Some of the staff members at PVLD have been tossing around the idea of a Netflix-style book delivery service for some time, but have found it is more complicated than it seems both in terms of the back-end software, the staffing required, and the logistics of a large-scale mailing operation.
This article about the Hayward Public Library tells of a somewhat different approach - adopting the Netflix pre-payment financial model, but not the mail delivery service. Essentially the Hayward Library plans to offer people the option of paying a flat monthly fee for the ability to have a fixed number of items checked out at one time for as long as they want to keep them without further overdue fees. The Hayward Library Director indicates that they think this service will significantly increase their fee revenue while offering a convenience to customers.
Interesting!
I think Hayward uses the same back-end Integrated Library System that we do, so if they can make it work we could too.
If we offered an option like this would you use it?
"What would our community be like if there were no public library?" That is a question we have been asking community members as part of a Strategic Plan-driven project to understand community perceptions of the library and use this input to better position our services, programs, and messages.
Thankfully here in Palos Verdes it is a hypothetical question, but I was appalled to learn that for the citizens of Philadelphia it may soon become a reality, according to the website of the Philadelphia Free Library System.
I loved Cory Doctorow's post expressing his dismay over at BoingBoing. What a great articulation of what public libraries offer communities and society as a whole, and what a tragedy that some communities are willing to give this up....
It's been longer than usual since my last post, mostly because we have been busy dealing with the fallout from the California budget - which includes the State "borrowing" 8% or more of PVLD's property tax revenue. Since property taxes make up about 87% of our revenue, that's a big hit, and there is no expectation that we will be repaid before June of 2013. That's why my thoughts and energies have been focused on the budgeting rather than blogging.
PVLD has already felt the effect of the economic downturn and lower assessed property values which meant we've already had to overcome an $800,000 budget shortfall (12% of our total budget) for the current fiscal year by trimming library open hours, reducing our purchases of books and other materials for the library collection, eliminating our security guard service, and making cuts in every other budget category. We've also increased fees for meeting room rentals, overdue items, and movie rentals; added new fees; and expanded our Passport Service in order to bring in more revenue...so finding another $450,000 or more is no easy task.
The good news is that we started really tightening our belt in early 2009 when it became apparent that the State would likely borrow local property tax revenues to solve their own budget problem. As a result, we ended the 2008/2009 fiscal year with a surplus, and are starting this fiscal year with more money "in the bank" than we had anticipated. This came as a surprise, as we thought the budget variances we were seeing during the spring were due to the timing of invoices but they turned out to be real. Great work by the staff!
The staff has also scoured the budget for further cost savings and have managed to squeeze another $220,000 or so out of the budget through rebidding service contracts, energy management to reduce utilities costs, lower Workers Compensation and general liability insurance premiums, some organizational changes resulting in lower personnel costs, and plain old reduced spending in a number of areas. Again great work by all concerned!
The net result is that we will have a budget deficit this year, but we have sufficient money in our reserves to cover it...albeit with some cash flow challenges. We are also projecting a budget deficit for next fiscal year, but that assumes we reverse some of the budget cuts from this year. If we can hold the line on all of those cuts and possibly find some additional revenue sources (we're working hard on that!) we should come close to a balanced budget as long as property values don't drop more than expected.
It's going to be a tough few years though, with revenues projected to grow at no more than 1-2%/year, the spectre of inflation, and a labor contract that seemed very conservative a year ago but has "salaries and related" expenses rising at a significantly greater rate than our revenues.
We'll be paying close attention to every expenditure, thinking "outside the box" about how to generate more revenue, being very cautious about adding new programs given our limited staff and financial resources, and supporting the Friends of the Library in their efforts to expand their fundraising.
Given what I've seen our staff achieve as we've navigated through the rough budget waters of the past few months, though, I think we'll actually come out the other side of this crisis in good shape, and maybe even stronger than we were....and I don't think that is just wishful thinking!
