Director's Remarks

COST-EFFECTIVE SERVICE

What would local citizens want to support with taxes if they were starting over, if there were no beloved tradition or fear of loss? There is little doubt that the basic infrastructure of police, fire, and public works would survive. Most would also fund a safety net for those in distress, not only because it is the humanitarian thing to do but also because neglect of this support has its own heavy costs in crime, health care, and loss of life. Education and jails are mandated services, and both faced increased costs if children and adults fall through the cracks. Then there is quality of life, the kind of things that make the community a desirable place to find a job, raise a family, or retire.

 

Local governments that survey their residents and build a budget for services around their expressed priorities often rank public library service as first or second in terms of quality of life. Our library system attracts about 600,000 visitors a year, roughly comparable to the Tennessee Aquarium and superior to most other facilities. When you compare the amount of capital funding and marketing invested in the Aquarium as compared to the Library over the past two decades, our high performance is definitive proof that we offer something that people care about.

 

Then there is the safety net reducing expenses related to crime, health, and education. Last year, a federal study noted that 3.7 million people found jobs in 2009 by using public libraries to research and apply for positions. We are the only place in town offering both abundant free high-speed Internet & computer service and knowledgeable personnel willing and able to help. Many times that number of people come to public libraries looking for assistance, finding solutions to health or homework problems, or making connections with their own personal safety net of family members and friends. All of this helps prevent many from falling into worse trouble.  While I would love to brag that our high circulation of books last year (higher than it has been since the early 1980s) was entirely due to improved services, the truth is that more people than ever turned to us because of the recession.  We are an essential part of the safety net and it would cost much more to provide the same services if we were closed down than it does to fund the public library system.

 

Local taxes provide $5.4 million to fund library service.  The State of Tennessee provides between $0 and about $94,000, depending on state budget pressures.  We make up the rest with fees and donations and provide free basic services to the entire county. Last year, that service included five buildings & 103,000 registered card holders, 838,000 circulated items, over 1,000 preschool children served with books and story hours each month in three dozen area day cares, a separate 1,000 children a month served in branch library story hours, over 56,000 people attending library programs, over 228,000 patrons using the computers in our buildings, and over 36 million uses of our web page each year. That is quite a lot to obtain from the 89 FTE employees who account for 80% of our costs in salaries & benefits.  The approximately $500,000 spent for materials such as books, magazines, DVDs, and databases goes very far (between ten cents and a dollar per use) because of our very efficient business model of shared use.  To give some idea how efficient we are, we provide a DVD rental program that is half the cost of Netflix and is not only fully funded by the small rental charge, but also generates enough profit to fund downloadable bestsellers as well.

 

Next: the cost & benefit of branch services and alternatives.

PROGRESS REPORT AND TIMELINE

We expect to open the second floor of the Public Library - Downtown and expand hours in the branches to five days a week in the beginning of November, to open our Internet Café around the beginning of January, and to have a new automation system by the beginning of February.  We are also working with the City and County to resolve elevator problems. 

 

Since my last report in June, almost all of this has been on hold pending budget decisions and unavoidable delays in obtaining back-ordered carpeting. However, new carpeting has now been installed on stairways and on part of the second floor. We are moving nearly all the books downtown this week to make room for the next stage of carpeting that will finish the second floor and allow us sufficient space to carpet the main floor.  Our schedule is built around making room for our best fund raiser ever on October 16.

 

Here Come the Mummies will take over our main floor on October 16 for their only Chattanooga appearance in October. The response from fans has been terrific and sponsors are turning this event into our best fund raiser ever. All the proceeds will go to renovating the Children’s room of the downtown library.  It will be a magical space suitable for a great city with one of the best children’s museums and one of the best library outreach programs for children in the country. We expect over 700 people for the Mummies. The main floor will be emptied out to make room for their stage and adequate space for their fans. Since the existing carpet is being replaced, event planners are decorating it with tombs and other effects to match the Halloween theme. Because of the great entertainment and once-in-a-lifetime transformation, there will never be another fund raiser like it ( www.clublibevent.com ).

