AGENDA #1

 

MEMORANDUM

 

To:                   Mayor and Town Council

From:               Library Board of Trustees           

                  Cary Clark                                 Bob Schreiner, Chair

                              Evelyn Daniel                             Margaret Siefert

                              Sue Greenberg                           Betsey Wu

                              Bill Holton, Vice Chair               Virginia Young

                              Paul Jones

                              Abby Clark, High School Representative

 

Subject:            The Library Board’s Recommendations for CIP and Budget

                        (prepared for the LBT Budget Hearing, February 12, 2003)

 

Date:                February 12, 2003                                                                                          

 

Thank you for the opportunity to address the Council.  The Library Board appreciates having the opportunity to share its concerns with the Council so early in the budget process.

 

Thank you for the resources you provide for library service.  With it, the Chapel Hill Public Library continues to:

 

• Check-out more books per capita (13 books) than any other library in the State, and as many as 5 times more than surrounding area libraries.  See attached chart.
• Spend 25% less than the state average on per circulation costs ($2.50 vs. $3.36 per circulation).
• Annually increase patron use by 2-4% each year.

 

Important library events over the past year include:

 

• Completion of a Library Master Plan begun in 1997 (the constituent documents are The Five Year Service Plan; Library Building Program; and Information Technology Plan).
• Attainment of another #1 rating in the State in Hennan’s American Public Library Rating Index, a respected professional guide.
• Introduction of an attractive and useful Library web page and on-line catalog, with links to safe child sites and NC Live databases.

 

The Library continues its record of achievement despite severe inadequacies in physical facilities and numbers of staff.  We believe that one striking fact indicating unmet need is that the Library now has and uses 20 pagers for patrons queued to use 9 public Internet stations.

 

The Board’s recommendation for CIP and 2003-2004 Budget

 

Library Board recommendations for operational and capital funding include the following: 

 

• That the Town’s CIP 2003-18 include Library activities recommended in the Information Technology Plan and the Library Building Program, and
• That the Library’s 2003-04 operational budget be increased to add new staff recommended in these same documents.

 

The Council has supported extensive planning activities for the Library, all conducted with active involvement and support of the Board.  These began in 1997 with the appointment of the Needs Assessment Task Force.  The Council accepted that Task Force’s recommendations, and funded further planning activities, most notably those leading to the Five Year Service Plan:  2001-2006 and Long Term Facilities Needs Through 2020, presented in 2001.  The Council accepted those recommendations.  On January 27, 2003, the Council heard reports from two library consultants, one on technology and one who developed a building program.  These reports are the last studies in a lengthy sequence of planning activities resulting in our Master Plan.

 

All studies consistently indicate that the library needs more resources space, technology, and staff to continue to serve the people of Chapel Hill with the excellence that we all expect and enjoy.

 

No more plans or studies are needed.  The Master Plan is now complete.  The information is timely and consistent.  We are ready for implementation, and we believe activity should begin now.  Following our Master Plan, the Board recommends development in the following three areas:

 

Staffing.  The 2003 Technology Plan recommends extensive technology improvements and three staff to accomplish these.  The Board concurs.  The Library currently has no technology staff at all.  The Library’s operational budget should be increased to hire three technology staff.

 

Technology.  Studies of comparable libraries indicate that CHPL technology is severely lacking.  The Board concurs.  We request that the schedule in the 2003 Technology Plan be added to the CIP, and those parts recommended for immediate implementation receive funds in the 2003-2004 operational budget.  The Board identifies the two most immediately important technology items as the automated inventory and checkout system and the upgrade of the web-based catalog to the Millennium system.  Since technology improvements are linked to staffing increases, overall implementation depends on providing the Library with new technology staff.  

 

Facility Expansion.  While some staffing and technology improvements can occur within the present facility, many changes await additional space, most notably collection expansion and additional Internet and database PCs.  The 1989 Library Building Program recommended a 46,000 square foot facility by the year 2000 and 64,000 square feet by 2010.  Our 27,000 square foot library was too small when it was built.  The 2003 Building Program confirms that a dramatic expansion to a total of 75,531 square feet is needed to meet present as well as future service demand.  Please add Library expansion to the CIP at a high priority and early target date, and identify funding sources.  The Board favors an early bond referendum, especially since rates are now low.

 

The extensive planning process that the Council has supported and that the Board endorses can now come to a close.  We all are ready for an improved Chapel Hill Public Library, and we ask that the Council provide substantial new resources to realize the vision that we share and want.

 

Thank you for your time and continued support for the Library.

 

 

ATTACHMENT