Dear patrons:

On September 1 we will begin imposing a $0.25 fee for all holds placed and caught through our computer system.

We certainly did not wish to impose this type of fee but we were targeted for a large reduction in the budget for this fiscal year and we felt that we needed to offset some of this reduction by increasing our revenue.  Otherwise, we would have had to eliminate more positions, resulting in fewer hours we could be open to the public.

Under law, we are quite limited in the fees we can impose.  For example, we cannot impose user fees for library cards.  And while we could raise our overdue fees more, there is a point at which it actually has a negative effect on book returns.  We need to stay in line with the overdue fees in surrounding jurisdictions.

We are allowed to charge a fee for holds because it is not a basic function of the library.  And the fee is generated automatically by the computer system, so there is a minimum of staff involvement. 

The fee is only imposed for those materials which are formally placed on hold through the computer system.  If you check the catalog and call any library in the county, the staff will check to see if it is on the shelf.  They will then send it to your home library at no charge.  While this may require a bit more staff time, we believe it can be handled due to the trade-off of time needed in processing the holds.  We will, of course, monitor this closely.

 As I stated earlier, we wish we did not have to take this action.  But the Library Board approved the new fees to address part of a difficult budget situation.  In the last 7 years our budget has been reduced by nearly $2 million.  Most of the cuts have occurred in the library’s support operations, but there is little we can now cut without directly affecting our customers, unfortunately.

I believe that this was the best decision given the situation we faced, and we simply have no alternatives that are any better.  I totally agree that library borrowing should be free.  But, of course, running the library requires money, most of which comes from local taxes.  The County simply was not willing to fund us at the same level in light of the economic issues they were facing.

Since the purpose of this fee is to raise revenue, the library felt strongly that it should be imposed on all of our patrons equally, and we have not provided any exceptions.

Thank you.  I truly appreciate your continued support of the library system.

 Respectfully, Dick Murphy
 Library Director