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KATHLEEN DUNCAN

The Jones Library in Amherst is one of many local libraries that rely the services of the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System.

Librarians and library supporters from the around the state converging at the Statehouse for a rally Tuesday sounded off on proposed cuts that many say would hit western Massachusetts especially hard.

Plans are to eliminate funding for the 50-year-old Western Massachusetts Regional Library System as of July 1 as part of a consolidation of the state's six-region library system. At risk, say critics, could be an interlibrary loan system that delivers nearly 2 million books and recordings around the four-county region every year.

The proposed 29 percent cut in state funding for regional library services comes after recent elimination of the Bookmobile, which dated back to the 1940s and was considered a lifeline for many libraries in the Hilltowns.

State officials say the regional library system will maintain its delivery service.

The state Board of Library Commissioners, which is planning the merger of the six regions into one, is meant to address Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed cut of nearly one-third in the statewide budget for regional library services, said its director, Robert C. Maier.

Maier insists that the top priority in the planned consolidation is to maintain the quality of interlibrary loans now carried out by the Whately-based, nonprofit organization. It was created in 1961 to serve more than 300 public, academic and special libraries in the 2,800 square miles of western Massachusetts.

For now, the plan for the coming year is to have the service continue its routes, which now involve eight drivers, five trucks and 23 routes a week, using its five-year-old building at Whately Industrial Park as a base. After that, said Maier, a newly created nonprofit library services organization will set up a mechanism for delivery.

"The potential is that one delivery company could handle the entire state," Maier said, adding that the intent is to provide the same level of service and maybe make efficiencies. Yet, he added, a recent consultant's report found that the western Massachusetts system is very efficient and compares favorably with what private vendors could do.

"This is a huge service for residents of western Mass.," he said. "It's what really makes library service in the 21st century work."

The interlibrary loan system, which has grown from 250,000 items a decade ago to more than 1.8 million last year, saves local libraries more than $8 for every dollar spent, said regional administrator John Ramsay.

According to Leverett Library director Linda Wentworth, "All of the libraries are concerned about this change, especially in the smaller communities."

Among their key questions, she said, is whether a centralized facility, to be based near Interstate 495, can serve needs of tiny libraries that are open so seldom that western Massachusetts regional drivers are given library keys to make timely pickups and deliveries.

An even greater concern is whether a scaled-down staff will be available to answer technical questions from librarians isolated in small towns.

"It's so complicated," said Wentworth, who is also a director of the Friends of the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System. "People know they love their libraries. But they don't understand their libraries depend on the regional library system for support and assistance."

Responsive?

She questioned whether a single, statewide entity will be as responsive to the needs of small-town libraries in western Massachusetts. In fact, while a transition team working on the changes has representatives from all the regions, none of the state's nine library commissioners is from west of Needham, in Norfolk County.

Sara Woodbury, director of Deerfield's Tilton Memorial Library, said, "Those people - if they're not there, or are hard to get - small libraries will really suffer."

Maier acknowledged, "I really think the biggest challenge here will be being able to continue to appropriately serve the libraries and their staffs, through continuing education, training and technical services - particularly in the western part of the state where libraries are very spread out, where there are lots of single-manager libraries, where it's very clear from what people have said for years, that the relationship built up over time between the regional systems and the libraries is really, really key. With fewer people doing that (support) work, the challenge will be to sustain those relationships."

Area legislators have been hearing not only from librarians, but also from the public, which has been turning to libraries in increasing numbers because of the recession - to compensate for their own book buying, to search for jobs and to use the Internet.

Top priority

State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said last month that restoring funding to the western regional system will be among his top five priorities. He pointed to the irony of the state cutting funding for the regional system at the very time it's trying to encourage regionalization in schools.

State Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, said, "We've been told our small-town libraries would have a very difficult time providing the level of service they do now without the regional library system in place. To me, it's a form of local aid, because it has such an important impact in every town. They're all feeling the pinch at the local level with town budgets, so they rely more on support from the regional library system."

Because the relationship between the regional system and local libraries seems "somewhat unique" in a region where more than 80 percent of the towns have populations under 2,000 and so many towns have libraries with one staff person, he said, "This isn't one of the things we can sacrifice."