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Library chief tries to stay focused

When Siobhan Reardon was growing up in a Yonkers, N.Y., family of nine children, she'd escape the buzz and tumult of a pulsing house by curling in a corner of the public library.

When Siobhan Reardon was growing up in a Yonkers, N.Y., family of nine children, she'd escape the buzz and tumult of a pulsing house by curling in a corner of the public library.

"I'd dive into that refuge to escape," said Reardon, 52, the director of the Free Library of Philadelphia since September. "I devoured books."

These days, faced with fallout from her plan to close libraries in response to the city's budget crisis, Reardon can't count on Philly's public library to offer the peaceful sanctuary that her hometown branch once did.

Yet, Reardon said, as she weathers criticism for her choices during her brief but rocky tenure, it is books that sustain her.

"At night when I go home, I just love to sit and read," she said. "You clear your head and go to a different place."

Altering locales, albeit temporarily, is a healthy choice given the hard times Reardon has experienced existing in her current reality - loud, library-loving Philly.

When she was hired from the Westchester (N.Y.) Library system in the fall, Reardon (whose first name, pronounced SHIV-on, is Celtic for Joan) came here thinking about improving overall service for the $41 million, 682-employee system.

Instead, her grand plans were shelved like a book buried in the stacks, and she was plunged into the churn and panic of a sky-is-falling atmosphere. Cut 20 percent of your budget, Mayor Nutter told her. Drawing on her finance and budgeting background - she has a master's degree in economics and another in library science - Reardon did just that, concocting a plan to shutter 11 libraries.

As controversial as the plan has been, Reardon, who makes $185,127 a year, has never shrunk from it.

"The idea came from me," Reardon said in a recent interview. "I felt it was a very good business recommendation.

"But it did have social challenges."

That is an understatement. Philadelphia reacted with boisterous demonstrations, endless, angry blogs, even unflattering portrayals of Reardon in pieces of guerrilla street theater.

Finally, a lawsuit by a private lawyer and three City Council members reversed the branch closings. The city decided not to try to close any more libraries, at least until the fiscal year ends in June. What pains next fiscal year's budget might bring have yet to be determined.

Reardon learned, at her peril, that Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods. And when a Center City administrator reaches into a neighborhood to shutter a beloved institution, the locals bristle.

Reardon admitted she had been unaware that "the political nature of the city is that people focus on the neighborhoods before they focus on the city as a whole."

"Had I known that, I don't think I would have changed my recommendation. But it would have solidified my understanding of the hue and cry that came from the neighborhoods when we recommended closure."

Reardon has been criticized by City Councilman Bill Green, one of the three Council members who sued to keep branches open.

"I don't agree with her policy decisions," he said. "They seem to be motivated not by social policy, but toward the end of closing libraries, without going to Council first."

Reardon also said that she was surprised by residents' reaction to her suggestion that people whose libraries were closed could easily leave their neighborhoods to use other branches. In various rallies, citizens have said that it would be "unsafe" for their children to cross neighborhood boundaries.

"Your ability to get to a library shouldn't be challenged by crossing into a new neighborhood," Reardon said. "I was told you can't cross that street because it's a bad neighborhood. I can't imagine the city has that many bad neighborhoods."

It is still Reardon's contention that it's better to shut some libraries than to adopt a "share-the-pain" model in which all remain open but with shortened hours.

"It's heartbreaking for me to see a neighborhood library closed more than it's open," she said. "We can run a very good library system with 44 [as opposed to 54] neighborhood libraries."

Amy Dougherty, director of Friends of the Free Library, could not disagree more.

"I feel we'll weather the financial crisis, and it's doubly important to keep all branches open," Dougherty said.

Despite their differences, Dougherty praised Reardon: "She came here faced with a huge challenge, and she's doing the best she can."

Reardon has a champion in Nutter, who has backed her publicly. "Siobhan is a true professional who cares passionately about libraries, learning, and access to knowledge," Nutter said in an e-mailed statement.

Through all the stress, Reardon said, it would be great if she could see her husband, Jimmy, more often. Jimmy Reardon, 55, owns the Hudson Yards Cafe in Manhattan and still lives in New York. He visits his wife on weekends in her Fairmount home.

"I miss him a lot," Siobhan Reardon said. "You like to go home and have somebody there to talk to."

The couple met at a New York wedding three decades ago. Reardon said her mother was sitting on a barstool and checking out guys for her. "Jimmy comes in," Reardon recalled, "and my mother spots him and says, 'Whoa, that's a good-looking guy.' I said, 'Ma!' But we got married nine months later."

The Reardons have two children: Christine, 25, who works for a public-relations firm in Manhattan, and James, 20, studying hotel and restaurant management at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I.

Former colleagues are quick to praise Reardon.

"Her greatest strength is finance and budgeting," said Patricia Fontanella, president of the board of the Westchester Library System. "She loves her work."

John Vitali, chief financial officer of the Brooklyn Public Library system, of which Reardon was acting director from January 2002 to January 2003, called Reardon "innovative" and a good manager of people.

The latter skill is being tested today amid a Free Library staff that Reardon herself said suffered from "quite low" morale.

The staffers worry about layoffs and closings, she said.

In turn, Reardon said, she worries about their safety, and the safety of patrons. Detractors tell her the libraries can run with less staff, but Reardon wants more - including more guards.

"I couldn't be more sincere about this issue," she said, tearing up and becoming emotional. "I'm accountable for everyone's safety."

Unwilling to speculate about the future, Reardon said she would continue to work hard and stay focused.

"My leadership will be tested as I walk my staff through this," she said. "But I'm not afraid of the work it'll take."