[Publib] Budget cuts - hours vs. materials

[Tina Branco]

In all the discussions so far, no where have I seen mention of engaging
volunteers to expand staff availability.  In this age of retiring Boomers,
who are well educated, and often heavy users of the library, it seems to
make sense to examine the workload, and have staff come up with ways that
volunteers can be incorporated into the library's programs.  Here in Maine,
many of our libraries are run entirely by volunteers.  The sense of
community pride and ownership is clearly visible and come budget time,
provides an impetus to keep the dollars intact.  Many of us have advanced
degrees (some of us even have an MLS), computer knowledge, and the time and
ability to provide what we see as a vital resource in these days of
tightening money for everyone - patrons and communities.  

 

Since the original question did not indicate a proposed CUT in staffing, the
addition of volunteers to the program should not be viewed as a threat to
anyone's job.  The State office of Volunteerism, and other local volunteer
organizations are available to provide help in designing the work,
recruiting, and providing training support to staff for supervising and
working with volunteers.  If you have a Friends group, they might also want
to help with this project.

 

I'm dating myself here, but as Mickie used to say in the cereal commercial:
"Try it---you'll like it!"

 

 

Tina Branco

South Thomaston Library Volunteer (AKA the Tech Goddess)

tbranco at south-thomaston.lib.me.us

 

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Andrea Berstler
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 8:20 AM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: RE: [Publib] Budget cuts - hours vs. materials

 

I believe the question is - do you cut materials to expand hours? - at least
this appears to be the question in the "official" version. 

 

 the answer is - why would you consider this?   Has there been any sort of
study? Do you have requests from the patrons of those branches for
additional hours? Could you make an hour "shift" and open late one morning
to stay open that night, etc? What options have and have not been
considered? Are there other things that could be trimmed to make funding
available (office supplies, cleaning, etc). 

 

When Pennsylvania slashed library funding 5 years ago, most if not all
libraries in the state faced this question. Funding cuts caused libraries to
face anywhere from 25% to 50% or more drop in state funding (a major source
of money for many PA libraries). We cut both, and then some. We have
recovered some of our funding; however the cut in materials spending
dramatically affected our circulation. From 2002 to 2003 we experienced an
11 % drop in circulation . . . but not a corresponding drop in visits (-7%).
I have to believe that much of that circulation drop was due to a lack of
materials (as well as the disgruntled employees who got no raises for 2
years).  

 

Cutting materials to add hours? I would recommend your library consider
other options. While the extra hours are nice for patrons, if there are less
interesting things there to borrow, will you really need them? 

 

Andrea
 
Andrea Berstler - Director 

The Village Library of Morgantown 
PO Box 797, 207 N Walnut St 
Morgantown, PA 
 <http://www.villagelibrary.org/> www.villagelibrary.org 
610-286-1022
Preserving the Past . . . Preparing for the Future . . . 

Board Member - Association for Rural and Small Libraries 

 

Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.    - Babe Ruth

 

 

 

  _____  

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Tiar, Marc
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 2:35 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] Budget cuts - hours vs. materials

 

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

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20080808/756a1ca0/attachment-0001.htm