Florida: Miami-Dade County May Shutter 42 Public Libraries, Lay Off 260 Employees

 UPDATE July 14 The Miami Herald has removed the story and url from their web site without any info or explanation as to why it was taken oofline, . We’ve changed the links to a cached copy of the article that’s available via the Google cache. The story is also available via the Bing and Yahoo caches.
As we’ve discussed in the past, removing an item from the web doesn’t mean it automatically becomes unavailable. An explanation as to why an item was removed is always helpful.
From the Miami Herald:

Library Director Raymond Santiago is expected to meet with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez Sunday to discuss a proposal to close almost all of the public libraries.
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“We just found out that the new scenario is to close 42 libraries and lay off 260 full-time employees,” stated an internal county email obtained by the Miami Herald. “They [library officials] asked staff to be proactive contacting our commissioners and having friends and family do so as well before Tuesday when the millage is set.”
[Our emphasis] Under the proposed plan, according to email, only seven county libraries would remain open: Main library, Miami Beach, North Dade Regional, West Dade Regional, South Dade Regional, Northeast Branch (under construction) and Coral Gables.

An emergency meeting took place on Friday. Another meeting with branch managers is scheduled for Monday.
See Also: Miami-Dade Public Library System Fast Facts

Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries