By Ryan Franklin
Anyone who has read the paper in the last few months knows that the Mattoon Public Library will be on the April 7 ballot. We are asking the city to allow the library to become a library district, and asking those outside the city limits to join our new district.
In this tough economic time people are asking, "Why not just cut the budget?" We have, and have been for at least the last three years.
To help illustrate what we have done, I have decided to use my column to tell you the money-saving changes that have taken place in just the seven months that I have been the library director.
In blogs community members said, “Turn down the heat.” We did that and we also turned up the air conditioning. From the research I have done, libraries usually try to keep their building at 72 degrees. This winter the heating is set at 69 degrees on the main floors and even lower in the two basements.
Over the summer, when the library was paying a $4,500-$4,900 a month electric bill, we set the air conditioning at 80 degrees and if it was too warm we opened the windows. These cost-saving actions will still be practiced in 2009.
We also cut our part-time workers by five hours a week, completely cut out tuition reimbursement, and downsized kids programming. We no longer have a Halloween event, participate in Read All Day or in Read Across America.
We also have cut the materials budget (books, DVDs, etc.) by more than $5,000. This cut spending on AV items, large-print books, kids and teen books of all types, newspapers and magazines; and we have bought no new reference books at all. Right now we spend $1.79 per person in our service area on materials. The national average is between $4.50 and $6.50.
We have sought out and found new vendors for products we buy all the time. We used to buy our DVD and CD cases from the office supply store on the west end of town, but at over a dollar a case, we just could not keep up. We found a terrific online supplier that costs us less, lets us buy in bulk for bigger discounts, and has offered us new products that we really like and save money on, like our CD cases. Since they are push-button the disks do not get as scratched, the center holes do not get chipped and our materials have a longer shelf life.
We also found a new vendor for audio books. The most popular audio book vendor charges between $90 and $200 for a multi-CD audio book. Our new vendor rarely charges above $49.99 and the cases are better and do not need to be replaced as often (in fact, we have not had to replace a case yet with our new vendor).
The library can go through lots of supplies, protective cases and book wrap. We changed the type of book wrap we use for both hard covers and paperbacks. It works just as well and costs about half of what we used to pay.
This has been really important, because since I have been in charge we have gone through all new donations and absorbed books. If someone donated a book and it was in better condition than the copy we had sitting on the shelf, they were switched out. If we didn’t own it and I could see someone checking it out, then it was added.
The reason we have double copies of the hot new titles is because of people like “Donation Dave,” who love to buy books and then give them to the library when they are done and the book is still on the best seller list.
If you have been in and noticed the increase in the number of DVDs sitting on the self, it’s not usually because the library purchased them. We only purchase five to eight DVDs a month. Patrons are bringing in movies and we are putting them on the shelves. To all who help us out this way we say thank you!
Within three months of being here I noticed how much we spend on postage. To reduce these costs we purchased a new type of library card and redid our card policy so that we only mail out new cards, instead of damaged, lost or renewed cards. We do not send overdue notices by mail, but instead e-mail, and in a few cases call the patron. We also send e-mails for books that people have requested. Many people like this service, and it costs us nothing.
Last but not least, because of our tight budget there are many building repairs that have been put off. As you know a small problem can become a big problem if repair is not done. Whenever possible I have asked people to donate labor and fix small problems before they become a big problem.
There is only so much that can be done in our current status. So please: Go district!
Ryan A. Franklin is the director at the Mattoon Public Library.
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