Keep Our Library Public SAVE BLASCO!

The recent victory of Keep Our Library Public highlights our community's unity in supporting public resources. It’s a reminder of our collective power, not an endpoint.

As we celebrate, we must ensure all organizations contribute fairly to taxes, vital for sustaining services like public libraries. This victory emphasizes the need for ongoing vigilance to protect against private takeovers, as seen with Gannon University and the Erie County Executive. Let’s keep advocating for equitable standards that safeguard our community's resources and ensure public spaces benefit everyone.

Erie Times-News about the settlement: www.goerie.com/story/news/local/2025/12/26/library-settlement-adds-public-oversight-gannon-blasco-lake-erie-kolp-project-neptwne/87910839007/

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at https://www.fundlibraries.org/erie to assist us in covering our legal fees. Excess funds will support the Blasco Library.

Save Blasco!" is nominated for the 2025 Erie International Film Festival https://erieinternationalfilmfest.com/2025-award-nominations/

YOUR VOICE MATTERS! Your participation can help us reach more people and make a significant impact! Vote now and help us Save Blasco! https://www.indiflixx.com/product/save-blasco/ There is a $3.99 ticket charge that goes to the Erie International Film Festival. Once you buy your ticket you can watch and vote for "Save Blasco!" Vote by December 19 so your vote will be counted.

When you get to this link: https://www.indiflixx.com/save-blasco/ you will select WATCH NOW and that takes you to the page where you add it to your cart.
You can find out more at https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/save-blasco/

We have not given up our fight to SAVE BLASCO! Our trial is set for Dec 1-3 in Erie. As we get more details I will let you know. You can help by contributing what you can to our legal fund and share with others you know https://www.fundlibraries.org/erie

More than ever we need to protect our public assets! You can watch our winning documentary SAVE BLASCO! here: https://youtu.be/1WQRLojj7XY?si=jrTqDClsBiKjOvOd
Learn more about our lawsuit to stop Gannon University from taking space in our public library here: keepourlibrarypublic.com

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bBRUW4hBJ/

Save Blasco! got selected for its 2nd Film Fest, the Lake Effect Film Fest right here in Erie, PA. Save Blasco! got the 🌟 Best of Fest (Audience Choice Award) – Voted on by festival attendees, this award goes to the film that resonates most with audiences. Director, Cayce Mell received a custom trophy and an exclusive interview on the festival’s social media channels! Congratulations Cayce Mell and Keep Our Library Public for educating the public about protecting our public library! Save Blasco also got an Honorable mention in the Defense Of Democracy Film Festival! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bBRUW4hBJ/ Watch documentary here: https://youtu.be/IGGDjfQNZtg?si=guVgvPYpkltFRPnG

Just Sit Right Back and You’ll Hear a Tale…
of how Gannon’s Project NetPTWNE needs access to the water–according to Gannon and the county executive. However, Gannon’s ship isn’t even in the water. It’s dry docked and has been for some time.
No offense to Gilligan and the Skipper, but the Environaut is looking like the S.S. Minnow. And at least one faculty member would rather work on campus than in the Blasco Library–the project being called the Great Lakes Education and Research Center back in August 2024, since re-named (more on that in a future post). The argument that Gannon needs a waterfront location for Project NepTWNE is a total shipwreck.

Just a reminder that we have matching funds (up to $1000 total) this week to raise money for our legal fund.

See post and email by faculty here:
https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/2025/04/09/just-sit-right-back-and-youll-hear-a-tale/

https://youtu.be/IGGDjfQNZtg?si=guVgvPYpkltFRPnG

2nd State Films has released the first episode of Save Blasco, "The Power of Minerva!" Thank you to 2nd State Films for producing this documentary at no cost to KOLP. Thank you also to Julio Reyes who hosted the premier at the Maennerchor Plaza at no cost to KOLP.

You can also find Libraries Build Communities, a short video showing that the Blasco Library is much more than books. Please share with everyone you know and please donate to our legal fund to Save Blasco! https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/

Watch our documentary Save Blasco <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D4vsCwkY2QQ?si=PptH4cIxaw645wtH" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe title="GOERIE-Embed Player" width="540" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://uw-media.goerie.com/embed/video/78288787007?placement=snow-embed"></iframe>

https://youtu.be/iKn1toap-QY?si=OGX1hJ7v9Pe6VzfY

Coming soon: SAVE BLASCO! New series in collaboration with keepourlibrarypublic.com ! Stay tuned …and be ready to rally behind a community that decides to stand up in defense of their cherished public library ! And please do donate toward their legal fund to help them fight the good fight for all of us who have ever loved or ever will love their local library! https://www.fundlibraries.org/erie

https://youtu.be/IFuOH0-TrJE?si=879If_AUs1OcMsa5. Keep Our Library Public is a nonprofit association fighting to keep our Erie (PA) County Executive, Brenton Davis, from leasing substantial space in our public library, the Blasco Memorial Library, to a wealthy, private institution, Gannon University. Many public libraries, Blasco Library included, came to be in part due to the generosity of others. And as public spaces, they should remain so. Public libraries belong to the people! Please go to KeepOurLibraryPublic.com for more information. Support us today!

Check our a preview of a new documentary that will tell the story of our fight to Keep Our Library Public here: https://www.2ndstatefilms.com/

No one is coming to save us or our beloved Blasco Library. This is something we must do ourselves. Between online donations and checks sent directly to us, we've raised $30k so far. However much of that has already covered legal fees so far. We need to keep that momentum going! We have to be our own heroes. If you have already donated to our legal fund, thank you and please consider giving again. If you haven’t donated, be your own hero and donate today. https://www.fundlibraries.org/erie

For further information–including copies of the Gannon/Blasco lease and our complaint, please go to https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/faqs/.

To see how the lease affects you as an Erie County PA taxpayer, please go to https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/taxpayer-facts/

What can you do? DONATE!
Because EveryLibrary is a 501c3, these donations are tax-deductible: https://www.fundlibraries.org/erie