Anyone else's library victim to budget cuts?

[Liz CA]

I am currently trying to formulate an e-mail to the county supervisor basically begging not to cut our library hours to 2 days with 6 hours of service. The bookmobile has already been nixed (we were frequent customers there since we live in a rural area), now I was told that it may take much longer for interlibrary loans because staff will be decimated to 5 employees. SNIFF, SIGH.

 

If you have any brilliant thoughts on what I could write to our supervisor to persuade her to reconsider, please feel free to contribute!! Can I suggest to her to cut city/county employee salaries instead? ;)

 

[dangermom]

Bwahaha, I saw this title and went YES!!--and realized oh, you're my neighbor. I'm already feeling the squeeze--I have a huge list of books I want to read and no way to get them. :crying: It's going to be horrible.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

One question that I might ask is if fines and other charges go into the library budget or a general fund. Then I might propose raising fines and/or putting charges on some loans (like interlibrary [true interlibrary, not intrabranch transfers] and video/dvd).

 

The other thing that I would propose is getting active in or establishing a Friends of the Library group that helps raise money for new materials (especially through book sales). You might also see if there is an active volunteer program. I've been at libraries where families volunteered to adopt certain shelves for straightening and reshelving. It might lessen the load on the paid employees, as well as demonstrate that the library is a resource that people actually care about.

 

In general, I would emphasize the good that your family gets out of the library. It might also be worth taking a trip to the next meeting of the board that is making the cutback decision. My experience is that few people show up at these types of meetings, which can give a lot of impact to the words of those who do show up. You might discuss things like how many trips to the library you make in a month and/or the number of books you borrow in a year.

[Liz CA]

Bwahaha, I saw this title and went YES!!--and realized oh, you're my neighbor. I'm already feeling the squeeze--I have a huge list of books I want to read and no way to get them. :crying: It's going to be horrible.

 

I was thinking of you and wondering how much you use the library. Practically every book I read comes from the library. Ds is in college now and uses the college library.

[Liz CA]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

I think there is a "Friends of the Library" organization - they sell books SAT mornings.

I like the "adopting shelves" idea and I will check when their next meeting is taking place.

 

We get an average of 200-250 books a year.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Liz CA

[Audrey]

I'm tiny town's librarian. Cuts are common in libraries, and small branches of bigger libraries. I think they're getting worse, unfortunately. I don't know if there is much you can do. If you've heard about it, then they've probably already committed to it.

 

However, just in case it's still open to debate.... find out which committee makes these decisions and when their next meeting is, then call and book yourself as a delegation. Once there, tell them what services you use, how often you use them, what services they USED TO HAVE that you miss and why, how the cuts will impact you IN EVERY WAY you can think of, what loss it will be to community, etc. If you know other homeschoolers who would be willing to stand up with you, bring them along.

 

There's no guarantee they'll listen, but at least you won't have let it go without a fight. I wish more library patrons gave a d*mn like you.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I don't know if this would fly in your area, but I consider library cuts to be something that has a disportionate effect on those with lower household incomes. People with other resources will be able to buy books or drive to other areas with library services (if there is a larger town nearby that allows out of area borrowing). But many who depend on the library will not get the books from other sources.

 

This arguement was used by the librarian in DC several years ago. He objected to across the board cuts in hours or targeted cuts that hit lower use but low income branches. He contended that the folks living in Georgetown weren't going to be at a loss for books if the library branch in their neighborhood closed. It was one of the best things I ever heard from a DC official in our years of living there.

[Alice]

I was just at the library last night and they were giving out a paper detailing changes in fees and services due to budget cuts. But...it's still really good service because it's a big suburban library system (outside DC in NOVA) so I can't really complain. But it did make me sad to see that the budget is affecting the library.

[MomLovesClassics]

My library just got some sprucing up. I haven't been in yet to see, my husband has been stopping in to get the books. I was lucky they chose the company my husband works for to do the painting. Usually the county government hires contractors from the same county before hiring those from other counties. I do not live in that county, it is one of the rich counties. It is just more convenient for me to use. I live in the next county over, a poor county.

[Julie in CA]

The other thing that I would propose is getting active in or establishing a Friends of the Library group that helps raise money for new materials (especially through book sales). You might also see if there is an active volunteer program. I've been at libraries where families volunteered to adopt certain shelves for straightening and reshelving. It might lessen the load on the paid employees, as well as demonstrate that the library is a resource that people actually care about.

 

One thing to keep in mind with this...though it sounds like a logical solution(to have community help in the library), I've found that the library staff will resist very strenuously *anything* that threatens their job security. It's extremely difficult to fight both the city council *and* the library staff at the same time. Obviously, using free manpower to keep the library going is ultimately a wonderful solution. In reality though, it's often close to impossible to get the powers that be to get on board with it.