 

After the fundraiser is over, tile for the Internet Café and carpeting for the first floor will be installed, the small alcove meeting rooms will be completed, and the furnishings for the café and main floor will be purchased and installed.  Once the tile is in place on the second floor, we will open the completed areas up to the public. Computer lab classes that have been suspended or moved will resume, the bathrooms will again be available for use, and both staff & patrons will again have browsing access to all the subject areas in the circulating collection.

 

The point of all this work is to improve the efficiency and convenience of the library. One goal downtown is to insure that the most-used materials are easy to find on the first floor so patrons can come in and out quickly and save on parking. The second floor café will have several functions.  Patrons will be able to recharge their portable devices and have free high-speed wireless Internet service, as well as set up business and group meetings in private alcove rooms with videoconferencing services. In addition, we have purchased online access to Reference USA, Lexis-Nexis Library Express, and Morningstar Investment Research Center. Those familiar with these expensive business services know they are extremely valuable to local investors and businesses. Finally, the consolidated departments on the main floor will enable us to provide immediate answers to a wide range of questions rather than referring patrons to other departments. Even more valuable, the consolidation frees up enough staff to increase hours in our branch libraries.

 

Last month, Northgate Branch generated substantially more circulations (22,150) than The Public Library – Downtown (19,758) and about 7,000 more circs than the next highest branch library. This higher circulation occurred despite the fact that the downtown library is open six days a week and two evenings while Northgate is only open four days and no evenings. While we hope that recent changes will make it easier for patrons to use our higher level of services downtown, the convenience of free parking around neighborhood branches in popular retail areas is hard to beat. We need to serve people where they are. A five-day schedule for patrons will be a great boon to families struggling to make the best use of their time and money.

Downtown work and automation

We are at a point now in our downtown reorganization that we need to temporarily shut down some services. The first to go were our second floor bathrooms as we replace carpet, create an Internet café and three small conference rooms, and re-label all our books for a new automation system. The second to go were Sunday hours over the summer months. Traditionally, we closed on Sundays during the summer months in order to conserve funding. We are doing it now both to save money and to redistribute staff for these major tasks.   Most of the staff we freed up by consolidating departments will be fully engaged in thoroughly weeding, labeling, and consolidating collections (comprising about 400,000 volumes). When we last did this in 1996, we ended up completely closing branches for weeks at a time. We will be maintaining otherwise normal hours throughout the system, but completion of these tasks will require all the staff we have for the next few months.  

Last week, I received a letter from our automation vendor telling us that there would be no attempt to repair our main computer if it has a problem. This followed a warning three years ago that parts were no longer being made for it and that we needed to replace it as soon as possible.  In that a replacement computer would cost us about $300,000 and new automation systems run on computers costing about $50,000, we changed our annual request for capital funds replacing our current automation system into an emergency three years ago and every year since. 

Even when our computer was new, we typically had repair issues at least once every two years. It processes millions of transactions every day. Though infrequent, power outages downtown several years ago caused the computer to overheat and shut down.  Almost all the peripherals and wiring connected to it as well as the air conditioner supporting it were installed over 15 years ago. How many of our patrons are still working with a Windows 3.11 computer and software? Since we bought our automation system and software, Microsoft has added and retired Windows 95 and Windows NT, and Windows XT will soon be joining them. The company that made our computer has been sold twice, first to Compaq and then to HP. Both have little inclination to support legacy machines far beyond their service life.

Our software was designed prior to wide acceptance of the web interfaces most of us take for granted. It requires extraordinary control over all our wiring and equipment in order to function and an over-night reboot so that it can compile and integrate the changes made during the previous day. New systems incorporate changes as they occur and are completely independent of the infrastructure required to get from one point to another.  As a result, they are not only much cheaper to operate and provide immediate access to new patron accounts, but they also work with almost any Internet-capable device, dramatically reducing our costs for new equipment.

