I’ve been thinking about the library system a lot lately, primarily because they could potentially face some serious funding issues this year. A nice chunk of their budget comes from Guilford County – but there is no guarantee that they will receive any percentage of the funding this year, or any year for that matter.
Let me give you some quick background information.
- Both Greensboro and Guilford County residents utilize the library system
- Of all the books checked out, 23.4% are checked out by county residents
- Each year the City of Greensboro asks Guilford County to pay X amount to the library system based on the percentage of books checked out by county residents
- The City should have requested $2.3 million this year, but only requested $2.1 (same as last year) million due to the economy
There is currently not a formal written agreement (from what I was told) between the City of Greensboro and Guilford County that determines the amount of funding the city will receive from the county for library funding. Given that there is a possibility the city will not receive the full funding from the county this year I’ve tossed around the idea of implementing a small fee (Small, meaning $10 or so) for county residents to have a library card. After talking with Sandy Neerman, the Library Director, (she called me at 6:45 last night – very much appreciated!) at length I have learned several important things:
- If the Greensboro Public Library starts to charge county residents it becomes a municipal library
- If county residents are charged the city will loose about $350,000 of funding from the state as well as some other perks
- The Library Director felt that due to the loss of state funding that implementing a fee would not be the best action for Greensboro
- The Greensboro Public Library system is one of the largest in the state and it does not have the characteristics (size, etc) of typical municipal libraries.
While talking with the Director, I simply asked, “What would you like to see happen?” She said she would like to see a formal agreement made between Guilford County and the City of Greensboro.
Now that I know some of the ramifications of implementing a fee to county residents, I agree with her and don’t think charging a fee to county residents is the best solution at this time. Apparently an attempt at a formal agreement was made several years ago, but the elected officials for both parties couldn’t make it happen. It is time for the powers at be to work together and come up with a formal agreement that eliminates some of the guessing game.
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Dear Ryan,
I attended the the City Academy with you at their last session.
I am glad to see that you are taking a good look at the Library. I am a menber of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Library.
You only hit on the volume of books that turn over in the library system. Our Library provides so many other useful services to the community that not enough people realize. In this current economic time, the Library is busier than ever, people use the data banks to look for jobs, how to write resumes and numerous other services.
Michael,
It’s great to hear from! I just wanted to let you know that I only hit on the volume of books because that is the measurement that is used for budgeting purposes (so I was told). You def. highlighted other valued services that are offered – thanks.
Ryan
In regards to the library funding – I am a former resident of Lake Jeanette – an affluent neighborhood in Greensboro. Many of my friends from there did in fact utilize the library, however (BIG however) I noticed they are planning a library branch near my old neighborhood. I am not sure who makes these decisions, but no way on earth should Lake Jeanette be getting a library branch built in their neighborhood. To put it bluntly, they have cars, they can drive to the library. The district in which you are running strikes me as a neighborhood that could use library funds to help kids after school & try to have programs that can help lift them out of the poverty that exists in some areas of this district. I hope you & other future City Council members will consider such things & common sense will be used in making decisions in allocating our resources.
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