Library funding: It's a mystery
Source: By Tom Bailey Jr., Commercial Appeal (TN), April 21, 2006
A $100,000 state grant that's helping the privately managed Collierville, Germantown, Millington and Arlington libraries was a "mystery" to the State Library and Archives. And it's a concern, too, in part because there are communities in Tennessee that have much greater needs for library services, said Jane Pinkston, assistant state librarian for planning and development. ...... The four Memphis suburbs lost access to normal state library funding when they broke away from the Memphis-based library network, which is part of the state system. ..... Each of four Shelby County towns that severed ties with the countywide system hired a Maryland-based company, Library Systems & Services, to run their libraries. "They, in effect, became independent libraries," Pinkston said. "... We don't give direct aid to independent libraries. All our state dollars flow through the regional library system."