I noted all this to explain why I say that we are preparing to replace our automation system in 2010, even though we do not know if it will be funded. We have no interest in being another BP by ignoring major problems until after they become a disaster. There is an extremely high probability that we will have a computer failure this year. If it happens prior to City & County funding, the library system will shut down because all our services are tied to it. Our best alternatives then will be wasting $300,000 buying a new computer for a defective system so that we can be back in operation within a month, or staying shut down for several months while we put a request for a new automation system out for bid. In both cases, this piecemeal approach will cost the Library, over 101,000 registered card-holders, and ultimately the City & County much more in lost service and money than doing the job right fixing infrastructure and software while our obsolete computer is still running.

The Flag-raising at Brainerd Mission on June 9

The Revolutionary War was not just won on the battlefield, but in the spiritual values that justified and sustained community support before and after it occurred. The seed was sown when most of those who signed the Declaration of Independence were children. One outstanding colonial intellectual stood in the vanguard of what was called the Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards’ movement earned that title because it was widespread, democratic, and not only challenged the old order but changed lives for the better in an era of a frozen church hierarchy and a cynical populace.

In our age, the “pursuit of happiness” is drowning in commercial temptations, insularity, anger, and frustration. We need a vision of virtue, justice, or sacredness, something that all sides can agree on.  In explaining our problem, Jonathan Haidt, author of The Happiness Hypothesis, adopts the ancient metaphor of a rider on an elephant, where the rider presumes intellectual rule, but the much larger elephant of instant gratification goes where it will until it is convinced that true gratification lay elsewhere. George Mardsen’s description of Jonathan Edwards’ legacy (Jonathan Edwards: a Life, Yale University Press, 2003) speaks for the Cherokee and missionaries who fought together for a spiritual vision at Brainerd Mission:

“G-d’s … essence is love. G-d’s purpose in creating a universe in which sin is permitted must be to communicate that love to creatures. The highest or most beautiful love is sacrificial love for the undeserving. Those – ultimately the vast majority of humans - who are given eyes to see that ineffable beauty will be enthralled by it. They will see the beauty of a universe in which unsentimental love triumphs over real evil. They will not be able to view Christ’s love dispassionately but rather will respond to it with their deepest affections. Truly seeing such good, they will have no choice but to love it. Glimpsing such love, they will be drawn away d from their preoccupations with the gratifications of their most immediate sensations. They will be drawn from their self-centered universes. Seeing the beauty of the redemptive love of Christ as the true center of reality, they will love G-d and all that he has created.”

Edwards’ most famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d,” was a spiritual call to arms. Including himself and all his followers in abject humility to the grace provided sinners who defiled rather than honored his creation. His goal was nothing less than equal spiritual rights and responsibilities expressed in free public engagement.

In the 1730s Edwards wrote that “We are made of the same human race. In these two things are contained the most forceable reasons against the master’s abuse of his servant. … That both have one Maker, and their Maker made ‘em with the same nature.” In 1739, (The History of the Works of Redemption), he indicates that in the millennial era a few hundred years hence, it may be hoped that every race and culture will be equal in achievement.

Hence these words in our Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Brainerd Mission Cemetery survives as a rare jewel exemplifying our country at its best, proof that humans can look beyond themselves in service to a spiritual truth. The Cherokee honored with equality here created their own democratic system, developed their own written language, and both spoke at and acted with the highest level of integrity in pursuing their case. What was won in shared values cannot be destroyed by any material or political force because it lives in the heart and mind of every true patriot regardless of race, religion, or political opinion.

The words establishing a great awakening in our time will be different, but I suspect that they will also focus on the bounty we enjoy despite our abuse of it in factional disputes and cynicism. Chances are excellent that it will be about a common vision, something sacred we all know to be necessary for equal opportunity in one grand but fragile world.

