Marblehead’s Abbot Public Library may be able to stay open for three days a week under the town’s 2027 fiscal year budget, but the Swampscott Public Library is still bracing for the effects.
“We’re going to be slammed,” Swampscott Public Library Director Jonathan Nichols said in a Library Trustees meeting Monday. “We know this from when they closed for construction. Even when they had their satellite branch, we were hit hard…We do not have the staff to shoulder this burden internally.”
Abbot Public Library’s future remains uncertain, as Marblehead’s Town Meeting Members still need to vote. Budget cuts approved by the town’s Finance Committee and Select Board would reduce the library’s funding by about $700,000.
This marks the largest budget cut in Marblehead’s 150-year history. In March, Abbot Public Library Director Kim Grad warned the library could potentially close due to the cuts. On March 4, Marblehead Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said two scenarios are under consideration: closing the library entirely or cutting its salary budget by about 50% while eliminating the materials budget and access to the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE).
Each year, libraries must qualify for state aid, allowing directors to apply for grants and additional funding. If Marblehead makes cuts across town — rather than disproportionately targeting the library — the library could qualify for a waiver to remain certified for a year.
The following year, the budget would need to be addressed again.
However, Nichols said at Monday’s meeting that Marblehead would still pay for the network while seeking qualification, a process that could take up to three years for funding to be approved properly.
“They don’t immediately lose their accreditation, even if they go down to three days a week,” Nichols said, noting that libraries submit their financial reporting in October “so that’s when the state is officially notified. Then it goes through the whole process of whether or not they’re certified or not, and that decision is made in January.”
In the meantime, Marblehead may vote for an override in June.
“But we still have like a six month period of the weight of their decisions on us,” Nichols said. “We’re going to have to bear it, and that’s a long time.”
Marblehead residents’ library cards would no longer work in town. Programming also is expected to be significantly reduced, and the Abbot Public Library will not be able to get new books and materials.
The Swampscott Library Trustees will need to decide – probably in January – how services can be used by Marblehead residents if resources are reduced in their community. Marblehead residents would legally have access to the spaces in the Swampscott Public Library but not to the collection of services or the staff, Nichols said.
“It could get a little tricky,” Nichols said. “I can’t deny you a card, but I can deny you a service if it comes too far…It’s very hard, especially when we’re going to have to start turning away kids for story time. That’s going to be brutal, but we have to. I’m sorry. You can’t take advantage of the services that we have if you’re not contributing to the entire collective.”
Nichols said residents may need to scan library cards to indicate who is a Swampscott resident and who is visiting from Marblehead.
“But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Nichols said.
At the same time, Nichols said the Swampscott Public Library is already about 80% funded under the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, noting that “we have not received any of our large amount bills yet and the second they come through that’s going to shoot up to like 95%.”
