Tough times bring boom to Brevard libraries

Tough Times Bring Boom to Brevard Libraries
More Check Out Free Services as Funding Dips
BY PATRICK PETERSON FLORIDA TODAY



Gunnery Sgt. Richard Irizarry of Viera is one of the few Marines stationed at Patrick Air Force Base. He saves money by getting movies at the Suntree/Viera Public Library on Jordan Blass Drive, especially family-friendly ones for him and his son to watch. (Tim Shortt, FLORIDA TODAY)


Hard times have made public libraries more popular.

Patrons are flocking to the 18 Brevard County Library System branches, which have become an economical alternative to paying for Internet service, cable TV and DVD rentals.

"You get free movies and CDs. I get books and use the computer," said Yolanda Jordan, 32, of Merritt Island. "I get e-mail and an application for school."

The recession has prompted an increase in library usage for Jordan, who comes to the Cocoa branch at 308 Forrest Ave. several times a week. The library helped Jordan save $60 a month since she canceled her cable service.

"You've got to cut back," she said.

Last year in Brevard County, 5.48 million books, a 5 percent increase from 2007, were checked out by about 3.5 million library visitors, a 3 percent increase. Some 1.67 million DVDs have been circulated since September. And last year, nearly 59,000 people each month used personal computers in the libraries, an 8 percent increase. Most of those new users appear to be job hunters or those applying for unemployment or food stamps.

This increased usage come as libraries, like their patrons, are dealing with their own financial issues.

After a 19 percent budget cut last year, the county library system faces a proposed 20 percent cut to its cut $25.35 million budget in October.

"Our revenue is down but our business is booming," said Frank Vestal, department finance manager for the library service.

At the Melbourne branch at 540 E. Fee Ave., a job center was set up five months ago in the reference department to assist the growing number of job hunters. Reference librarians have developed a new expertise in employment resources, since judging by the questions they are asked, more patrons are searching for jobs on the Internet and using the wireless signal with laptops. (The library does not ask patrons why they are using the Internet.)

"We just notice that we have more foot traffic," said Jeri Prieth, director of the Melbourne branch. "Some will say, 'I've cut my cable and we're coming for books and movies.' Some will say, 'I've cut the cable service and I'm using the Internet.' "

The library offers 4,000 DVDs and videos and stocks new releases as well as classics.
"We buy the latest DVDs," Prieth said.

The number of visitors has increased, despite a decrease in the number of hours the library can remain open due to a hiring freeze.

"We all expected a decrease in usage after the library closed 10 hours a week, and it didn't happen," Prieth said.

At the Palm Bay Public Library, ten computers were refurbished and repurposed to provide Internet service to patrons. That gives the library a total of 16 computers.

"This particular library has increased Internet service due to the economy," branch director Lisa Olzewski said. "The computers are pretty much busy all the time."

In June, the library, at 1520 Port Malabar Blvd. NE, posted an 11 percent increase in visitors over the same time last year.an style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"I just know that a lot of people seem to be looking for services in order to obtain jobs or to obtain government assistance of some sort," Olzewski said.

Palm Bay short-order cook Michael Austin, 31, a regular library patron, uses the free DVD checkout to save money during the recession. He also relies on the library for information.

"In the past year I've used the library more," he said. "I just finished training a dog, so one of the librarians helped me find a book for that."

Though he lives in Palm Bay, he prefers the larger Melbourne library branch on Fee Avenue. He has noticed that the library has become crowded with job seekers searching the Internet for employment.

"I try to jump on the computers when I can," he said. "But there's always so many people."


Additional Facts
Ups and downs
At the Brevard County Library System, checkouts in 2007-08 were up 5 percent from 2006-07, and visitors were up 3 percent. At the same time, Brevard County Libraries are also experiencing budget cuts.

