[Publib] Budget cuts - hours vs. materials

[Reeder, Norm]

We've faced this before (and even in public budget hearings).  What will get your public fired up are hours cuts.  Most of the public doesn't have any idea of how much we spend on materials.  In essence they kind of have no clue whether we are spending more or less each year because of the large volume of materials we do buy.  So they don't come out in support of the library saying "no you can't cut the book budget" despite the fact that we as professionals might want that instead of hours cuts.

The public notices hours cuts because it affects their use of the library.  They are more likely to protest that than materials.  When we did cut the materials budget a few years ago, we did not loose users.  When we cut out Sundays, we noticed a little drop but it was absorbed by the normal circ increases we see year to year.

Internally we may think no one will come if we don't have anything new to offer.  It's usually not that stark.  Few of us have ever had to cut out the entire materials budget.  After getting both the cuts described above, we have come back on better times and both cuts were restored (with added money for the materials budget because we had repeatedly indicated to the City administration that we are in the business of having new materials and become irrelevant if we become a "book museum".)

We've also found it easier to restore cuts to the materials budget (usually because they are smaller) than ever get deleted staff positions re-instated.  Getting staff is the hardest thing of all.

Thanks
Norm

Norm Reeder | Library Services Manager | Torrance Public Library |3301 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503 |310.618.5955 voice | 310.618.5952 FAX | nreeder at torrnet.com | www.library.torrnet.com

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Jennie J. Stoltz
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 1:39 PM
To: Tiar, Marc
Cc: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] Budget cuts - hours vs. materials

First, a question - what good does it do to be open more hours if you don't have an adequate amount of materials on the shelves?  Second, an observation - in my experience when you cut material lines in budgets it is nearly impossible to get it back when there is no longer a recession.   Third, another question - are your library's current hours truly inadequate, especially in comparison to other public services?

Jennie J. Stoltz, MLIS
Director / eco-Librarian
Pewaukee Public Library
Pewaukee, Wisconsin
(262) 691-5670, ext. 20
(262) 691-5673 fax

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Tiar, Marc" <MTiar at washoecounty.us>
Date: Thursday, August 7, 2008 1:37 pm
Subject: [Publib] Budget cuts - hours vs. materials
To: publib at webjunction.org


> Hello out there,
>
>
>
>  I'm a new subscriber to the list, having just joined to post this
>  question (although I was a subscriber many years ago).  In these tough
>  economic times, we're having to make some difficult choices.  We are
>  trying to find any data, anecdotal or otherwise, to support or refute
> a
>  decision one way or another.   We have been searching the literature
> but
>  not doing too well - it's sort of a tough concept to put into search
>  terms, due both to such common words and the many synonyms of them that
>  appear in the journals.
>
>
>
>  Put briefly, is it better to cut hours/days of operation or
>  acquisitions?
>
>
>
>  Or, the way it was phrased to us to look into:
>
>
>
>  Washoe County Library has been asked to consider cutting deeply into
> its
>  Library Materials budget in order to fill personnel vacancies, which
>  might allow some library branches to expand public hours. If you cut
>  deeply into your materials budget, did your circulation and/or visitor
>  statistics decrease?  By maintaining or increasing public hours, despite
>  cutting your materials budget, did your circulation and/or visitor
>  statistics increase?
>
>
>
>  Many thanks for any information you can share.
>
>
>
>  Marc Tiar
>
>  Washoe County Library
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>  Publib mailing list
>  Publib at webjunction.org
>  http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib
>


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