Reorganization downtown & Here Come the Mummies

The Public Library – Downtown is changing so that we can provide better service to more people at a lower cost.  Library hierarchies in separate department collections are expensive and no longer match the way people use our buildings. Patrons now prefer to browse for answers on the Internet. Google, Bing and others provide an effective quick search for free information. Libraries now use similar online deep-indexing of licensed content they supply.  Our patrons can print copyrighted articles from top magazines, study a foreign language, take a job or school placement practice exam, and scan the cover art or table of contents or a review of interesting titles all from a single computer. It is time our buildings offered the same convenience.

The new main floor will be an information commons with quick access to high-speed Internet on computers, the best new book and media titles, and quality assistance finding the answers you need.  The goal will be to speed up quick trips to the library by putting the most frequently used materials on one floor, providing self-service check-out and return of materials, and providing both great signage and professional service where and when you need it. Some will help you find exactly what you want to check out and others will research the best answers to other questions. The media and book collections will be set up for easy browsing on display shelving similar to what you would find at a Barnes & Noble.

The new second floor will have all the subject area collections for adults, an Internet Café with benefits, three small conference meeting rooms, and a newly renovated space for children that provides a safe exciting area for reading, discovery, and creative play. Patrons looking for information in our book stacks not only had to deal with a numerical breakdown of world knowledge devised in the nineteenth century, but also had to guess where different subjects might be located. Most would not assume that Sports, Hunting, and Fishing would be in the Fine Arts collection.  If you were looking for knitting or weaving, you would also check in Fine Arts, but you would find books on sewing in Business, Science & Technology. We will be making the best of this arcane system by using modern book store categories over aisles, putting the whole collection of subjects in one sequence rather than dividing it into departments, and providing touch-screen searching showing the exact shelf for what you want and a help button that will bring a human guide if you need one.

Our new Internet Café will offer not only high-speed wireless service and great coffee, but charging stations at each table, an ability to send documents to a nearby printer, loaner iPads and laptops, and quality business, news, and investment information. We are also looking into providing streaming Sports or news content on nearby screens with the help of area sponsors. Should you want to arrange a meeting with clients in the area, conference rooms for up to 20 people will be available for scheduling on the same floor with projectors, whiteboards, and videoconferencing. We are also looking for a partner to provide higher level business services in one of our second floor alcoves such as a printing and mailing service. One last tantalizing option is to open the café early by making use of our second-floor connection to the Republic Parking, Tallan, and Krystal buildings. Should this be possible, we could close off the rest of the library until 9 a.m., but offer early morning service to area commuters.

We will finish most of the moving required for the second floor by October so that we can use most of the first floor on October 16 for Here Come the Mummies as the main attraction for our annual fundraiser. The funds raised will be used to renovate our children’s space on the other half of the second floor. We have two great areas to crow about in comparison to any library system in the country. One is our outstanding Local History Collection which has been nurtured for over 100 years. The other is our downtown children’s services where we rank in the 90^th percentile for central libraries nationwide. The space has not been renovated since 1976 and is long overdue for a modern makeover.

Both our Local History and our Government Documents collections are over 100 years old and we have many priceless manuscripts, clipping files, photos, and government records as a result. Our clipping file of news stories goes back to the mid-1800s, we have a Cherokee and Brainerd Mission collection second to none, and extensive family and industry records. Our Government Documents collection is the envy of most in Tennessee because of our U.S. Congressional Serial Set, which contains detailed information about government grants, treaties, and other information helpful to genealogists and historians. These rare and highly-prized volumes deserve to be protected in an archival environment and we will create a protected space for them to be shared with our community and scholars on our renovated third floor.

