Cash Chop?

The AIDS Library, for 14 years at the forefront of providing people in this city with up-to-date information about HIV and AIDS, may be cut off from crucial federal funds — Ryan White Title I, to be exact — on Sept. 1. Since becoming notified of the need to compete for funds that until now it had been able to count on, the library has gotten nearly 2,000 signatures on a petition that pleads for continued support on behalf of the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office (AACO), which handles the funds. Community activists, health organization directors, and people living with HIV and AIDS have written to AACO, asking that it recognize the crucial role the library has come to play in public health.

Joe Cronauer, co-director of AACO, says that this is the first time the Information Referral category of AIDS services "is being competed" for funds. "It’s just part of an ongoing commitment to get the best services at the lowest costs for the people in the city," he explains.

The AIDS Library, which is a program of Philadelphia FIGHT, provides information geared to all reading levels. It mainly serves low-income individuals and minorities, who are less likely than others to have access to computers and Internet information and thus, much of the current AIDS treatment information. There are eight computers available to the public. "Many of the people that come through these doors have never used a computer," says Jenny Pierce, director of the library. Staff provides those seeking HIV and AIDS news with guidance to navigate any onslaught of superhighway information, as well as shelves full of scientific journals, magazines and newsletters. Videotapes are popular. There are 500; topics include nutrition and safe sex.

In addition to people with HIV or AIDS, on any given day the library might provide resources to AIDS service providers, nurses, social-work students, and teenagers looking for help with school papers.

The center has become a haven for those with HIV, in particular. Many are reluctant to go to a Free Library branch for information on HIV- or AIDS-related topics, says Pierce. They don’t want to be judged by a librarian or run into people they know. "There is still a stigma attached to HIV and AIDS in some communities," she says. At The AIDS Library, understanding and acceptance are a given.

Antonio Porterfield, who both uses the library and is a volunteer there, says, "I’ve been a family member of this library for 10 years…It’s the first and only library like this in the nation. The president of the United States should know about this place." He first visited many years ago when he "was going through a crisis," after finding out he was HIV positive. ‘I didn’t know how to help myself…I learned about AZT. I learned to use the computer." Later he learned about his current treatment regimen at the library; this was crucial to his health and well-being — he had stopped taking his former medication due to its side effects. "It’s a place of hope," he says.

Perhaps most striking of all, The AIDS Library runs a mailing list for prisoners, providing fact sheets that address relevant health issues and treatment information, as well as referral services. "Someone in prison can write to us with a question for a doctor, and we’ll get an answer and send it back," says Pierce.

This potential blow comes at a time when FIGHT has proposed 11 more library branches, including one in distressed Chester and eight more in Philadelphia. One Day at a Time (ODAAT), a community center that administers treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, is also vulnerable. In collaboration with The AIDS Library, ODAAT has opened a computer center, and a whole new world of information, to North Philly residents and those with HIV.

"The city has actually [always] been pretty supportive," Pierce wants to stress, and she adds, "the risk of losing funding has turned into this huge opportunity… to tell people about this awesome place."