The Library Board of Trustees will meet at 4:30 this afternoon at Southworth Library to hear a presentation from the Privatization Committee on contracting out library services.
That's all folks, sorry for not posting this sooner.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Library Board meeting this afternoon with the Privatization Committee
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15 comments:
The Library Board will resist every step of the way. Didn't they just up the director's pay. This should be interesting when town meeting has to approve it.
As a town we need to look at the pros and cons of privatization. I'm not saying I want it to go either way, but how about an open mind. From what I have heard so far, no one would notice the difference. The people who work at the library would still work at the library and the patrons would not notice. I know it's hard to change but let's keep an open mind.
Any word form the privatization committee or any library people who attended the meeting? I wonder how it went?
How can a for-profit company operate the library at lower cost, make a profit, and not sacrifice quantity or quality of service? There is no "free lunch."
The citizens of Dartmouth may decide they are willing to trade off less service or quality for lower cost. It would not be the first such precedent in Dartmouth.
certification is not guaranteed or even included under the umbrella of privatization, so use of the SAILS inter library loan is not necessarily included in the quoted service cost. I assume we could supplement the budget to ensure certification, but then we should again compare the actual savings.
Certification is not guaranteed if the library continues in its present configuration with town employees. Just last year the library had to seek a waiver to remain certified. If the town finances don't improve by reducing costs in all departments, including the library, they will get right back to waivers and loss of certification very soon. The reason the library had to seek a waiver was that they did not spend enough on materials or remain open enough hours. It seems to me that both of those parameters are within the control of the library administration. Why did they fall short?
The town employees at the library have no incentive to reduce costs. A private company contracted at a price to provide a service has an enormous incentive to reduce costs. Every dollar they save goes right into their pocket as profit. Companies all across the country have done that by increasing productivity and aggressively controlling costs. That is how a private company does to for less.
Could someone tell me how many private library providers there are?
Private companies do many things better than a government controlled agancy can, I have yet to see this demonstrated in any meaningful way as far as libraries go. I'll keep an open mind but need convincing before I buy into the notion you will get more for less. Loss of the SAILS inter library loan benefit is a big stumbling block for me. Is this addressed by the private providers, or will we need to purchase books not carried by the private companies?
Are you seriously trying to say the library is at fault for requiring a waiver and not the budget crunch? If certification and use of the SAILS program is important to residents, they should know it is still at risk under privatization. When Mr. Graca presented the privatization option to the SB, he acknowledged that the proposal did not take into account funding for certification and that it in fact was below the recommended funding. While I realize we need to explore this option, I want to know the real savings, if down the road we are supplementing the budget we send LSSI with additional funds to ensure certification/SAILS.
What I said was that the library administration could have funded the materials and extended hours but did not. Another component of the certfication is funding and that is not in their control. I posted about the requirements for certification here . Whether the library is run by a private company or the town has no bearing on the certification or membership in the SAILS network. We can be certified and belong in either case. If going to a private company results in savings of hundreds of thousands per year but jeopardizes certification in the short term, I would support that. I think in the long run, we will be forced to reduce funding anyway so we may as well look at ways to maintain services at lower cost.
Support a public library, not privatization. The services will not be of equal quality and character.
anonymous, do you have facts to support your claim that services will not be better or even the same at a lower price??? I would like to hear from companies that provide this service and do a little research before I assume anything.
The topic of library certification is a tricky one. The certification system is based on the premise that since a town can raise the levy by 2.5% each year the library should get its share by getting a 2.5% increase in its budget, based on the average of the 3 previous year's budgets. The problem is that many other costs in town rise by more than 2.5%, 6% to 7% has been the norm, so priorities have to be set and something has to give. Decreased state aid also forces the issue of budget cuts. The state forces a community to run more efficiently, but penalizes that community on the library axis if we do. This doesn't make much sense.
The library budget for the last 4 fiscal years has been, $1.049M, $1.035M, $860K, and this year because of the override, $998K. For this year, FY09, the budget would have to have been $1.006M to remain certified without a waiver. Since it is $998K we had to get a waiver, which is not automatic.
For FY10 the budget would have to be $988K to be certified, so if there is no budget cut for the library, no problem. However, if increased costs elsewhere force the library budget to be cut, then a waiver will again have to be sought. And if we get by FY10 then there is always FY11 and beyond to worry about.
My committee's position is that remaining a member of the SAILS lending program is not a guaranteed thing for the future because of the uncertain certification. We have recommended that the state legislation be pushed at because in these economic times the mandate is becoming tougher and tougher for all communities, with many library branches being closed as we have had to do. We are also concerned that the current library service will have to be cut, and in the extreme, lose it altogether as has happened elsewhere. I stated at the meeting that a library service is important to a community, but when push comes to shove, it will never be as important as a DPW or the police. Library budgets start to look like "low hanging fruit" when fiscal pressures cause cuts.
Our task was to shake the trees in a variety of areas and see what fell out. It so happened that our investigation of outsourcing the library service showed a potential savings of around $400K, for what was portrayed as a comparable/better service except for the SAILS membership. To hire a company and pay them a mandated $1M so that we can maintain SAILS membership doesn't make any sense, since we can do that ourselves. We also presented options to replace the SAILS lending/borrowing if needed.
NO ONE has enough information now to know whether that is the correct path to take or not, everyone has their own feelings and guesses about the situation. What our committee has recommended is that a savings of $400K certainly sounds like it is worth pursuing, and getting more in-depth information.
We have recommended, both to the SB and the Library Trustees, that the best way to get the specific information needed for the decision process is to initiate an RFP. This gives a clear definition about what the town expects for a service, as well as what a company bids for that service. This takes the guesswork out of the equation and makes things official. THEN real data can be considered about whether it is the correct path to take for the community. An RFP is non-binding in the sense that you can dismiss all the bids, but it is binding if you accept a bid which then becomes a contract. It is really a no-lose exercise.
There are at least 2 other companies besides LSSI that manage libraries, but LSSI is the largest. It is quite possible that with an RFP we could end up with choices of which to choose, or dismiss them all and continue as is. Nothing lost except the time to do the RFP process, but a large upside possible.
It puzzles me that so many people are afraid to get additional information, and would rather dismiss an opportunity on what they believe to be true. Let me say again, I can't tell you that outsourcing the library, or anything else, is the right thing to do, only that when a large POTENTIAL savings pops up it should be pursued to get all the FACTS. I DO know that this town remains in financial trouble, and if we keep refusing to explore change of anything we will never make progress. This is all part of the process to get the best use of taxpayer's dollars.
The Library Trustees have asked my committee to now step aside while they decide whether to pursue an RFP, or not. I have suggested to them that they might consider an addendum to the RFP on getting a price to open the Tucker Rd. branch as well. It might not cost that much more to restore full service to all areas of town. This addendum could be added to the acceptance of the main RFP as desired. Choices.
The ball is in their court so we will see what happens.
Frank, Great work as usual. Let the bidding begin.
Kudos to Diane Gilbert for writing a very honest and thoughtful piec that appeared in the Chronicle today. Well done.
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