Delivery of Services

92% of our patrons visit our Library through our web site from their home, school or office, but don’t find it as convenient to get to one of our buildings. There are many potential solutions that do not involve large capital or operating costs. Here are just a few suggestions:

•  A business/community could provide room for a library station in a location. Other than space, the main requirements would be a virtual private network connection on a computer with fast Internet service, a responsible person to handle transactions, and a regular delivery service between the closest library branch and the office. If the person handling it was a volunteer and pick-ups and drop-offs could be added to an existing route, costs could end up being minimal.

• A vending van could be modified with high-speed wireless to serve a regular schedule of business locations around the area. This would be more of a roving pick-up location for books and media than a standard bookmobile. Patrons would choose the materials they want online, place a hold request for van delivery, and receive notification in advance of the pick-up date.

• We could deliver library materials to the home with prepaid postage and a reversible address label for a fee. Such systems have proven to be reliable and safe in other areas. We have already worked with the U. S. Post Office to provide free delivery and pick-up of large print and media for patrons with severe vision problems.

• Library programs, such as story hours, genealogy workshops, and book discussions could be brought to community spaces on a regular basis. Currently, The Public Library provides story hours to about three dozen day care centers each month, and lap-sits & story hours to every branch (over 2,000 children each month) at a cost of about $100,000. If we were to double the service to community centers county-wide, we would have to buy another car and hire three to four new staff members, but it all could be done for about $150,000 a year. In combination with the first option, a community could offer its citizens an alternative for books, media, and children’s programs without the cost of a branch library.

The Library Budget

Several years ago, library patrons undertook a petition drive asking the City and County to restore 6-day service in the branches. As a joint City/County department, we have a duty to bring any of our concerns directly to local government leaders rather than using patrons as our mouthpiece. If any patrons ask how they can help us, we encourage them to call their elected officials and tell them what they want and why they want it. It does not help us at all if elected officials believe the message is coming from us rather than from their constituents.

 As a result, we did not take part in nor aid petitioners in their quest. Even so, they raised over 2,500 signatures and copies of the signed petitions were sent to both governments. Mayor Littlefield sent a letter to each petitioner indicating that he shared their aspirations. Our method of respecting their petition and Mayor Littlefield’s endorsement is to always ask for some restoration of hours.  Even if there is little or no chance that the County will support this goal, there is no chance at all if we do not at least ask for it. This totaled about $42,000.

The bulk of the increase ($716,044 out of $922,654) requested by the Library was to cover bills for pension and medical expenses passed on to us by the City. Last year, the federal government requested that local governments take steps to cover future liability for retiree’s health care. As this is projected future coverage for employees now working, it is sort of like counting the number of angels on the head of a pin. There is no way to accurately measure who will still be working for us when they retire, what their health might be, or what sort of national coverage will be available, but both the City and County came up with numbers and began funding this estimate for their own employees. Since we are a joint agency, the City passed on an annual bill for coverage ($632,984) to us, told us that the County Finance Chief was aware that we would be asking for it, and asked that we put it into our budget request. They also passed on an expectation that general pension and medical costs would increase by $83,060. The two bills together add up to $716,044.

The remaining $164,000 covers expected increases in utilities, materials, and contracts. We don’t have the option of bypassing the majority of these increases, but can reduce the book budget yet again. To put this issue in context, our budget for books and periodicals (according to averages in the Southeast) should be $1.2 million, but is about $470,000 (the same as it was in 1985 when prices were one third what they are now). Reducing it further is kind of like a grocery store refusing to carry milk, bread, and eggs in order to save money.

If the City and County give us the same amount as last year, it is unlikely that the City will require us to pay the $632,984 for future retiree health care, but that still leaves us looking for reductions in services totaling $289,670. To put that in perspective, each day of branch service costs us about $100,000. We have a very small administration. Almost every dollar in our budget goes directly to providing service to the public. One method of meeting our budget would be to reduce branch service hours to one day a week or substantially reduce downtown service, though we will do everything possible to find a better answer.

