What about a branch library at the Broadway Market?

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After years of inaction, progress is being made toward bringing library books to the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood – with a branch library in the Broadway Market suggested as one possibility.

John Spears, director of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, and Chris Hawley, a community advocate, met last week to discuss ways to address the book desert that exists in a large swath of the city’s East side.

As a short-term solution, they discussed the possibility of expanding the library’s bookmobile in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood. As a longer-term goal, they talked about establishing a “physical presence” in the community, Spears said.

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While no specific plan is under consideration at this point, Hawley suggested prior to the meeting opening a branch library in the Broadway Market, which is owned by the City of Buffalo. The county funds the library system, and the city is responsible for the ownership and maintenance of branch library buildings within its borders. 

“It was a really successful meeting,” Spears said. “We’re definitely in agreement on the value that a library would bring to the Broadway-Fillmore area.”

Spears declined to discuss specific details of the meeting, noting discussions are still in the early stages. Hawley was not available for comment after the meeting.

Swath of a book desert

For decades, the Dr. Francis E. Fronczak branch library on Broadway served the neighborhood before it was closed after Erie County slashed the library system’s budget in 2005. The Fronczak branch was one of 16 branches closed throughout the county, including five on the East Side.

An analysis by Investigative Post last year found the closures led to what experts call a “book desert” in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood. At its worst point today, the closest library is nearly a 3-mile walk away.

Without easy access to libraries, a number of problems arise, experts said, such as low childhood literacy rates – an issue Buffalo has been dealing with for years.

“What would this do to a child’s sense of hope?” said Susan Neuman in a previous interview. Neuman worked on the No Child Left Behind program during the George W. Bush Administration, and has studied book deserts for more than a decade.

“What would this do to their aspirations? Their goals? If they never saw a book, why would they want to become literate? There’s no reason. I mean, the environment has an enormous impact on children’s learning.”

Bringing a library back

The Central Terminal Neighborhood Association, of which Hawley is a member,  has been pushing the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, as well as elected officials, to return a branch library to the neighborhood for nearly two years. 

In September 2022, Hawley and the neighborhood association wrote to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz “to kindly request a new public library branch for Broadway Fillmore.” Poloncarz responded, saying he understood the benefit a library would bring to the community, but the decision was up to library officials.

Last year, the county raised its library budget by $1.6 million – a 5 percent increase.

The neighborhood association’s push was reignited after Investigative Post analyzed the effects of book deserts throughout the city.

Inside the Broadway Market. Photo by Garrett Looker.

For nearly a year, Hawley and Spears have been hoping to meet to discuss potential opportunities to increase library access. 

They met July 1 to “better understand the challenges that’ll have to be overcome to reopen a library branch in Broadway Fillmore,” Hawley wrote in an email.

“There’s a lot of opportunities for both the library and that community to get linked up,” Spears told Investigative Post. “Regardless of whether a library ever happens there, this is a wonderful way of hopefully exploring all of the different ways that we can better provide library services to that community.”

An immediate solution, Spears noted, is the library’s bookmobile – which offers more than 3,000 books and other materials and travels throughout the county. It could visit the neighborhood during events, he said.

Grander solutions face larger obstacles, such as operating costs and staffing.

The reality is that the path to a new branch library in any neighborhood would be lined with hurdles.

“There would need to be a lot that would happen. It would require changes to our operating budget, it would be working with the city,” Spears said. “But, it’s something that I think we’re in agreement that if everything aligns that we’d like to strive for.”

Now that the two have met, Spears said the most important thing is that the library has built a bridge to another community in the hopes of increasing access to education and information.

“The players are starting to come together,” Spears said.

Garrett Looker