Recently in Library Category

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!!

Source: Annie Gentile, American City & County, Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM

....... In April, Jackson County, Ore., closed all 15 of its public libraries after the county lost $23 million from timber receipts after Congress failed to renew the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act. County officials twice attempted to increase taxes for additional library funding, but both efforts were voted down, says County Administrator Danny Jordan. With no options left, the county closed the libraries, laying off 81 employees.

...... In October, the county contracted with Germantown, Md.-based Library Systems and Services (LSSI) to operate all 15 branches for five years for $27 million less than the county would have to spend to operate them in-house.

Source: By Emily Yehle, Roll Call (subscription req.), January 14, 2008

A new cafeteria vendor has sparked a dispute over wages and job security at the Library of Congress, with the cafeteria workers' union claiming that the company wants to decrease pay and fire employees. I.L. Creations took over the Library's cafeteria services only two weeks ago, stepping in after negotiations fell through between the Library and a long-standing food vendor.

Company President Steve Choi says he has no intention to change any pay or benefits employees enjoyed under the previous vendor, Sodexho. But he also has not signed an agreement to keep those wages and benefits, nor has he sat down with the union to hammer out new terms. Now, he stands accused of "union busting" by the cafeteria workers' union

....... At the Library, the union has some support. The LOC Professional Guild, a separate union for Library employees, criticized the Library for its choice in a vendor. "We are dismayed that the Library would continue with a business that would refuse to sign an agreement with a union," said Saul Schniderman, the guild's president. "When a government agency like the Library of Congress acts like this, it sends a message."

Source: Boston Globe, October 22, 2007

IT'S NOT much of a murder mystery because the culprit is always the same: Public libraries get killed by local government budget slashers. Among this year's victims are the 15 libraries of Jackson County, Ore. They were shuttered in April when the county ran out of money.

But this tale has a twist: the libraries will reopen this week because the county has found a for-profit private company to run them: Library Systems and Services of Maryland.

........ The American Library Association has had mixed reactions to privatization. A 2000 report said that when used carefully, "outsourcing has been an effective managerial tool." But in 2001, the association adopted a policy opposing "the shifting of policy-making and management oversight" from the public to the private for-profit sector. The association argues that libraries are an "essential public good" that should remain "directly accountable to the publics they serve."

Indeed, public libraries are vital pipelines. Keeping them public is the best way to keep the public informed.

Source: By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune (OR), September 28, 2007

........ Prchal is one of many former Jackson County library workers who are applying for jobs with the private company known as LSSI that will operate the 15 branch libraries that have been closed since April 6.

...... LSSI has agreed to operate libraries for a limited number of hours. Talent was scheduled to get 16, but the City Council voted to add a utility surcharge of $1.25 to $1.50 a month per household to bump the hours up to 40.

Source: By JOHN DARLING, Mail Tribune (OR), September 19, 2007

Jubilant Ashland Library backers say doors should open in late October -- Nov. 1 at the latest -- after nearly three-fourths of voters Tuesday night approved a property tax levy to operate the library up to 40 hours a week.

...... Like scores of other employees laid off last spring because of library closures, Sexton said he would like his post back but has no indication from Library Systems and Services (LSSI), a Maryland company, whether he will be rehired or what the pay would be.

Source: By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune (OR)September 07, 2007 6:00 AM

Negotiations to reopen libraries are complicated enough, so Jackson County commissioners determined Thursday they won't renegotiate a separate existing contract with Ashland to allow it to take over its own branch building in the future.

Commissioner C.W. Smith said renegotiating the Ashland agreement would be a major departure as the county discusses outsourcing the operation of all 15 branches with Library Systems and Services LLC (known by the acronym LSSI), a Maryland-based library management company.

....... Bennett's memo to the county outlined 20 issues the city has with the LSSI contract.

The city wants LSSI to comply with its living wage law and is willing to pay extra to ensure this is accomplished. The letter also asks the county to make sure it can terminate the contract if a special district is approved by voters in 2008.

Bennett asked the county to negotiate termination clauses at each of the branches in case one community becomes dissatisfied with LSSI's services.