One of the challenges we've been facing here at PVLD is the conflict between growing workloads and shrinking resources. Some of the workload growth is beyond our control - like the recession-driven increases in library usage. Some is a result of having an energetic, enthusiastic, and ambitious staff who take the initiative to develop new programs and services. Some is the result of the fact that scarce resources can actually create work - for example, in times of healthy budgets for books you can pretty much order anything that sounds reasonable without a lot of thought or analysis, but when money is tight you need to spend more time and effort ensuring that every purchase decision delivers optimum value.
In any case, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we can't continue to do everything with our available staff and resources! This is forcing some tough decisions about what we need to give up, decisions made tougher because the staff are so passionate about what they do and so reluctant to ratchet back services to the community.
People are thinking differently about their choices today--no longer trading up but trading off.
That's a great description of the kinds of choices we are being forced to make right now - at the library but also in our personal lives.
It's been a while since we've had to ask "If I do this, what else can't I do?" and here at PVLD we're finding it pretty difficult.
We'd love some feedback about what is really important to you as a library user, so as we make these choices it's with your interests in mind....just leave a comment on this blog!
Today is the start of a new fiscal year at PVLD, and it looks like it will be the most challenging of my 5 1/2 year career at PVLD so far. We head into the fiscal year with a budget that is barely balanced, and with some known risks that could compromise even that outcome.
The 09/10 budget approved by the Board of Trustees reflects a net excess of only $31,000 - which provides a "margin of error" of less than 0.5% of our $6.58 million revenues - and that net excess was only achieved after substantial reductions in the budget for library books and other materials, elimination of a number of online databases, reductions to library open hours, elimination of contract services, deferral of a number of capital maintenance projects, and many other cost-cutting measures.
The budget also relies on the Friends of the Library to double their level of support compared to the 08/09 fiscal year (the Friends will be providing about $300,000 of funding this year) and on using donations to the Library District accumulated over many years to fund important strategic plan initiatives and capital projects. We do not meet our emergency reserve policy, and there is a significant risk that higher than expected property tax defaults for the 08/09 fiscal year (which won't be known until August) could put us into a deficit situation.
The budget also does not make any provision for the State "borrowing" local property tax revenues, which could have a devastating effect. Unfortunately, the longer the State budget impasse drags on the more likely it is that they will borrow our property tax revenues and we were advised today that this is again "on the table" for consideration. This could mean the loss of $450,000 in revenue this fiscal year.
The projection for 10/11 is even worse - it already shows a projected deficit of $179,000 in the operating budget and again does not include the impact of any borrowing of local property tax revenues - and if that doesn't happen this year there is a good chance it will happen next year. We also are short over $300,000 for important capital maintenance projects, and there is a limit to how much we can defer without compromising long-term facilities and technology needs or putting PVLD at risk of expensive emergency repairs.
The 09/10 budget also assumes the Friends of the Library will be able to sustain their 09/10 level of support...something that becomes increasingly challenging in the face of general economic conditions.
And of course we have no idea when the general economic recovery will kick in, or how long it will take for the property tax revenues that are our primary revenue stream to rebound.
Definitely rough waters to navigate!
On the positive side we have a terrific staff and a wonderful group of volunteers who continue to try to do as much as they can to serve the community within the limits of our reduced resources. I do worry about staff burnout, though, and will be working with the Department Managers to see what projects or activities we can eliminate or defer while still focusing on the core goals in our Strategic Plan. A lot of "nice to do" things will almost certainly need to be dropped.
Rough waters? For sure. Will we make it through them? PVLD is blessed in terms of staff, volunteers, Friends, and community support, and as a result we are much better positioned than many libraries to weather this storm..it just won't be much fun at times. My personal goal is to not get swept into the water, to do my best to balance the needs of all of the people who contribute to making PVLD such a wonderful library, and to keep my eye on the long-term...and to remember, as one of our employees keeps reminding me, this too shall pass.
