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April 13, 2010

Public should back money for libraries

dailyrecord.com
Letters to the editor

By ROBERT F. TAMBINI • April 11, 2010

Consolidation," "cooperation" and "merged/shared services" have become
buzzwords in New Jersey government of late. While the sharing of services may be a idea whose time has come, there is one area of local government where such cooperation has been the rule, rather than the exception, for a very long time.

In a recent Daily Record editorial, "Fewer bucks for books these days," you point out: "Such cooperative ventures are important. Morris County libraries, for instance, have been working together for years under a program known as MAIN — the Morris Automated Information Network."

MAIN is only one of many library consortia in the state of New Jersey. In Bergen County, there is BCCLS; in Essex County, PALS+; most other counties in the state have their own organizations of municipal libraries, which have come together to improve and broaden services, while at the same time reducing costs.

For example, in Morris County, MAIN serves as the means by which "group purchasing" is accomplished, so that even the smallest libraries can have access to the same tools and provide the same level of service to their patrons as the largest libraries in the county.

For example, in Dover we are able to offer five days of interlibrary loan delivery service and access to online databases that would cost more than $100,000 annually if purchased individually.

As a member of MAIN, these costs are included in the fee we pay for membership in the consortia. Without MAIN, it would not be feasible to offer these services, as we simply could not afford them. Group purchasing of computers and other necessities also allows for significant cost savings, as MAIN orders as one large customer, rather than 37 (the number of municipal libraries in Morris County) smaller customers.

MAIN works as a group when purchasing and implementing the software that allows us to more efficiently and effectively perform the duties with which we are charged.

The cost of the online card catalog and the software used to circulate books and maintain patron records is well beyond the means of any individual library. But, as a group, we are able to share the cost and provide state of the art service to the patrons we serve.

As a result of these shared costs, the members of MAIN effect even greater cost savings. Libraries that don't hold a given item are able to request that item electronically from another library in Morris County and have it delivered to their libraries within a very short time. This saves the patron the time and travel necessary to acquire the item at the owning library and it saves the borrowing library the cost of having to purchase the item.

As was noted in an earlier article in the Daily Record, almost 700,000 items were transferred among the libraries in Morris County during 2009. That's more than 2,000 items a day.

Every day, in every way, libraries, our patrons, and the taxpayers of our respective towns are the winners. Libraries in New Jersey were the pioneers of "shared services." We are the model that other departments should be seeking to emulate.

We are institutions that serve all members of our community equally and with the highest level of efficiency, effectiveness, and professionalism.

Libraries serve children and the elderly. We serve the businessperson who needs to research companies or investments. We serve the student who needs to do find information for homework assignments. We serve the poor who would otherwise not have access to the services we provide.

We serve those who have recently arrived in the United States and want to learn English and explore American culture. We serve parents by providing educational and recreational programming for their children. We serve abused women and children by providing information about organizations that help the helpless.

We provide the tax forms that the state no longer makes available to its taxpayers. We offer programs about taxes, housing, and myriad other topics, all at no cost to the participants.

Finally, libraries give taxpayers so much more than they pay for. By any measure, libraries in New Jersey provide a great value to the taxpayer.

We should not be the brunt of draconian budget cuts by the state that will eliminate essential services and negatively impact the quality of life of the people we serve. (How many of your readers realize that the cuts outlined in the proposed state budget will result in the loss of more than $4.5 million in federal aid to the state of New Jersey?)

If anything, our representatives at all levels of government should be fighting to maintain our funding, so that we can continue to provide these important services to the people of our towns, the county, and the state.
Robert F. Tambini is director of the Dover library.

Posted by tumulty at April 13, 2010 6:54 AM

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