Near the front entrance of the East Lansing Public Library, Tinisha Kuykendoll sprawled on a cement bench Thursday afternoon, taking in the sun and a good read.
Extending David Hadju's "Positively Fourth Street" an arm's length above her, Kuykendoll was immersed in the description of the lives of folksingers Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.
"The images form out of your own imagination," said the East Lansing High School sophomore and library page. "The characters take shape."
Inside the library, the "New Books" section contains multiple rows of recently published books alphabetized by author from Elizabeth Adler's "The Hotel Riviera" to Juli Zeh's "Eagles and Angels."
But if shared revenue funds from the state don't exceed what city officials predict, this section of the library could be facing an unwanted makeover.
The state Legislature is in the process of working out the state budget, which will determine how state funds will be allocated to Michigan cities, also known as revenue sharing. City officials are bracing for a $5.94 million allotment from the state, a decrease from last year's $6.25 million.
The purchasing of new books and other library resources will be reduced under the budget crunch, with a $50,000 city funding cut hitting the library if the state budget outlook doesn't improve.
"We're holding our breath and hoping that the Legislature will find ways to make certain that the governor's proposal for not reducing state revenue sharing is supported," East Lansing Public Library Director Sylvia Marabate said.
"Municipalities just can't take these hits."
The library's overall budget is set to go up 2.9 percent, but salary increases, retirement costs and rising health care costs have offset the increase.
Marabate said although no job cuts are foreseeable, the library is operating with minimal staffing, adding that the library employs mostly part-time employees. Any further cuts in staffing would cause library programs and services to suffer, she said.
"We're running pretty lean," Marabate said. "We're at the bottom of what we can really do."
East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton said that although the cuts can hurt, they are unavoidable after two years of bare-bones budgets.
"(The library) is a marriage between the competent librarians we have and the materials we provide," he said. "It will certainly be a disadvantage in the library for these things to be cut."
From one room of the library Thursday afternoon, sounds otherwise unfamiliar to a library were emanating.
East Lansing High School freshman Mike Frutin and four of his friends were gathered around a table playing the card game Magic: The Gathering.
Frutin said he visits the library almost every school day to hang out with friends or check out a graphic novel.
A budget cut that would decrease the number of new books in the library would hurt the institution, the 14-year-old said.
"Books provide knowledge and something to do," he said. "It's a constructive use of your time."
Don Jordan can be reached at jordand3@msu.edu.