I've been working very hard to share as much information as possible about the financial pressures we face, and the options I think we have to address them, with PVLD employees, other stakeholders, and the community. At the same time I've been trying to maintain and portray a positive and optimistic outlook in the face of these very trying times.
Upon reflection I realized that the model I've been using is one I learned from my several mentors who have a military leadership background, and that is exemplified in this video of Lieutenant General Harold G. Moore, who wrote We Were Soldiers Once...and Young (as an aside, I found the video on Michael Hyatt's blog after Googling "leadership and accountability"...you can see what's on my mind!)
As you can see from the video, one of the key elements of this model of leadership is the need for the leader to inspire confidence and a determination to prevail despite the odds.
The problem, as I've painfully learned over the past couple of days, is that efforts to inspire confidence can have the unintended consequence of shielding people in the organization from the harsh reality of a situation which in turn can lead to wishful thinking that is disconnected from that reality. My guess is that on an actual battlefield this is not the issue it can be in a non-combat situation....when bullets are flying and bodies are falling the reality of the situation is pretty clear to everyone, and the leader's efforts to inspire confidence are clearly understood to be within that reality.
Here at PVLD I think many people have not yet come to grips with the difficult situation we are in, and I worry that my attempts to put a positive face on things have contributed. While I want to be positive, I also want to be honest, so here are some of the "wishful thoughts" I am hearing and my take on the actual situation.
Wishful thought #1 - If we can only avoid the borrowing of our property taxes under Proposition 1a we'll be fine
Reality - The 2009/2010 budget adopted by the Board of Trustees (without any Proposition 1a impacts) is barely balanced. We do not meet our reserve policy requirements, and we do not fully fund our upcoming capital maintenance needs. We only achieved this results by making significant cuts to services and by asking the Friends of the Library to double their level of support. The 09/10 budget reflects a 1% growth in revenue but a 1.4% growth in expenses compared to this fiscal year, with the "salaries and related" expenses that comprise over 71% of the budget growing at twice the rate of our revenue.
Furthermore, if our estimates of our property tax revenue for 08/09 prove to be off when we get our final numbers in August (e.g. because of increased defaults), we could start 2009/2010 with less money than we thought and move into a deficit situation. The projection for 2010/2011 shows a further deficit of as much as $175,000 in the operating budget, with no money available for capital maintenance needs.
We need to continue to find ways to cut expenses, and it is hard to see how we can achieve the savings we need without reining in salary and related expenses.
Wishful thought #2- We need to continue to cut services instead of affecting employee compensation.
Reality - We have already made cuts that have a significant impact on our customers. We've eliminated databases, cut the budget for books/movies/audiobooks etc by 20%, increased fees, and next year the library will be open 250 hours fewer than it was this year. Some of these changes actually benefit staff or reduce workload (e.g librarians get off work at 8 instead of 9, fewer purchases means less cataloging and processing). It is not reasonable to expect the community to continue to bear the brunt of the financial situation.
Also, service cuts that don't deliver real cost savings don't help much. For example, further cuts to library hours only make sense if we also cut salary and related costs proportionally, which means salary cuts. We can continue to cut the materials budget, but at some point the associated reduction in staff workload also needs to be addressed.
Wishful thought #3 - We serve an affluent community, surely they can afford to provide more support
Reality - This community is more diverse and less generally affluent than it seems. Many families, including some on our own staff, are stretching their resources to the limit inorder to live here and take advantage of the excellent schools. The population is also aging, and a large number of residents are people who bought their homes back in the 60s and 70s when prices were low, retired from not-particularly high-paying jobs, and now live on modest pensions, Social Security payments that will not be increased for the first time in decades, and investments that are very much depleted.
Our community is also not unaffected by the general economic circumstances. 10% of all Californians are unemployed and that includes many of our residents. Many residents own businesses that are struggling or even failing. Many have seen the value of their homes, the money they have saved for their children's college educations, and their retirement funds decline significantly. Many of those who remain employed are losing employer funding of their retirement plans, paying substantially more for their medical benefits than we do, being furloughed, or experiencing pay cuts. Is it realistic, or even fair, to ask them to suchion us from experiencing any financial impact?