Finally, our capital request for $850,000 in automation funds is neither new nor trivial. When we first automated in 1996, our consultant Sue Epstein told the City and County elected officials that they would need to commit to spending about one third ($340,000) of the total project cost each three years in order to maintain the system. Our first request went to elected officials in 1999, but no funds have ever been awarded. If funds had been awarded on the original schedule ($340,000 every three years), we would have had $1.7 million to maintain our system (including next year’s budget). We are asking for half that amount.  Three years ago, our vendor informed us that parts were no longer being made for our main computer and that we would need to replace it. This is our third year in a row of asking for emergency funds to prevent a major disaster. The efficiencies available from new technology are so great that this investment in new technology would pay for itself in five years. As one former City Council member noted, this is a no brainer. The Library Task Force consultants also strongly endorsed funding this request.

Automation and the Future of Public Libraries

The fate of public libraries, at least in the short term, may rest on the efficient use of new technology and volunteers. The browsing for books and media has slowly shifted from the physical handling of materials on store or library shelves to online browsing for materials that can be delivered to your door. Many book and video stores have gone out of business because of places like Amazon and Netflix, but there is no reason why libraries cannot deliver copyrighted materials to your door in the same way while finding better ways to assist patrons in our buildings. What this means for our community is that technology and volunteers can now dramatically reduce the drain on local government tax dollars.

The biggest game changer on the horizon is an effective search option, something that gives the patron all the benefits a trip to the shelf might have offered as well as a much deeper indexing of content. A music lover might be able to pull up every CD or downloadable file for any requested performer. A student may be able to pull up every quality text that mentions his or her specific subject.  The end result is that a search that might have taken a person several months of work and travel to different locations can be completed at one computer in an hour or two.

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others are investing millions in search technology that maps the interests of users, pulls up relevant content so the patron can make effective choices, and enables the consumer to receive the desired goods with minimal trouble. There are about half a dozen major players in library searching as well. We are serving as a beta site for one of them and will be integrating their search into our website in coming months.

Netflix and Amazon are compromised by having to use national carriers that cost a lot more than local delivery options. We could use bicycle messengers, and a greatly expanded list of drop-off locations, to cut their mailing costs in half as well as supply most of our downloads, DVDs, audiobooks, and books for free. Orlando Public Library has been doing so for decades and now circulates about 800,000 items a year through direct deliveries and pickups.

New radio-frequency (RFID) automation systems for libraries are highly reliable and now handle from 80-90% of the circulation transactions in libraries that use them. The electro-magnetic system we now have for theft detection has numerous false positives, but RFID technology is not only accurate but can tell the staff member exactly what item is in a person’s bag and take a picture of them as they go out the door, dramatically cutting down on stolen goods. Besides greatly reducing the personnel costs associated with circulation, the new systems can take returned items on a conveyor and distribute them into bins for specific branches or carts for shelving in specific areas. The new Seattle Public Library put their automated sorter front and center.

When the VW-prize-winning Auburn students developed Platinum-level LEED-certified new library concepts for us, each one of them included an automated retrieval system that put the lesser-used materials in a bin system that provided greater access to materials at one-fifth the cost of current stack shelving. Instead of wasted lighting, structural costs, and space, the new system could take any returned item from the book drop to its final destination downtown. Any patrons who didn’t see what they wanted on display shelving could use the search system to locate any physical item they needed and have it delivered to a waiting area nearby. This not only cuts down on the cost of utilities and storage, but also eliminates much of the personnel costs associated with shelving, retrieval, and keeping items in a specific order.

Finally, patrons facing library closures have long demanded some way for volunteers in the community to keep services going despite the lack of funding. We are committed to making this work by devoting more staff to the training of volunteer docents who would orient visitors looking for library services, assist patrons trying to use computers, and oversee & develop some adult programming & partnerships. We will always need professionals finding the perfect item, researching a question, providing outstanding children’s programs, showing people how to use specific sources, and solving complex customer service issues, but the existing personnel can extend service to the whole county if we can better utilize the talents of library volunteers.

