one other employee. The library is currently open five days a week from noon to 6 p.m. (closed Sundays and Mondays), but the loss of one employee will almost certainly force a reduction in hours and could endanger some existing programs, the library director told LJ. Those programs include a children’s story time, a weekly chess night, a basic computer skills class (the library is one of the region’s few sources of reliable Internet service, Janz said), and a knitting club.

A safe space for a troubled town

But beyond classes and computer stations, Janz told LJ that KCL serves a need by simply being a safe place to go. The library, Janz said, is a welcoming haven in a town that is beset with serious problems. “There are no other public places people can go to in this town,” she said. “It is very cold and very dark here most of the time. The town needs the library. The region needs the library.” Bethel is plagued with high rates of violent crime and drug use, the library director said, along with an alarming frequency of both teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. “Alcoholism is just ravaging the community,”Janz added. The website City-data.com said Bethel’s violent crime rate for 2013 was more than two and a half times the national average. Its statistical research also found 59 registered sex offenders living in Bethel as of January 22, a ratio of one for every 108 residents. That’s almost three times the proportion for the state as a whole—in 2013, Alaska Dispatch News reported there was one sex offender for every 293 state residents—and the state itself has the highest proportion in the country. In a 2010 report, Alaska’s public health authorities labeled Bethel as “the epicenter” of STDs in the state. Harsh winters also test Bethel’s residents. In January, the town averages less than six hours of daylight per day, with an average high temperature of 12 degrees (climbing to 18 in February). Even in July, the thermometer rarely climbs above 70.

A pipeline problem

The anticipated KCL budget cuts are a trickle-down effect from the sagging Alaskan economy, which is reeling from the steady drop in oil prices and other revenue shortfalls. Gov. Bill Walker is projecting an estimated $3.5 billion state budget deficit for FY17. His December 15, 2015 budget message announced his intention to decrease university contributions by $15.8 million (4.5 percent). Mary Pete, director of the Kuskokwim campus, said a reduction in the library subsidy became necessary after the governor’s announced plan to cut university aid statewide. “With a library staffed by three, one position is pretty substantial,” Pete told LJ. “If the public wants to maintain a level of service, it’s going to have to contribute more.” KCL operates as the academic library for the Kuskokwim campus as well as the community’s public library. However, “Our patron base is almost all public,” Janz said, estimating that only 10 percent of people coming through the doors each day are college students. Janz said she has pleaded her case for a smaller budget cut, to no avail. “I have tried,” she said. “But there’s just no money. As much as I hate it, they do have a point. They’ve been subsidizing the library for a long, long time. The university can’t afford to do that any more.”

Searching for a solution

Since the budget cut would not take effect until July, Janz has some time to search for alternate revenue sources. The library director said she’ll lobby for more money from the city budget, and will scrounge for any grants or corporate contributions that could provide some funding. “I’m worried about it being a viable library,” Janz said. Asked about her chances of getting more money from the city, she said, “I’m hoping they will. It’s tough for them.” Attempts to reach Bethel mayor Richard Robb for this story were unsuccessful. KCL did receive a grant to renovate its 25,000 square foot facility from a special capital projects fund through the University of Alaska, earmarked specifically to upgrade the physical space. Work is scheduled to begin in June, and it will force a temporary closure of the facility at some point during the summer, Janz said.