Librarians have a plan that would improve book selection at local libraries and save Los Angeles County money. But the library department doesn’t want to hear it.
In a Sunday front page article in the Los Angeles Daily News, library staff detailed their plan to enhance book purchasing in the county.
County Librarian Margaret Donellan Todd took an interesting approach to librarians’ suggestion they can improve the publics’ experience at the 84 county libraries that serve 3.5 million residents in 51 cities and unincorporated areas.
“It’s hard though, I know, because librarians love to select books,” Todd said in the Daily News. “They love to personally pick out the books, but that’s really not the primary job of our community library staff. Their primary job is to serve the public.”
Librarians have testified in front of the LA County Board of Supervisors and met with library management to explain the problems with centralized book purchasing and how to fix it to better serve the public.
Kim Peters, a library worker and SEIU 721 steward, talked about the barriers to reordering a popular book like Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat.”
“We can’t order books for our library. We have to rely on whatever ‘downtown’ orders for us.”
“In just one small-size community library over the past two years, the centralized selection process has purchased approximately $35,000 worth of materials that have never been checked out. And at the same time, $21,000 of materials have only been checked out once in two years. When you multiply that over 85 libraries, that’s millions of misspent dollars.”
SEIU 721 President Bob Schoonover explained the library proposal this way:
“When tax dollars are really precious, I think we have to take the time to examine some of these things, and if we have a large number of books at the library that nobody is checking out, I think the taxpayers are telling us the wrong books are in the library.”
Read the full article here. Read the San Gabriel Valley Tribune’s take on the issue here.
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