Funding the public library

The most important local infrastructure you will ever build is in your own mind. Invest in mental resources, character, and knowledge for benefits that last as long as you do. When the nineteenth century industrialist Andrew Carnegie, the world’s richest man at the time, looked for what he could give back that would most benefit others, he helped towns and cities establish public libraries. Recently, Bill Gates established a foundation tasked with finding and funding the greatest benefits to society. His methods so impressed Warren Buffet that Buffet turned over much of his own philanthropy to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Again, Gates’ researchers recognized a huge cost-benefit payoff in supporting public libraries.

About six years ago, Salinas County, California almost became the first city in the United States to close its public libraries. They were facing an economic downturn and an unusually low per capita tax base requiring that they cut back on services. The public and private outcry was so great, that the Mayor who proposed the cut ended up leading the campaign to fund them. In November of 2005, voters there approved tax increases funding several vital but very inexpensive services including the libraries, three recreation centers, school crossing guards, and graffiti abatement. All four provided a supportive environment for children to grow at a very low cost. In 2008, Salinas County officials had so changed their minds about the value of libraries that they funded library service seven days a week. They found, as one day our community will as well, that the opportunities you provide your citizens to prosper both mentally and physically are cheaper by far than the sterile alternative. The low costs of educational, job, and health wellness services greatly reduce the huge costs of medical care, crime, poor education, and disaffection from the community.

Last May, The Institute for Museum & Library Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded a comprehensive national survey to determine if the wide availability of the Internet in homes and offices had reduced the benefit of public libraries. Earlier studies had provided anecdotal evidence that there was no negative effect on library use, but this hardly seemed possible to the relatively well-educated adults who had paid Internet service in the home and had finished their education years before. The new study included direct monitoring of computer use in our library branches and in 400 other library systems across the country as well as statistically reliable surveys of over 20,000 individuals nationwide.

The new study confirmed that over the past 12 months:

• 40 percent of library computer users (an estimated 30 million people) received help with career needs. Among these users, 75 percent reported they searched for a job online. Half of these users filled out an online application or submitted a resume.
  

• 37 percent focused on health issues. The vast majority of these users (82 percent) logged on to learn about a disease, illness, or medical condition. One-third of these users sought out doctors or health care providers. Of these, about half followed up by making appointments for care.

• 42 percent received help with educational needs. Among these users, 37 percent (an estimated 12 million students) used their local library computer to do homework for a class.

• Library computers linked patrons to their government, communities, and civic organizations. Sixty-percent of users – 43.3 million people – used a library’s computer resources to connect with others.
  

Marsha Semmel, acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, noted: “There is no ambiguity in these numbers. Millions of people see libraries as an essential tool to connect them to information, knowledge, and opportunities. Policy makers must fully recognize and support the role libraries are playing in workforce development, education, health and wellness, and the delivery of government services.”

Among the most interesting findings are the following:

1.      169 million public library users nationwide, and 77 million of those use the public library Internet services

2.      50% of 14-18 year olds use library computers nationwide

3.      3.7 million people got jobs after filling out applications online at the library last year

4.      Many kids who had computer access at home cited competition with siblings as their reason for preferring the library

5.      Many of those seeking work cited the anonymity of the library and one-on-one assistance as their reason for choosing the library over the more depressing and labeling experience of going to a career center

Locally, we also have a higher circulation of materials (833,595) and use of our libraries now, despite being open in most only 4 days a week and only two evenings downtown, than we have had any year since 1984 (838,000) though we were open 7 days a week  downtown and six days & four evenings a week in the branches over most of that time. Our circulation this year is already 35,000 higher (through the end of March) than it was last year.

