Broken AC systems, other building woes close 1 in 4 city library branches in heat of summer

On a sweltering Tuesday afternoon, Chante Richardson walked up two flights of concrete steps, past a sign reading “Happy 100th birthday Govans Branch!” and to a book drop that was filled to the brim with hardbacks and DVDs. Richardson couldn’t fit the two volumes she was trying to return past a bulky copy of William Faulkner’s “Absalom, Absalom!” and dozens of other books haphazardly jammed into the bin. With the doors of the Govans branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library locked, the 33-year-old Baltimore resident was not able to take back books she had checked out for her goddaughter or pick up scanned documents she had accidentally left last time she was there.