Here's the system-wide budget, with the actual or proposed cut:
2008-09: $25.35 million, down 19 percent
2009-10: $20.2 million, (proposed) down 20 percent -- Brevard County Library Service

Contact Peterson at 242-3673 or ppeterson@floridatoday.com.

http://www.floridatoday.com/

Should Seminole libraries be run by private companies? Petitions say no.

by Rachael Jackson, Sentinel Staff Writer

Orlando Sentinel, June 24, 2009

Alongside signs that read "Save Our Libraries," Margie Johnson and about a dozen volunteers are spending this week camped in front of Seminole County libraries, gathering signatures to oppose turning over the libraries to a private company.

The county, which faces a $19 million budget shortfall, doesn't yet know how much could be saved by "outsourcing" the $6.7 million library system, but it's exploring the idea.

"Our democracy is founded on free public information for everyone," Johnson, a member of the county's Library Advisory Board, said as she braved sweltering heat outside the Oviedo branch library, where every parking spot was full Tuesday afternoon.

If a private company were to run Seminole's five libraries, patrons would still be able to check out books, use computers and take advantage of other basic services for free. But people like Johnson, 75, worry that a company would put profits ahead of community needs.

Library Systems & Services LLC, a Maryland company that operates more than 60 libraries nationwide, boasts that it can help libraries save by getting deals on bulk book orders and by securing more grant funding. The company, known as LSSI, acknowledges that it typically reduces staff by 10 percent to 20 percent and that its 401(k) packages are usually less generous than government pensions.

Seminole residents have said they're concerned about how a private company would handle book-buying, hours and fees, but LSSI materials say those decisions are left to local officials.

The county is awaiting proposals from companies, and commissioners probably won't take up the issue until August.

According to the Florida Library Association, which opposes the outsourcing of library services, no Florida libraries are run by for-profit companies, though several local governments have recently considered it. Sarasota and Hernando counties decided against it.

But in Jackson County, Ore., Judy Baalman, the libraries' business and support services manager, said LSSI helped save the system. Libraries there were shuttered in 2007 because of budget cuts. Through a contract with LSSI, the libraries reopened six months later for about half of what the county had been spending. Some former employees were rehired, though the new staff had fewer professional librarians. Hours were cut, and some libraries are open only eight hours a week. Circulation decreased, though Baalman said it's approaching original levels.

"It appears for the most part that people of the county have fit their library use around the open hours," she said, adding that she still gets complaints about limited schedules. Some Jackson County communities have agreed to pay levies to keep libraries open more hours.

By Wednesday afternoon, Johnson and her team had collected more than 1,000 signatures. They've also launched an online petition and a blog, http://keepingpublicseminolepubliclibrary.blogspot.com./

Rachael Jackson can be reached at rjackson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-540-4358.

Librarians now add social work to their resumes

By Will Van Sant, Times Staff Writer In Print: Tuesday, June 9, 2009

David Stoner, who directs adult services for the Clearwater Public Library System, helps Karen Prall post her resume on the Web. “The library is really the only place you can go to get direct help immediately,” said Prall. 


Librarians have an image problem — stern face, thick round glasses, "shush!'' — which they parody with Web sites like Warrior Librarian and Macho Librarians with Guns.

Now, harsh reality has swept aside self-mocking pretensions to comic book greatness and turned librarians into real, if largely unsung, heroes of the recession.

Take mild-mannered David Stoner.

Trained to help adults discover the trial of Socrates and sixth- graders track the Oregon Trail, he now spends half his time in the trenches of a battered economy. There his job is far more urgent: helping people who need jobs, food stamps or Medicaid.

"These days, it's really social work in some respects," said Stoner, who directs adult services for the Clearwater Public Library System. "And it's really satisfying to see how much you are helping."

• • •

Karen Prall has been a Clearwater library regular since September, when she lost her dental assistant job. She doesn't like going to WorkNet Pinellas, a nonprofit workforce development agency. She said staff there are overworked, disorganized and dismissive.