I do not know what our local governments will consider vital in this tough economy. However, I do know that almost all individuals want to solve their own problems. The wellness services that support their desire to do so cost much less than loss of health, poor education, and disaffection from the community. Often we end up funding extremely expensive educational and health solutions because we have such a huge investment in them already and they have to be fixed, but ignore the cheaper  principle of a stitch in time saves nine. 

Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent, I encourage you to think about what you pay local governments to maintain services you consider vital. Ask yourself why it makes sense to pay taxes to provide these services. The answer will almost certainly be that you will pay less out of your pocket each year to support this shared benefit than you would to provide it in some other way. The maintenance of roads and bridges has to be done every year because a blocked road can isolate you. It doesn't matter how enterprising you are if you are denied access.  Maintaining bodies and minds offers a clear road to success for the enterprising as well. Denying people the chance to succeed on their own outside of expensive institutions already under huge remedial care burdens is a simple failure to consider the true costs and benefits to you as a taxpayer.

Where we've been and where we're going

More people are using The Public Library in Chattanooga and Hamilton County than ever in our past. Though use is now driven by requests for Internet service, books, media, and downloads, very little that is in high demand is otherwise free. High-speed Internet and computers cost money. The best medical, financial, and learning materials are expensive. Even new entertainment comes at a price. Public libraries were created in the nineteenth century to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots.  By providing citizenship information, language instruction, school support, and the details of functioning in our world, the enterprising are able to solve their own problems. A child can explore the whole world at the public library. The only limit is on individual drive and imagination. Unfortunately, the gap between the rich and the poor has never been wider than it is now.

 

In most of the twentieth century, the great city libraries and universities offered unique higher-level access to the world of books and periodicals. There were massive card catalogs and huge indexes to periodicals. The number of books and magazines on library shelves grew at an astonishing rate. All of this changed at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century. Neither public nor academic collections are growing any longer. Now, most of what is useful is available at a price online and the key to success is building the best way to find what you want on the Internet and then simplify delivery to the final destination.  In our busy world, public libraries are not threatened by free content, but rather by cheap fee-based convenience through sites like Netflix and Amazon.

 

The Public Library in Chattanooga and Hamilton needs a convenience makeover. We are remaking the downtown departments in a way that should enable us to expand hours in the branches with the same funding we have now.   Over 86% of our patrons access our library from home, school, or work. 92% of our patrons have a computer and Internet access at home.  Those who do visit our buildings prefer the branches with good parking near their homes and they would gladly take advantage of self-service options if they were faster and came with more convenient hours.

 

Our prime focus is on an upgrade of our white-elephant library automation software and equipment. We built the existing system in 1996 based on software that requires a unique high-end computer. The world of library technology has grown to include new and cheaper delivery & handling solutions that operate off of much cheaper and smaller computers. Not only would this investment pay off in sharply reduced annual computer maintenance costs, but we would also save money in personnel, shipping, printing, electricity, and postage, and provide better & faster service.

The new downtown library will include an Internet cafe on the second floor with charging stations at each table, high-speed wireless, loaner e-book readers with access to current news & financial information, and small conference rooms with video-conferencing capabilities. Not only will you be able to scan the days news from around the world while drinking your coffee, but you will be able to set up business meetings and discussions off-site as a change of pace. The third floor will function as an archive for serious research into local history and government resources, while the first floor will contain all the popular collections including DVDs, music, audio-books, fiction, graphic novels, computers, and all the library's reference resources as a one-stop-shop for anyone entering the building. 

Please bear with us as we pull all this together. There is no question that the public library has a very bright future, but it needs to be cost-effective and convenient in this age of high government costs. The library of the future is going to be online even if much of what it delivers to patrons is still on paper and in packaged media. Those who cannot afford to buy computers or Internet service or books are still going to need help in helping themselves, because the alternative isn't pretty in crime, remedial education, and disaffection from the community. The public library is a community promise, just like clean air, water, and good schools. We look forward to working with you to build a stronger and brighter future for all our citizens.