They may have a reputation as quiet book lovers, but library supporters in Montgomery County are making lots of noise about County Executive Isiah Leggett’s budget proposal for 2012.

Rockville Patch reported last week that the county’s Friends of Library (FOL) chapter papered the County Council offices with postcards and petition signatures to protest the $2.8 million funding cut the system would endure if Leggett’s proposal passes the council.

FOL board members delivered hundreds of postcards from the organization’s branch library chapters, 50 letters of support from patrons and a petition with 1,300 signatures in support of the organization’s slogan, “Libraries Matter. No More Cuts.” The White Oak FOL gathered 600 of those signatures, according to Frank Altrichter, the branch’s FOL president.

Altrichter said cuts to the library’s budget mainly affect materials, or the items that people can browse or check out, like books and DVDs.

“The big impact has been on materials decreases,” he said. “The goal is to have, for a copy of a book, no more than five people waiting for that book. On average now, it’s 10 or more.”

Leggett suggested reducing the library system’s budget 9.7 percent over the next year as part of an effort to close a $300 milion gap. Part of that plan is to elevate four local libraries—Germantown, Rockville, Bethesda and Wheaton—to “area” status with full services, while 12 other branches, including East County’s White Oak and Marilyn J. Praisner, would become “community branches” with less staffing, programming and services.

Allan Mulligan, a Burtonsville resident who chairs Praisner’s Library Advisory Committee, frets about how resources will be allocated after the reshuffling.

“We’re always concerned in the East County here, both in libraries and other services, that we get a fair share relative to the population,” he said. “That’s all that I care about: that the population is served equitably.”

The restructuring may not mean much for White Oak and Praisner, though, said Eric Carzon, business manager for the library system. He told Patch “there’s nothing directly reducing services at White Oak or Praisner in the FY12 budget.

“Their hours are the same, their staffing will generally be the same, their service model is the same [as the previous year],” he said.

The materials budget actually inched up for next year, said Carzon. In 2011, libraries had about $3 million to spend on materials. In next year’s proposal, Leggett would allocate about $47,000 more for the year. 

Patrons and FOL leaders have felt the bite of fewer materials because the materials budget took big hits over the last couple of years. Carzon said that just three years ago the budget for materials was more like $6.3 million and that between the 2010 and 2011 budgets, the entire system sustained a 23 percent cut.

“Every branch and unit felt that cut,” he said. 

“What White Oak and Praisner will experience in the FY12 budget is the same level of difficulty that the whole system will face,” Carzon added.

But next year’s proposed cuts will affect some areas of funding for local libraries, particularly substitute staffing, according to Altrichter.

Carzon confirmed that, telling Patch that libraries will be “challenged” when employees are absent from work for any reason, including sick days, trainings and meetings.

Altrichter said the cut would create “more instances where we have less than optimum staffing at our local branches.”

There are also less obvious services that are affected when libraries are contending with fewer staff, such as when patrons want to borrow books from other branches, a process that requires a surprising amount of manpower, according to Altrichter.

The other potential change in next year’s budget is programming. Special events that libraries host, from author readings to cultural presentations, are planned at the county level by a person whose job may not exist next year, said Altrichter. 

Betsy Matthews, who heads the FOL at Praisner Library, said her chapter is already doing a lot of the programming for the branch. 

“Most of the programs are now being sponsored by the Friends [of the Library],” she said, noting that her chapter planned a recent music series for the library. “We see an appreciation for what we’re doing.” 

“[White Oak's] Friends [of the Library] will do more of the programming if possible,” Altrichter said.  

Matthews is also bracing for ways in which less money might impact Praisner’s computers, which she said are frequently used by job seekers and students.

“There won’t be any new computers coming in, and if the computers go down, more than likely they’ll ask the Friends to replace them,” she said. “I doubt very much there’s money in the budget to buy computers.”

For now, library supporters are working on convincing the decision-makers—in this case, the nine members of the County Council—that their case deserves a budget pardon.

Mulligan is drafting a letter to the county Library Board on behalf of Praisner, and both FOL presidents are preparing for a potluck dinner their members will host with the County Council at a to-be-determined date.