The Philly Book Bank has served students and teachers for over 20 years, operating out of Martin Luther King High School in Germantown. Now, officials of the nonprofit library resource feel they are being pushed out. 

The Book Bank’s move to MLK long preceded its current executive director Anne Keenan’s time there. She isn’t sure how the program came to be at MLK, but was told it sprouted initially from then Mayor Ed Rendell’s office. 

After MLK temporarily closed for asbestos remediation two years ago, members of the school district toured the building, looking surprised to see the Book Bank there, according to volunteer Judy McDowell. 

“I could see the surprise on a couple of the faces of the school district, the suits. ‘What is this? And what is it doing here?’” McDowell told the Local. “Since then, the school district has been layering demands on us. … So, from my perspective, what they're doing is trying to push us out.” 

In January, the school district and fire department told the Book Bank about fire code violations, including excessive wall space in rooms without sprinklers, cardboard boxes on shelves for categorization, a decorative tree positioned too close to a sprinkler, milk crates for storage, and shelves needing to be attached to the wall. 

In her attempts to find a solution with the district, Keenan said communication from them has been limited. She said the Book Bank asked the district to install the shelves or to allow them to use one of the nearby vacant rooms with sprinklers but have been either denied or given an unclear response.

McDowell said, “We're not at the table talking, they're just calling us and saying we decided this, and we decided that. It doesn't feel like there's any real desire to have us there, and they would very much like us to be gone.” 

Even though they have fixed the code violations within their control, Keenan, McDowell and other Book Bank volunteers wonder if they’ll have to find a new home. 

The Book Bank’s mission

The Philly Book Bank is a nonprofit organization providing donated books to children, teenagers, teachers, and parents free of charge. They distribute books in bulk through community events and partnerships with local organizations.

McDowell said, “We were supplying classrooms and teachers who need books and often don't get what they want from the school district. … We had families coming in and getting books on Wednesday afternoons, and we can’t do that anymore.” 

McDowell and Keenan emphasized the need for free books within the district, something the Book Bank provides. 

Keenan said, “There's only, I think, three librarians left in the school district. … Students that came down, we would help them find books, we would purchase books, my volunteers purchase books, and we really miss that rapport.” 

Adhering to code

Keenan said all the code corrections are “good things,” and they’ve fixed the issues under their control, like getting rid of milk crates and cardboard boxes. However, for safety reasons, only the school district can install new sprinklers and attach shelves to the wall. 

Keenan added, “Then [the district made us] aware that we had to now empty out completely, two of our rooms, and we were going to be drastically down in size.” 

Keenan said the reduced space prevents volunteers from providing their typical services. While they can still drop off books, in April they had to stop letting visitors inside.

The now-cramped conditions make the process harder for volunteers to find and provide the right books. McDowell said, “​​It used to be where you could go in, and if a teacher said, ‘I need a book on Andrew Jackson,’ we knew right where that was.”

Both McDowell and Keenan emphasized that MLK High School does not have an active library, so many students use it as a resource for books. Keenan said the library is locked most of the time and the school does not have a librarian. 

Since the organization is waiting for the shelves to be attached to the wall, students are not allowed into the Book Bank’s rooms for safety reasons, with volunteers meeting them in the halls to provide books. 

In response to questions from the Local, the school district provided a statement reading, “Literacy is the foundation of all learning, and reading is fundamental to success in school and in life. … The district has many active literacy spaces such as libraries, Instructional Media Centers, digital media centers, etc. Since 2010, the district has added six new modern library spaces and two multimedia centers through brand new schools such as TM Peirce and Lewis C. Cassidy Academics Plus.” 

TM Peirce and Lewis C. Cassidy Academics Plus are elementary schools in North and West Philadelphia respectively. 

The statement continued, “We are in the planning stages and conducting an analysis of libraries, digital, and instructional media centers in the district. We are also re-evaluating the space used at Martin Luther King High School for the Book Bank.” 

A representative from the school district told the Local that MLK has a media lab and a regular library, but did not confirm if there is a full-time librarian at the school. 

If the evaluation results in a Book Bank eviction, the Bank may fold.

Any donated money received by the Book Bank went into buying books. Keenan said, “We didn't put money away for the eventuality that we might need other space.” 

Since they operated for free out of MLK for 20 years, Keenan and previous leadership did not expect that they would potentially have to move. 

She added, “I believe safety is very important, and that's the response I've always gotten, is that they just want to make sure it's safe. … I don't want it to appear that the school district is the bad guys here and that we were blameless; we were unfortunately blissfully ignorant.” 

Looking ahead

Correcting the code issues within their power, Keenan hopes the school district will be more cooperative on the things they cannot control, like installing new sprinklers or providing a new room.  

With no clear answer, Keenan started a GoFundMe to help raise money for a new space. The public can find the fundraiser on gofundme.com by searching “Don’t Let the Philly Book Bank Disappear.”

Tommy Tucker can be reached at Tommy@chestnuthilllocal.com.