When she visited the library on a recent Friday afternoon, Stoner swiftly had Prall, who has limited computer experience, posting her resume to the Web.

"The library is really the only place you can go to get direct help immediately," said Prall, 39. "You ask them and they don't say, 'I'll be with you in 20 minutes.' They'll come over and help you right away."

WorkNet president Ed Peachey said his organization gets criticized often, but there are plenty of people who appreciate its services.

"We do the best we can,'' he said, "with the resources that we have."

Andrew Breidenbaugh, chief librarian at Tampa's John F. Germany Public Library, understands Prall's contrasting opinions of those who tried to help her.

"I don't really think many people think of librarians as government employees,'' he said. "I think they think of librarians as members of a helping profession, like teachers.''

Some colleagues, he said, lament the "good old days," when the job was more about helping people find great literary works than navigating technology and applying for government aid.
Still, he said, they know times have changed.

With public access to government increasingly electronic, and libraries offering the Internet for free, librarians have in effect become gatekeepers for vital services now in record demand, although overall public use of libraries around Tampa Bay has not risen dramatically.

Juliet Douglas, a librarian at John F. Germany, has identified three primary areas where her patrons, hurting in the down economy, ask for help.

First comes Access Florida, the state's electronic portal for food stamps, cash assistance and Medicaid. Then comes Safelink, another Web-supported program that gives free cell phones to people getting government assistance. No. 3 on Douglas' list is using the Web to apply for jobs.
Her library and others around the bay area have developed specific programs to help patrons in these areas. In Clearwater, for instance, the library offers a program called "Hired! Putting Your Best Face Forward."

The trend is nationwide.

A recent Library Research Service survey found that 70 percent of librarians reported helping more patrons with computers in the past 12 months, 66 percent reported helping more look for work and 34 percent helping more seek jobless benefits.

Demand for these types of services has led to new types of on-the-job training for librarians. The Public Library Association's 2008 national conference featured several recession-related seminars including one called "The Disconnected: Who Are They? How Can We Help Them?" It examined how libraries can serve unemployed young people with job and educational opportunities.

• • •

Even as librarians have become facilitators of social programs, they're serving as hosts to the disenfranchised — and not just the homeless, who have long taken refuge in libraries.

Anne Shepherd, director of the Dunedin Public Library, said every morning unemployed people settle in at the library, almost as if showing up to work. Some, she said, bring laptops and use the library's free WiFi.

"It gives them a sense of belonging," Shepherd said. "They come here, they know the staff, they sit at the same table every day, like possibly they belonged to an office in the past."

• • •

Stoner, 41, got his library science degree from the University of South Florida in 1994. When he started his career, Stoner said, the social service aspects of his job were largely nonexistent.
Now he and other librarians in Clearwater rely on a kind of cheat sheet that details which government program can address a specific need, such as housing or filing for unemployment.
He has embraced his new role but remains uncomfortable with the idea of being any sort of hero-of-the-recession. He was less than thrilled to even be photographed for this story.
Still, he talks of his role much as Clark Kent might.

"Whatever people need,'' Stoner said, "we will try to help them."
Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4166.

Santa Rosa Library System selected as Florida Library of the Year

From The Pensacola News Journal
Special to the Pelican, May 27, 2009

The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners recognized and commended the Santa Rosa County Library System during a recent county commission meeting for being selected as the Library of the Year Award by the Florida Library Association. Award winners were recognized at the association's 86th annual conference May 8 in Orlando. This award is presented to a Florida library that has demonstrated outstanding service to the community it serves.

The Santa Rosa County Library System was selected for its 2006 transition to a county operated system from the regional system and their significant increases in many library services including a 13 percent increase in circulation and a 21 percent increase in visitors. During this time, staff also launched a volunteer program, opened a new branch, renovated a branch and initiated new outreach programs.