 

Speaking from experience, you may find that before attempting to go to the city council with this, you may get a better result from meeting personally with the city manager and asking what he/she sees as the solution to the library budget crisis, presenting your ideas, and asking if he/she believes them to be valid solutions. If so, ask that person what they think will be the most effective avenue to act on the ideas.

 

Another idea that won't be welcomed is letting go of more qualified library staff and replacing them with newer, less experienced workers. This isn't a popular idea either, but was ultimately part of the solution when our library experienced recent extreme cutbacks.

 

Even when offset by the hiring of a new library clerk, having one old-timer retire freed up close to $100,000 in our library budget. For a teeny town like mine, that's huge.

 

As a library commission member, I can tell you that I'd like people to support the library for all of the noble reasons we all associate with libraries, but in the end, what may sway people is the connection between illiteracy and crime. Find someone who's good at research to get the information you need. What you're looking for is statistical support that cutting library services would mean bad things for the crime/delinquency rate in your area. There are many people nowadays who think to themselves (and some say it out loud), "well if I wanted to read a book, I'd pick it up at Barnes & Noble." Those are the (usually wealthy) people that you need to convince that if they don't get behind the library, the teenager who's on the street instead of in the library will be tagging their house or business, boosting their car off the street, or mugging them for drug money. It's not really such a stretch, so make them see the benefit to them personally, the reasons that will affect their own well-being.

 

In the end, good luck to you. I commiserate. :grouphug:

[Maria from IN]

We have had three satellite branches close down in the last few months. The main branch of the library is downtown and simply doesn't have enough parking to accomodate all those who have previously been at the smaller branches. My mother has been making fewer trips to the library because some days she simply can't walk to the door from the back 9, you know?

 

I have been using the university library exclusively. Perhaps there is a college near you that allows the community to check books out?

 

I simply don't know how a situation like this can be resolved, short of waiting for the economy to improve.

[dangermom]

As you can see, Liz and I live in the same county and use the same library system. To answer some questions that have been raised, there is a very active Friends organization, and they have always supplied most of the materials budget (that is, purchases of books, magazines, etc.). They have a very successful booksale every weekend as well as other fundraisers. They're in overdrive right now.

 

There are a lot of volunteers, and pretty much anything that can be done by volunteers already is--all shelving and some of the circulation, etc. as well as some of the reference work (but that's going to be gone). Fines go to the General Fund and have been raised. ILLs used to be free, are currently charged after a certain number, but will be cut completely. The video/DVD collection isn't much--there is no budget for that and so it's just made up of donations, except a certain number of educational DVDs that were purchased through a grant a couple of years ago. The same goes for CDs. Our county has never had an adequately funded library system, and (as in any library) there's not a lot of fat that can be cut.

 

Liz, I do use the library a lot--I'm a librarian myself and used to work there as extra help a few days a month, but I was just laid off in the first round of cuts. I also did work for the Friends running a field trip program with the local schools, but now that there's no children's services and hardly any open hours, no one is sure what the future of that is going to be. I always have a lot of books checked out and was a heavy user of ILL services. I'm going to try to get a Sacramento library card this weekend, and at least get hold of some things that way when I visit family down there.

 

The Friends have asked me to try to get local homeschoolers organized to distribute flyers, write letters, and go to the budget meeting in a couple of weeks. There's also a video to post online and posters for anyone who can put one in a public place. So I've been working on that, but I haven't gotten much response yet.

 

The goal is to get the county supervisors to stick with the first round of cuts that have already been made, and not implement the next proposed round which will eliminate all services and purchases--we'll be left with 12 hours a week, 5 staff members (4 assistants and one part-time librarian shared with another branch), checking in and out, and not even intrabranch requests. There's also a push to get independent funding for the library through a small property or sales tax. Neither option looks very likely.

[Tap]

Yes, but they are minimal cuts. They are closing an hour earlier on some days, 8pm instead of 9pm and then no longer mail books for free. They are trying to figure out a system to charge for mailing books, but don't have the software changes yet to do so.

[Ginevra]

Anyone else's library victim to budget cuts?

 

No; in Maryland, if there is a budget shortfall, they simply raise taxes! ;)

[Dobela]

OUr library has taken some cuts as well. The bookmobile program has ended as well as other community outreach programs.

 

Our friends of the library group now has a bookstore open whenever the library is open. The library gave them a room in the library. The friends are responsible for organizing the room and pricing the books. When you find books you want, you just take them to the circulation desk and they check you out. They have a separate cash drawer for friends items. THey also accept donations anytime now instead of just before a sale. I love that the sale room is always open!