Plus, residents already support the library financially at a much higher level than do most other communities. Our local public revenue per capita is nearly three times the California average, which allows us to have a staff to population served ratio much larger than that of other communities. We also charge fees for services that in many other communities are free such as movie, audiobook, and video game rentals. In addition, our hardworking Friends of the Library group will be providing an astounding 6% of our funding next year, and over 200 community volunteers give over 27,000 hours of their time each year.
That is an amazing level of support, and I don't think we can reasonably ask for much more in the short term.
Wishful thought #4 - We have money in the Gift Fund, and the Friends have money in their reserves. Let's just use that to get us through the crisis.
Reality - Both the Gift Fund balance and the Friends reserves were accumulated over many years and are there not only to help in the event of a rainy day (and we all agree that it is raining!) but to support the long-term needs of the District to expand and enhance facilities, technology, and services. This coming year we are already drawing on both reserves - as already mentioned the Friends are doubling their level of support, and we are drawing on Gift Fund monies in 09/10 for some of our Strategic Plan initiatives as well as for some of our capital maintenance needs.
Furthermore, according to a report on the radio this morning, California is experiencing the worst recession since the Great Depression and we are unlikely to see any significant improvement in the economy until the end of 2010. Property values are likely to decline further, and to remain stagnant for years so we can't count on any increases to our core revenue source for a long time. If we spend all of our "rainy day" funds this year and next we could be in real trouble down the road.
Depressing as they are, these are the realities of our situation. That is why I keep saying that I am trying to find ways to keep as many options open as possible, so we are not backed into a corner where we have to inflict a lot of pain on employees or the community. I also want to find solutions that "share the pain" rather than having a disproportionate impact on the community vs employees, or on one group of employees over another. I am already concerned that the cuts we have made so far are directly impacting the pay of our part-time hourly employees, many of whom rely on their modest incomes to pay for medical care, go to school, or supplement small retirement incomes.
On the positive side we have managed to get this far without experiencing the pain many in other libraries and other communities are already feeling. We also have an amazing staff who I know can and will pull together to help us get through the next few rough years and continue to provide the levels of service that will sustain our community and secure their continued support...but this is only possible if we have a shared understanding of the reality of the situation.
This year I am Chair of the California Library Association's Legislative Committee, which means I am getting an up-close look at how the perilous state of the economy and of the California budget are threatening library services.
Libraries across the state are reporting deep cuts to their budgets resulting in closed branches, reduced hours, elimination of online resources, book budgets that are being reduced by 50% or more, layoffs, furloughs, and hiring freezes. At the same time we are seeing extraordinary growth in demand for library services, especially in communities that have been hardest hit by the recession where the public library may be the only place people can come for free access to computers to prepare resumes and submit job applications. I can hear the strain in the voices of my colleagues as they try to balance these competing forces and still provide the best possible service to their communities.
All too often it feels like we are in competition with other public services, with the implication being that in a community's hierarchy of needs libraries are somehow less essential than "public safety" typically defined as fire and police.
People forget, and librarians find it difficult to articulate, that libraries play a unique role in a community in that they both play a role in public safety (by providing safe spaces and activities for people of all ages, providing access to medical and other basic information to support basic well-being, helping people find jobs, enhance their skills and otherwise sustain financial security) and help fulfill needs that are higher up on Maslow's hierarchy as an integral part of the educational infrastructure and a center for lifelong learning.
I've been reading a delightful little book called Dewey: the small town library cat who touched the world ,which is bringing this home to me. I thought it was going to be a sweet story about a cat, and it is, but it's also about the important role played by the library in a struggling farming community in Iowa during the farm crisis of the early 1980s. It's also a terrific read!
