Florida Quality of Life
As I wrote about a few months ago, the State Legislature of Florida decided to force reductions of county budgets across the state. Our own county has reduced their budget by 3% from previous year. This has caused a great deal of discussion about which departments are essential and which are quality of life. At present, we are facing a 10% reduction. Other Florida Libraries are facing similar circumstances.
- Charlotte – Laura Kleiss Hoeft, director of the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources department, said the tax reform is forcing different programs to face problematic issues of charging people to use their facilities, including libraries, public pools and even Englewood’s new skate park.
- Duval – In response to the 2007-2008 budget cuts, the library will cut nearly $3 million by reducing services and programs. The most noticeable change will be library hours. All branch libraries will be closed on Sundays with the exception of the Main Library downtown. Four regional libraries, two on the east/south side and two on the north/west side, will remain open on Sundays during the school year. On Mondays, the regional branches will close, leaving only the Main Library open. The branch libraries will operate Tuesday through Saturday. The cut also includes a $500,000 reduction for new books and materials, like DVDs and CDs.
- Hillsborough – Even the Director of Libraries in Hillsborough County plans to start his workday putting books back on the shelves. As part of proposed budget cuts, most of the employees who restock books now, called pages, would be eliminated. Seven new park projects and seven new library projects are also being shelved for now. The Director of Libraries says it means people without libraries in the University and Sulpher Springs areas, will have to keep waiting. But Joe Stines hopes library users won’t notice the change.
- Miami-Dade – In his proposed budget, Mayor Carlos Alvarez called for opening seven new libraries already under construction but canceling plans for four others because the county cannot afford to staff and operate them.
- Sarasota – In Sarasota, libraries could be among the hardest-hit services. Director Sarabeth Kalajian proposed a $12.9 million library budget for 2008, but leaders have suggested a 7 percent cut. The cut could eliminate four positions and trim library hours from 4721/2 to 440 per week. The loss of hours, which could cut six to eight hours per week from the North Sarasota Library, would lead to a loss of some of the programs libraries offer, such as art workshops and computer classes.
There is one glimmer of hope…
- St. Lucie – Commissioners decided last week to find funding in the budget so libraries in the county aren’t shuttered one day a week to save cash. Commissioners also shifted $8,000 back to the library’s budget to keep the Bookmobile operating during the summer.
However, if the legislature is successful in getting the proposed tax changes that they are looking for next year, this will all be minor.
Awaiting the New Generation
I think there are some librarians that are a little too eager to abandon everything we have been doing for the last 130 years. But I also think we do need to be finding ways to move forward before we get left behind. There are still too far too many libraries that barely qualify as “1.0.”
My bet is that a new generation of information specialists, probably just being born, will discover a Wild West world waiting for them, brimming with data and opinion over which they can impose some order and judgment. And the more traditional (by then) library mind-set will have a new lease on life with a new face and more modern trimmings. We won’t have lost anything in the meantime. The application openness and non-industry-specific standards and acceptance of user-provided data will stay with us, having changed the library landscape in significant and lasting ways.- Candy Zemon
I do hope, though, that I don’t have to wait until after I retire to see some of the things that should already be happening.
Not Competing with Blockbuster
There are two related but distinct phenomena here. One is in-library gaming activities, including organized tournaments and open gaming time. The other is the circulation of games, gaming devices, and other gaming materials. The Ann Arbor District Library, which excels at gaming tournaments, does not circulate games. Eli Neiburger from the AADL, who also spoke during the first day of this symposium, does not want to put the library in direct competition with Blockbuster and other retail game rental businesses. Nicholson’s research found that only 20 percent of the libraries surveyed actually circulate games. – Tom Peters
We use to use the “not competing with Blockbuster” argument to not buy the latest big budget Hollywood films. We don’t anymore and I am not sure, in retrospect, why we ever thought that was a logical argument. And this doesn’t seem to be a universal policy at AADL, either.
Open Library
Remember all the discussions years ago about Earth’s Largest Library?
What if there was a library which held every book? Not every book on sale, or every important book, or even every book in English, but simply every book—a key part of our planet’s cultural legacy. First, the library must be on the Internet. No physical space could be as big or as universally accessible as a public web site. The site would be like Wikipedia—a public resource that anyone in any country could access and that others could rework into different formats. Second, it must be grandly comprehensive. It would take catalog entries from every library and publisher and random Internet user who is willing to donate them. It would link to places where each book could be bought, borrowed, or downloaded. It would collect reviews and references and discussions and every other piece of data about the book it could get its hands on. But most importantly, such a library must be fully open. Not simply “free to the people,” as the grand banner across the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh proclaims, but a product of the people: letting them create and curate its catalog, contribute to its content, participate in its governance, and have full, free access to its data. In an era where library data and Internet databases are being run by money-seeking companies behind closed doors, it’s more important than ever to be open. So let us do just that: let us build the Open Library. – Open Library
This could be something to pay close attention to.
Orange County Charges
There are those who have some concerns about a new program being offer to libraries by the Orange County Library System.
Why? It’s not because OCLS has launched their own webinar series for staff — OCLS really should indeed do this and share their successes, because they are seriously doing some awesome stuff with e-learning and online training. — but because in the greater spirit of collaboration and sharing among peers they are charging a hefty (at least for most smaller libraries) sum for it. – Helene Blowers
Ordinarily, I would agree. But these days, I am having to deal with just the same sort of funding issues that Orange County is experiencing.
Local governments across Central Florida are working to rebalance their books because of property tax cuts. On Tuesday, Orange County leaders will debate potential plans, although they have already said next year there will be no new construction of parks or fire stations. In many counties, including Orange County, some road-paving and road-widening plans would probably be delayed, including plans for commuter rail. – Central Florida News
Which, although isn’t mentioned in that article, is carrying over to the Library.
How Will Property Tax Reform Affect Library Service? That’s a good question but impossible to answer since there is no way to predict the outcome of the upcoming special legislative session in June. Like other tax supported services throughout Florida, the Orange County Library System is uncertain whether or how it will be impacted by any changes in the property taxes. The Orange County Library System is primarily funded from property taxes, and 85% of the current year’s budget comes from this source. Further, the Library has limited options to raise significant revenues from other sources. Although the size of the reduction in tax revenues is unknown, we must prepare for a variety of possible scenarios and potential impacts that is very likely to result in a reduced budget for the Library. – Mary Anne Hodel
Do I think that it is a good thing for them to charge for this sort of program? No. Do I understand why they are? Yes.
If you pay attention to Florida Libraries over the next few years and things don’t change, expect to see a lot more of this sort of thing.
