Recently in Library Category

Source: By Dave Moller, The Union (CA), Wednesday, January 13, 2010

One of three committees working on ways to save Nevada County's financially-strapped libraries will recommend the county bail itself out and not rely on an outside firm.

The library systems Citizens Oversight Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend a plan from the Truckee Friends of the Library that keeps all the libraries open.

..... Committee members also rejected a proposal from private firm Library Systems & Services, saying it did not have enough details about how services would be kept as close to whole as possible.

Source: Rachael Jackson , Sentinel (FL), 9:50 PM EDT, July 28, 2009

Cash-strapped Seminole County is no longer considering turning its libraries over to a private contractor, County Manager Cindy Coto said Tuesday.  A proposal to privatize libraries never made it to the county commission, but activists clutching tiny American flags attended Tuesday's commission meeting anyway, urging that county leaders never consider such a proposal again and that they sufficiently fund the library system.

Source: Doug Sword, Herald Tribune (FL), Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 2:52 p.m.

The panel investigating whether Sarasota County Libraries should be privatized recommended today not to pursue the idea. Whether or not to accept that recommendation will be up to county commissioners, who are expected to discuss privatization of libraries next week as they meet to try to fill an estimated $40 million shortfall in next year's budget.

Source:By MICHAEL D. BATES, Hernando Today (FL), April 4, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Talks of privatizing the county's library system are on hold, even as the county mulls a sales proposal from a Maryland-based outsourcing firm.  ealth and Human Services Director Jean Rags, one of three county officials who met with a representative from Library Systems and Services, LLC (LSSI), said the sales material is "a little misleading."  The company claims it can save Hernando County $500,000 annually if it takes over the county's six library branches.  Problem is, the company is a bit vague about how it would accomplish that, Rags said.

...... In a memo, Library Services Director Barbara Shiflett detailed several concerns she has with privatizing, including the public's perception of local taxpayers' dollars going to a private company's profits, additional fees imposed on patrons and less accountability to the public and government.

Source: Norman Oder, Library Journal (NY), 10/24/2008

While numerous library consortia use commercial couriers like UPS for interlibrary loan, the Brooklyn Public Library may be the first library in the country to use UPS, rather than a local or internal courier system, to move materials around its branches.

BPL's internal delivery system, which used six trucks and dedicated staff, frequently got backed up, Natalie Caruso, Library Circulation Leader, told LJ. Turnaround time was at best three days, given that materials all went back to the Central Library; it frequently reached seven days, if materials were not picked up in the morning and/or were mishandled in the tight workspace, and could take up to two weeks.

Source: Larry O'Connor, Enquirer (MI), October 16, 2008

Three Albion Public Schools [AFSCME Local 2826] library secretaries gained a reprieve after parents and teachers alike made an emotional plea to halt an attempt to privatize their jobs at Tuesday's board meeting.

Albion Board of Education members responded by tabling the recommendation, which would have saved at least $22,000 this year and possibly $60,000 in 2009. The move was being considered in light of the district's $700,000 budget deficit -- a shortfall that likely will be exacerbated as September's district student count revealed a loss of five to 10 more students than projected. Under the proposal, Kelly Educational Services would have overseen library staffing. The three library secretaries affected would have been able to re-apply for their jobs.

Source: By NICHOLAS BEADLE, Jackson Sun (TN), September 9, 2008

........ The Library Board will meet next week and discuss a plan to eliminate a $110,000 funding gap that could likely include layoffs of some of the library's about 20 full-time equivalent employees.

....... Richard Salmons, the library's director, said it's possible that not all of the openings will be filled.

......... Despite the shortfall, Library Systems and Services, the private company that manages the Jackson facilities, wants to hire a professional librarian into one of the open positions, said Steve Coffman, a company vice president for public library operations. McIntyre and Rucker said they do not have graduate degrees in library sciences.

Source: By NICHOLAS BEADLE, Jackson Sun (TN), June 24, 2008

Questions about proposed spending on books and renovations have made county officials reluctant to pay the county's half of a $129,000 capital funding request by the Jackson-Madison County Library. A tentative budget the Madison County Commission passed last week gave the library no capital funding, which is usually spent for major purchases, construction or repairs.

...... The library, privately managed by Library Systems & Services LLC, is supposed to spend 20 percent of its about $1 million operating budget for books and materials, officials say.

...... Commissioners say they are wary about giving the library two funding sources for books, with some bothered by library leaders' decision to steer more than $74,000 of materials funds to cover the cost of opening its north branch off North Highland Avenue. "I think there's a little concern about the accountability," said Commission Chairman Charles Byrd, a member of the Capital Committee.

Source: By Chloe Gotsis, Tewksbury Advocate (MA), Wed May 28, 2008

........ Three months after the town's Financial Planning Task Force entrusted the Tewksbury Public Library's Board of Trustees to investigate the benefits of privatizing the town's public library, the trustees concluded they cannot support a decision to privatize the library.

...... The board reported if the town privatized its library, it would be burdened by large unemployment costs, since most libraries around the country that are privatized by the country's primary outsourcer, Library Systems and Service (LSSI), initially layoff all their employees.

Currently, the Germantown, Md.-based LSSI manages 65 privatized libraries in Oregon, Texas, Tennessee and California. The large size of LSSI and its rank as one of the sole outsourcing companies raised some eyebrows among the library trustees, who said they feared this large monopoly put both the town and the trustees in a poor bargaining position.

Source: By Chloe Gotsis, Tewksbury Advocate (MA), Wed Apr 02, 2008, 10:32 AM EDT

Tewksbury - As the national economy plunges further into recession, gas prices continue to hike, and the price of living continues to climb, local governments like Tewksbury that are already wrought with fees and cuts are exploring the notion of privatizing the public library.

The notion of privatizing public entities is becoming more common among local governments across the country, libraries have continued to remain traditionally public across the country.

Along with the smaller issue of privatizing public libraries, this argument introduces the question of public entities running other taxpayer and publicly run entities largely under profit-driven reasoning.