[Publib] Eliminating non-resident fees, the good, the bad, and the ugly

[James Casey]

Unfortunately, Sue is probably right.  However, the principle of "universal service" that requires all residents of a state to share some degree of the financial obligation for public library service is valuable and should be pursued.

Illinois has an absurd situation where about 1 million residents of the State are not "served" --- that is to say, they are not taxed for public library service and have no public library to claim as their own.   There is an elaborate system devised by our State Library for residents who are "unserved" to obtain a 'non-resident card' at their nearest public library for a price that each library computes to approximate the tax burden faced by their own resident taxpayers.  That is all well and good, as long as the family that needs access to a public library has the $205 (or whatever) to buy a card for one year so that their kids can use a library.  With gas prices high and groceries even higher, that chunk of money could be unaffordable.  At the same time, many thousands of residents among the million "unserved" who don't use public libraries at all are paying NOTHING at all in the way of taxes to help support what most of us believe is an essential community service.   I would maintain that even those who don't use public libraries benefit from the services provided and the value they lend to our larger community just as we all benefit from a fire deparment even if our own home isn't on fire.

Even a universal service tax of $75 or $50 for all of the unserved areas would at least bring some money into the State Library for grants or other funding support for the poorest public libraries.  I realize that it wouldn't cover the real cost, but it would be better than nothing.  Such a modest (inadequate) gesture on behalf of universal service would be far better than what we have right now (zip).   However, given the irrational tax phobia in Illinois, even that initiative is probably politically impossible.

James B. Casey --- my own views.
Director of Oak Lawn Public Library
ALA Council Member










________________________________
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Sue Kamm [suekamm at mindspring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 3:20 PM
To: Faulkner,David; publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] Eliminating non-resident fees, the good, the bad, and the ugly


I believe (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong) that libraries which participate in Universal Borrowing in California don't charge non-resident fees.

When I was on my first tour of duty with Inglewood the city negotiated reciprocal borrowing agreements with neighboring cities and the County of Los Angeles.  What this meant was anyone who lived, worked, and possibly went to school in the areas covered by the agreement could get a free card from us and vice versa.

I'd bet the non-resident fees wouldn't cover the costs involved with serving those borrowers.



-----Original Message-----
From: "Faulkner, David"
Sent: Jul 29, 2008 3:37 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] Eliminating non-resident fees, the good, the bad, and the ugly

Our current policy is to charge a non-resident fee for anyone residing outside the City limits. We may soon be moving to an elimination of the non-resident fee for anyone residing in our state. For those libraries that have this kind of an arrangement I'm curious to know the good and especially bad side of doing this. Thanks and I'll compile the results for anyone who is interested.

David Faulkner
Austin (TX) Public Library


Your friendly CyberGoddess and Councilor-at-large,
Sue Kamm
Inglewood/Los Angeles, CA
Truest of the Blue, Los Angeles Dodgers Think Blue Week 2000
Visit my blog:  http://suekamm.blogspot.com
email:  suekamm [at] mindspring.com
"High fly ball into right field ... she is gone!  In a year that has seemed so improbable, the impossible has happened!"
- Vin Scully, describing Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run, Game 1, 1988 World Series
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