Feedback
Jun 9, 2010The modern P.L.
Over the past few months, a number of letters to LJ questioned public libraries that have offered Deweyless organization, vending machines for food, bookstore models, self-service, drive-ins, and even vending machines for books, DVDs and the like (e.g., “No vending machines,” Feedback, LJ 5/15/10).... Our folks want all these services and more.
The modern public library is very different from when I came into the profession.... There were few chances or even thoughts of asking the folks who walked in the door what they wanted and how they wanted it. The changes in the world (including computers, the internet, self service at the gas station, bank and grocery store) have resulted in the need for the library to change as well. The public has adapted to these changes and they use them.... To charge a fee for checking out DVDs, music CDs, or new best sellers is outdated and a disservice to our users. Yet there are public libraries that still charge. Some who charge for basic services...condemn those of us who listen to our customers and provide what they want and how they want it.
These changes in service...are serious attempts to meet customer needs and requests in ways that make customers happy and make them feel the library is doing what they want it to do and how they want it. We have had double-digit increases in use for over seven years as a result of the many “fads” we have implemented....
I would never argue that staff are not a critical element to the success of the public library; however, to have real success you need to put the customers as number one. After all, they are the ones who pay the bill.
—Harry R. Courtright, Dir./Cty. Libn., Maricopa Cty. Lib. Dist., Phoenix
Fees for better service
Francine Fialkoff’s editorial “Free or Fee” (LJ 5/15/10, p. 8) illustrates thinking “inside the box”..... To suggest that all library services remain free in the face of inadequate resources is to cripple public libraries.
Across the country, and especially in California, there have been budget cuts of ten, 20, and 30 percent, with associated cuts in staffing, materials purchases, and database leasing. An implication of the editorial stance of “free services” is that library services may, instead, be “Free—but Not Available.”... In California, the Contra Costa County Library’s response to great patron demand for popular books is “Yes, that book is available free, but the waiting list is 500 persons long.” In other words, the materials are “Free—but Not Available.”
Library leaders must think “outside the box.” Why not, for instance, consider a fee of $5–$10 for offering a patron the “next available” copy of a popular book, moving that patron to the front of the line. The fee could be allocated back to the fund for purchasing additional copies of popular books.... It may be that continual replenishment of the “additional popular books” fund would lead to reduced wait times for all.
Setting different costs for services delivered in different manners is conventional in business and government. Want a passport quickly? Pay $60 more. The revenue-generating policies of library leaders must be innovative.
—David Kruegel, Pres., Friends of the Library, Moraga, CA
Libraries aren’t “free”
I sit and watch Illinois libraries slowly closing. I worry each day whether we will be able to share and borrow materials from other libraries because the State of Illinois is not paying its bills and cutting budgets for libraries. Then I read Francine Fialkoff’s editorial “Free or Fee” (LJ 5/15/10, p. 8), and I begin to realize why libraries are sinking ships....
Even Andrew Carnegie didn’t really believe in the “free” library. When he gave money for communities to build libraries, he required that the community charge a tax to keep the building up and running....
If Carnegie were alive today, I think he would agree that libraries and services cost money, and someone has to pay for them. Schools absorb the biggest portion of the property tax dollar...and they still charge fees for services. Parks take more tax money than the library, and they charge for every program they offer....
When are we librarians going to wake up and realize that we are doing ourselves and our communities a disservice by saying the library is free? It is incumbent upon us to find additional revenue sources to fund all that we offer to every resident in our districts....
When are we going to get tired enough of doing without, of underpaying our staff, of just eking by, and take action?... First we must admit to ourselves that libraries are anything but free. Everything that we do, everything that we offer costs money, and we have to have money to provide all the services and materials that the public wants and needs.... [W]hen we keep saying that it’s free, we send the message that we don’t need the money....
If we don’t change our tune, our way of thinking and acting, libraries will disappear.... Libraries cost money. There is nothing free about them.
—Sarah A. Tobias, Dir., Sycamore P.L., IL
L J welcomes letters and will publish as many as possible. Those that exceed 250 words may be excerpted by the editors.
Email ljfeedback@mediasourceinc.com; or write to: Feedback, L J, 160 Varick Street, 11th floor, New York, NY 10013; FAX 646-380-0756