In yet another example of the synchronicity that the Internet fosters, this morning I came across this blog post by Stephen Abram. He hits the nail on the head when he writes
"I and most people would pay a hefty fee to be guaranteed that I and my family would never have to visit or be visited by the police, fire crews, hospital staff, or ambulances. The only thing on that list that I pay taxes for that I willingly and gladly choose to go to often is the public library.
And that's different in a special way. All the others are awesome and Lord forbid they not be there or funded properly. But the world will be a lesser place and life in our communities damaged forever, if our public libraries are sacrificed at the altar of budgeting."
And like Stephen I was thrilled to see this video from Minnesota (shared on the always interesting The M Word blog about marketing for libraries), which puts libraries alongside fire and police as an essential local service
These are tough times, and I know that cuts in basic services are inevitable. My hope, and my goal, is that we can help decision-makers understand that libraries are in fact basic services and that when cuts need to be made libraries are no less important to the safety and well-being of our communities than police and fire, schools, and hospitals.
Hats off to the people of Minnesota for expressing it so well.
I just received the following message from the California Library Association, and a similar one from the League of California Cities. Once again the State Legislature is threatening to take local property tax revenues in order to solve its budget crisis. Property taxes make up about 88% of PVLD's revenues(the rest comes from library fees (e.g. overdue fees, meeting room rental fees), entrepreneurial activities such as our Passport and Notary services, a very small amount of State funding (less than 1% of our budget) and money raised by the Peninsula Friends of the Library. Flattening property tax revenues have already resulted in significant cuts to our budget for library books and online databases, a hiring freeze, and other budget cuts as well as asking the Friends of the Library to double their level of support. The loss of a further 8% of our property tax revenues (which would be about $500,000) would be devastating and would mean further slashing of the book budget and cuts to library hours and services. And these cuts would come at a time when demand for library services is higher than ever as people turn to the library for financial planning and budgeting resources, job search resources, free access to the Internet and much more.
YOU CAN HELP! Please contact the Legislators listed at the bottom of the following message and tell them that the proposal to borrow local property tax revenues would be devastating not only to the library but to other local services such as police and fire. THANK YOU!!!
GOVERNOR’S ADMINISTRATION WARNS:THE STATE MAY BORROW $2 BILLION FROM LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IF MAY 19TH BALLOT MEASURES FAIL
Yesterday the State Department of Finance informed several local government organizations that, with the possibility that the May 19th ballot initiatives may not be successful, one of the options to address the potential Budget shortfall would be to borrow approximately $2 billion in property taxes from local governments.
The background paper provided during the briefing by the Department of Finance states:
“The constitution allows that up to 8% of local governments’ property tax revenues can be borrowed by the state and repaid within three budget years with interest.The amount that can be borrowed is determined by the amount of property taxes received by cities, counties, and special districts in the preceding year.Borrowing from local government in the 2009-10 fiscal year would provide $2.006 billion in solutions.
Local governments could borrow against the state’s constitutional obligation to repay, thereby mitigating the impact of this reduction.However, in the current economic landscape, local governments are not easily finding available short term financing and could face difficulties borrowing these funds from the market.If they borrow, local government will incur substantial borrowing costs.”
The Department of Finance also acknowledges that there would be varying affects on local governments as it “will, in part, depend on the ability of local government to obtain borrowing from the market.This reduction could result in cuts to locally funded services such as police and fire, waste collection, road maintenance, libraries and other services.”
As you will recall, Proposition 1A in 2004, provided certain protections for cities, counties, and special districts against future raids of their property taxes, for the purpose of balancing the state Budget.However, contained in Proposition 1A was a caveat, which allows the state, beginning in 2008-09, to “suspend” the prohibition on taking local property taxes if the Governor proclaims a “significant State fiscal hardship” and gets the Legislature to agree by a 2/3rds vote.If you are interested, the legislation spelling out the terms of Proposition 1A is contained in SCA 4 (2004) and SB 1096 – a Budget trailer bill from 2004.
