Libraries Together
Bettendorf Davenport LeClaire Scott County
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Libraries Together Bettendorf Davenport LeClaire Scott County
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information contact: Bettendorf Public Library: Faye Clow, director. 563/344-4175 Davenport Public Library: LaWanda Roudebush, director. 563/326-7832 LeClaire Community Library: Kim Kietzman, director. 563/289-2788 Scott County Library System: Pam Collins, director. 563/285-4794 Consensus: Jennifer Wilding, project director. 816/531-5078 (media only) Scott County public libraries release Libraries Together report on collaboration (September 3, 2005) The four libraries in Scott County today released the third of four reports of their Libraries Together project. The 47-page report, "Starting Points for Collaboration: Libraries in Scott County, Iowa," provides background on models for collaboration and local examples such as Quad-LINC, along with options for collaboration that were developed during meetings with library staff members. The libraries kicked off Libraries Together on March 1, 2005. The ten-month study will use public input to plan for the future. As Iowa searches for ways to deliver all government services more efficiently, the libraries initiated the study to allow Scott County library patrons to help shape the directions their libraries will take over the next several decades. Collaboration can reduce costs and increase effectiveness, as public libraries can achieve economies of scale unavailable when working alone. Collaboration can occur through efforts sponsored by state libraries and through partnerships or consortia led by public libraries. Only three counties in the state of Iowa – Scott, Clinton and Muscatine – have access to a shared automated circulation system (Quad-LINC) or a consortium that provides services like van delivery, resource sharing, and continuing education (PALS – Prairie Area Library System). Both Quad-LINC and PALS are based in Illinois; libraries in the three Iowa counties participate on a cost-reimbursement basis. State funding for the Iowa state library and the library service areas, which could provide shared services at the same level as that of Illinois, is insufficient to allow them to do so. In fiscal year 2002, the Iowa state library spent less per capita than all but one other state, Texas. The national average for state library expenditure per capita that year was $3.99. Iowa spent $1.67 and Illinois spent $5.72. In Scott County, the staff and trustees of the four public libraries worked together in July to identify options for collaboration in six areas: planning; staffing and training; programming for all age groups; marketing and communications; processing; and purchasing, collection development and databases. The options provide a starting point for collaboration, with new opportunities possible as libraries grow comfortable working together. Among their preferred options were a shared calendar, regular joint meetings of staff and trustees, joint purchasing of databases, a shared pool of temporary library workers, and coordinated operating hours, among many others. In addition, library board representatives held their first joint meeting in years, and the first ever to include the new LeClaire Community Library. Trustees agreed to serve as a steering committee to prepare to take action after the first phase of Libraries Together is completed later this year. The Libraries Together project is designed to give county residents an opportunity to review the facts, consider the various options and consequences of action, and identify which options they prefer. The study, conducted by the non-profit Consensus organization, will include a county-wide survey on options for action and a series of public forums, as well as the customer satisfaction survey already completed. Consensus is a Kansas City-based non-profit organization with 20 years of experience garnering public input to guide public policy. Among Consensus team members is Thomas Hennen, director of the Waukesha County Federated Library System in Wisconsin and author of the HAPLR Index, which rates the nation’s libraries. Consensus will deliver a final report detailing options for actions in December 2005. The report will not offer recommendations, but instead will offer several possible options for the citizens of Scott County. Funding of Libraries Together is made possible by the Scott County Regional Development Authority, the Riverboat Development Authority, the State Library of Iowa using federal funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Library Services and Technology Act, as well as the Friends of the Bettendorf Public Library and each of the four public libraries. # # # The four libraries of Scott County created Libraries Together as a means to be proactive in responding to shifts in how the state and local governments provide services. In its first phase, the libraries have requested an objective outsider’s look at options for improving library service. The 10-month effort will engage the public through surveys and public meetings. The final report will include a range of options, from simple operational efficiencies to consideration of complete change for all four libraries, and the likely staff, board and public response to each. For more information visit the Libraries Together website at www.librariestogether.org.
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