The central downtown library has just announced that it is going to require holders of branch library cards to pay $200/year to check out its materials.
It will still lend materials to other libraries in the state for free.
It will still receive loans from other libraries.
It will still allow residents of the twin city, who do not pay taxes to it, and who have a very large library of their own, to check out materials for free.
It just won’t let residents of the bedroom communities that have libraries get any of its materials, at the library or via loan, without paying $200/year. It’s a local blackout on library lending.
In effect, it is forcing the rest of the libraries in the state to pick up its interlibrary loan slack. Other libraries will have to ship more materials farther afield. It is bilking its responsibility.
I’m livid. I just wrote a big fat check to my local branch.
That’s pretty sad. Someday we’ll be talking about how we actually had to drive to a place with real books (made of paper!) to borrow one, just to read it! As soon as I saw a Kindle I knew books were on the way out. =(
Huh. In my area, the city library is for city residents, and the county system is for county residents who are outside the city. City residents can still check out materials from the county system, but they can’t request or reserve materials.
This state has a huge interlibrary loan system. Members of participating libraries can request materials from any other participating library for free, and it will be shipped to their branch. Essentially, the whole state is your library.
Except that now the downtown library is discriminating against people who are local, but not local enough. I hope they get removed from the state loan system, or at least that the branch libraries refuse to send them materials. Grrrrr.
The email encouraged us to “explore our local libraries” rather than bother them anymore. Our local library is one room. With a leaky ceiling. That doesn’t really matter, since we’re part of the state system, except that now they’re wrecking that.
I don’t know about libraries on the way out - I go to my local library about once every two weeks, and it’s always full of people. I think they’ve done an excellent job of keeping up with the times - they have computers and the internet available, they have cds and dvds available for rent, and the cost ($10 per year) is minimal. Then there’s all the free programs they offer, the bringing in books from any library in town for you, etc.
Your library is bad, sattua. If I had to pay $200 to get books from our downtown branch, I’d be incensed, too.
I agree. If library services are getting cut, it isn’t necessarily an indication of a lack of interest or perceived need. Many city/county/state governments are facing budget shortfalls and cuts need to be made somewhere.
Mine too, but unfortunately it’s full of bums looking to get out of the heat and poor people using the computers. Books are low on the list for reasons to use the library around here, it seems.
I used to exchange books with relatives and friends, or just buy them at a local used bookstore, but I just started using the library again after almost 15 years. It’s awesome! I love the library now.
At least they’re explanding the Toronto library… a new branch every year or so. And longer hours. And they’re renovating the Central Reference Library. There are always people there.
The branches are all one, and you can borrow from any of them and have the book sent to your favourite branch for pickup. There are restrictions of some of the research libraries, of course; much of the rarer material cannot be borrowed, and must be used in the library.
I don’t think libraries are on the way out, because of librarians. They have the Secret Search Skills and the Fancy Databases and the skills to preserve the Rare Historical Books and all the stuff that the average Joe couldn’t afford to subscribe to.
Funnily enough, they’re screwing us branch patrons because we were using their library* too much*. They claim that 60% of their circulation is materials being checked out by us.
Guess what? Now 60% of their circulation will be materials going to even remoter libraries. Have fun with that.
The Charlottesville library now charges $3 for an ILL, and it must be >1 year old. I can buy many books used for $4 from Amazon, so it’s hardly worth it.
They don’t have many books either. The entire library system only has ~500,000 items. The last 15 books I read had to be found elsewhere.
Huh. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I’m having a vague memory of someone mentioning how it struck them when they first came to Canada, how everyone always has a book in hand. Long winters, lots of reading.
Yet locally, the town’s free library just joined the rest of the state in expanding their interlibrary connectivity and loaning. I can now, for no cost, check out a book from any public library in the state.
When I go in to my local branch, the stacks aren’t as massive as they used to be, but the computer section is huge, and always heavily used - Libraries still have their place - They just need to be managed intelligently, and kept up-to-date.
Probably the bedroom communities have been depending on the main library to keep most of the requested items in its collection, rather than having a decent collection themselves. And they don’t offer the city library any compensation for being their main collection resource. The twin city probably has a library system that is as well stocked as the first city’s library, so the materials can flow both ways. But the bedroom communities probably get calls for their material very rarely, so the city library sees that many of its materials are being used by people who don’t really contribute to its coffers.
My husband has a well-stocked tool shed, and his brothers and sisters were in the habit of borrowing the miter box and chainsaw and whatever. They, however, had hardly any tools, and never thought of buying any. Why should they, when they could just ask good old Bill to borrow his? Bill finally wised up and started asking his sibs to do some work around our place in exchange for borrowing those tools…and also for money if the tools came back in poor repair, or didn’t come back at all.
I know that the Fort Worth library used to charge people who lived in the surrounding areas a fee for a FW city library card…or the people could work for a certain number of hours at the FW library and get the use of the library’s materials.
I also know that due to budget restraints, the FW library system is shutting down at least 3 branch libraries. Library budgets are one of the FIRST things to be cut when a city has to make due with less money. Personally, I think that this is penny wise and pound foolish, but they don’t pay much attention to me when they draw up the city budget.
Yeah, it would be great if all libraries were able to lend out materials to everyone. However, they have to make some practical decisions about their collection. They have to give priority to the people who actually do contribute to the collection, either in taxes or by being part of a library system that actually does have something to offer in ILL.
I understand all that, Lynn. What chaps my ass is that they’re still happy to lend books out to libraries all over the rest of the state for free… and to receive loans from all over the state for free. They should either be all-in or all-out.
Also, their refusal to lend to us puts a heavier burden on the rest of the state, which will have to ship more books further… unless they too opt out of the loan system.
Our multi county cooperative has scaled back their interlibrary loan services in a big way. I think the state interlibrary loan thingie, MEL, is still up and running no idea if charges apply.
Would you mind giving the name of the library involved? I scan the library news pretty regularly and I haven’t seen this reported. I suspect that the folks at Library Journal and American Libraries would like to be all over it.
