Recently in Library Category

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: 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.

Source: By NICHOLAS BEADLE, Jackson Sun (TN), March 27, 2008

The Jackson-Madison County Library Board will ask local leaders for an additional $100,000 to cover management costs in its next budget.

.......... According to the request, Library Systems and Services, the company that manages the library, plans to spend $1.1 million during the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

....... But Michael Stone, a county-appointed board member, said Library Systems and Services is asking for too much given the financial outlook for city and county governments.

...... Stone also said several city and county officials have never seen a spreadsheet of mostly increasing yearly payouts to Library Systems from which the $1.1 million was calculated.

Source: Boston Globe (MA), March 25, 2008

FACED WITH tight budgets, the towns of Dartmouth and Tewksbury are thinking about privatizing their libraries. The impulse is understandable, given anemic revenues and spiraling costs. But libraries should remain wholly public entities.

...... Privatizing libraries elsewhere in the country has yielded mixed results. A private company can only work within the budget that it's given, and its goal is to spend sparingly, or cut back, in order to make a profit. For example, Library Systems and Services, a Maryland company, manages public libraries in California, Kansas, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas. In some cases, the company has been able to increase hours and expand collections. But in Jackson County, Ore., Library Systems had to cut staff and benefits to adhere to its contract.

....... Massachusetts is home to the nation's first free public library. That's a legacy worth preserving. Municipal belt-tightening only goes so far. It's up to the taxpaying public to make the investment - to protect a vital source of information and insight.

Source: By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune (OR), February 13, 2008

A private firm that operates Jackson County's 15 libraries is being forced to recognize that a majority of its employees are members of a union to resolve a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board. "It means library employees will have their union back and more of a voice at their work," said Pauline Black, a library assistant in Ashland.

Service Employees International Union Local 503 filed an unfair labor practice complaint again Library Systems and Services LLC on Dec. 18, 2007, with the National Labor Relations Board, which was scheduled to rule on the matter later this week.

....... Frank Pezzanite, president and chief executive officer of LSSI, said he wants to work with the union but his company did not envision it would e nter into bargaining talks when it signed a contract with Jackson County to operate libraries.

Related article from the Rogue Valley Independent Media: Workers Get A Voice! BIG win for S. Oregon!!