Last year, during the very difficult and protracted Budget deliberations, there was an ongoing threat that the Budget deal would include borrowing property taxes from cities, counties, and special districts.Thanks to opposition from affected groups, the proposal was not included in the final Budget agreement.As you may be reading, and it is particularly indicative in early polling data, there is a strong likelihood that several, if not all of the ballot measures will fail on May 19th,resulting in a $6 billion loss in revenue, primarily from the loss of $5 billion in lottery securitization funds (Proposition 1C).Coupled with the $8 billion shortfall already projected by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, there will be an immediate $14 billion hole in the state Budget.Some Republican members of the legislature have stressed that “taxes will not be an option this time around” and thus, the legislature will be looking to solutions such as cuts, borrowing, and increased fees.Please take a moment today to write the Governor and the four legislative leaders, as well as your own Senator and Assemblymember(s) to encourage their opposition to any proposal that would borrow property taxes from cities, counties, and special districts.In your letters, please indicate how your Budgets are already stretched thin, and that you could not endure a deep and significant cut, such as the one the Governor’s Department of Finance is suggesting.
PVLD's proeprty tax revenue base only covers about 88% of our operating expenses, and the funds raised by the Peninsula Friends of the Library enable us to sustain a level of library service well beyond what we could achieve with tax revenues alone.
Fundraising in a community like Palos Verdes can be challenging given the large number of local non-profit organizations seeking funding (I think I counted 24 of them at the inaugural Non-Profit Roundtable hosted by the Chamber of Commerce this week!)....and these are just the very local organizations. A great deal of financial support also flows off the Peninsula to alma maters, and to regional and national organizations.
Last year several non-profit organizations dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in our community (the Peninsula Friends of the Library, the Peninsula Education Foundation, the Palos Verdes Art Center, the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy, H.E.L.P., Caring House, and the Norris Center for Performing Arts) came together not to solicit funds, but to educate community members about how to make the most effective use of their donated time and dollars.
The speaker was Ed Long, current Library Trustee and co-founder of the nationally recognized H.E.L.P. organization that provides low-cost legal and financial advice to older adults and their families. Ed is extremely knowledgeable on the topic of how to be a "smarter giver" and a terrific speaker to boot.
Over 50 people attended the first sessions at the Peninsula Center Library last November, and the feedback was terrific.
Next week the group is sponsoring another Smarter Giving seminar on Wednesday, May 6 at 4:00PM at Ridgecrest Intermediate School in Rancho Palos Verdes. As an added bonus, 35 lucky participants will receive a copy of the book Inspired Philanthropy to help them plan their future giving.
No sales pitches, no solicitations...just a wealth of information to help you make meaningful contributions to worthy causes, even in these difficult times!
I've been spending some time today sorting through the piles on my desk trying to create some order before I head off on vacation. There is nothing worse than coming back from time off to a chaotic office....and somehow it is even worse when the return to work coincides with the start of a new year.
As I've waded through the mounds of paper I've been thinking about what our staff and volunteers have accomplished in the space of 12 months and it is truly amazing -
We launched a new website, online catalog and Integrated Library System (the software that supports all of our library operations from purchasing books to issuing library cards to checking items in and out). Any one of these would be a major project on their own, and to do them all at the same time is a real accomplishment and required the coordinated efforts of people from every department!
Our IT department upgraded all of the public computers across PVLD, added additional workstations for the library catalog and databases, increased our Internet bandwidth using a new service provider, installed several new computer servers including our first using the Linux operating system, brought our public printing services in-house to improve customer service.
The Digital Services department not only led the implementation of the new website but implemented new online services including the Value Line and Morningstar investment services, the Brainfuse online homework help service, Mango Languages, and more. The Digital Services team also gave PVLD a presence on Facebook and Twitter, helped the Peninsula Friends of the Library establish their web pages and blog, worked with other PVLD departments to establish their department blogs, and began planning for the next versions of the website and online catalog which will go live in 2009.
Staff at all locations worked hard to improve our library collections by removing dated materials and reorganizing various areas to make them more accessible to and easily browsed by our customers. New reference sections were created at both the Malaga Cove and Miraleste Libraries, staff at Malaga Cove began the creation of a separate biography section (a project that will be replicated at the other libraries), paperbacks were added to the library catalog, the music CD section at Peninsula Center was reorganized by type of music instead of an esoteric numbering system, we added collections of video games for circulation, and more. This doesn't sound like much but it involves a LOT of work!
We sustained all of our popular ongoing programs and events from story times to book groups at all libraries to the Malaga Cove history discussion group, chess clubs, and origami club to the record-breaking Summer Reading program to holiday music concerts at all of the libraries to the monthly foreign films in partnership with Chadwick school to the annual Art in our Library art show. As if that weren't enough we added lots of new programs and events including -
An antiques appraisal event at Malaga Cove
"Tuesdays at the Annex" programs for older adults
"Mondays at Miraleste" teen programs at the Miraleste Library
Expansion of the popular American Girls Teas to all libraries with a total attendance of over 520 people this year!
Introduction of "Play Dates at the Library" at Malaga Cove
A Chinese story time and other kids' programs in partnership with the South Bay Chinese School
The first annual Artisan Faire at Malaga Cove
Scrapbooking Clubs at both Malaga Cove and Miraleste
Lots of exciting activities for teens at the Annex
"Web 2.0" classes on blogging, Facebook, and Flickr
And more!
In addition to handling all of the set ups and clean ups associated with these programs and keeping all of our libraries clean and in great shape, the Facilities Department also carried out several enhancement projects at Malaga Cove including electrical upgrades, installation of a new fire and security alarm system, restoration of the magazine and newspaper reading area (thanks to a generous gift from the Palos Verdes Woman's Club) and refurbishment of the Tower Room (thanks to a generous gift from volunteers Pat and Bill Foltz). Facilities Manager Erich Widmann also worked with our architect and staff to develop schematic level designs for the proposed expansion and renovation of the Miraleste Library.
The Passport Services team introduced Saturday passport hours as a way of providing more convenient hours for families and generating additional revenue, and are taking turns working Saturdays to support this service.
The Friends of the Library made many improvements to their operations, including hiring their first employee - part-time Campaign Coordinator Georgia Case. They also improved their online presence through new web pages and a blog, launched their first ever end-of-year appeal to members and donors, introduced a Friends membership card and changed from a calendar-year to a rolling 12-month membership period, seeded an endowment fund, did a lot of planning for the capital campaign for upgrades to the Malaga Cove and Miraleste Libraries, and continued to grow their revenues from book sales and the library shop.
We particpated in a number of State Library initiatives. Branch Manager Jennifer Addington and Customer Service/Circulation Manager Eve Wittenmyer were selected to attend the first ever Eureka Leadership Institute for emerging California library leaders, making PVLD one of only 3 libraries across the state (and the only small library system) to have two staff members selected. Adult Services Manager Debra Petersen and Librarian Louise Beebe successfully applied for a $20,000 grant to develop services for Baby Boomers who want to start or grow a business, the Young Readers Department received a second $5,000 grant to continue the Early Learning for Families program at the Malaga Cove Library, and Coordinator of Volunteer Services Dori Medina was selected to serve on an advisory panel for a statewide initiative to improve volunteer engagement with libraries.
Staff, volunteers, and library supporters successfully mobilized to protest the threat that the State would "borrow" local property tax revenues (which make up 87% of PVLD's budget).
...And while all of that was going on we served the over 650,000 people who passed through our doors and checked out 845,000 items!
Whew! What a tribute to our amazing staff, and to the volunteers who give 28,000 hours of their time to PVLD each year! And just wait until you see what is in store for 2009....
I'll be on vacation through New Year's Day, so this will be my last post until then. Best wishes for the holiday season!
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