Dirt turned for new Beach library

Photo by Terry Barner The News Herald
An artist's rendering shows the new 10,000-square-foot Panama City Beach branch of the Bay County Library scheduled for completion near Hutchison Boulevard and Lyndell Lane in July 2010.

by Pat Kelly/ New Herald Writer

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Panama City Chamber of Commerce official Beth Oltman promised it will be "our newest gem in Panama City Beach."

County Commission Chairman Jerry Girvin noted that it will put the hushed and dusty libraries of yesteryear to shame, with a computer center, an adult literacy classroom and teen activities area.

"The libraries of today are not your grandfather's libraries," he said.

And Beach Mayor Gail Oberst, who first got the ball rolling when she applied for a $500,000 state grant, said the exponential growth of Panama City Beach, and the resulting impact fees, will now help pay for history in the making.

"Here is a perfect example of growth paying for growth," she said.

City and county officials grabbed some golden shovels and turned dirt for the latest branch of the Bay County Public Library system on Thursday, a new 10,000-square-foot building that city officials hope will be completed in a year.

The $1.8-million high-tech library will be located at the corner of Hutchison Boulevard and Lyndell Lane and share space with the Senior Center and Lyndell Community Center.

The total cost of the library could reach $2.23 million after architectural, engineering and survey costs are included, officials said.

The construction contract was awarded to Construct Two Group. Construction director Charles R. Lewis III said Thursday he hoped to be finished with the project by Christmas.

The new facility will replace a current 4,500-square-foot building near U.S. 98 and State 79 that has outgrown its space, said Doug Gilmore, a member of the Bay County Library Board and chairman of a group of citizens and civic groups that worked on planning and fundraising.

Officials have said that 71,000 people moved through the old library in 2008, and 64,000 books were checked out. More than 300 people might use the library in a single week.

"It's a great day for the Beach's community," Gilmore said Thursday. "We've got a fantastic library coming that everyone can be proud of."

The city was awarded a $500,000 state grant for the library's construction, and almost $260,000 has been collected from private donations, which are still being solicited.

The rest of the funding will come from $689,501 in projected impact fees and $781,806 from the city's contingency fund. The old library building will be converted into needed city office space.

Panama City News Herald/ April 10, 2008

Hefty budget cuts could affect Broward County libraries, parks

Hefty budget cuts could affect Broward County libraries, parks

By Scott Wyman South Florida Sun-Sentinel

April 19, 2009

Don't expect to check out a book at your local library on Sundays or visit many of the regional parks on Wednesdays. And if you live in northern Broward County Click here for restaurant inspection reports, expect to drive farther to adopt a pet. Faced with having to reduce spending by up to $160 million because of the recession, county administrators are exploring severe cuts in community services. Seven smaller branches in the county's system of 37 libraries could be shut down, and the contract to help run the library at Nova Southeastern University in Davie canceled.

It could amount to the largest reduction in Broward government in modern history if county commissioners agree later this year. The closure of parks and libraries would come despite voters agreeing twice in the past decade to expand those programs. "Broward is a platinum county when it comes to services, but we won't be and may never be again," County Mayor Stacy Ritter said.

County commissioners will begin discussing the proposals Tuesday, but will not vote on a final spending plan until the end of September. Their financial forecasts call for the tax base to drop up to 15 percent this year, and the only way to avoid the spending cuts would be to raise the tax rates on homes and businesses.

Commissioners have not ruled out raising tax rates to make up for much of the lost revenue. But Ritter and other commissioners think such a move would be hotly debated and provoke public outrage.

The libraries that would be closed are the Beach Branch in Pompano Beach, the Hollywood Beach Library, the Riverland Library in Fort Lauderdale Is your Fort Lauderdale restaurant clean? - Click Here., the Pembroke Pines Library, the Galt Ocean Mile Library in Fort Lauderdale, the Century Plaza Library in Deerfield Beach and the Lauderhill Mall Library. Service at the branch library on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale could be limited.

All libraries would be closed on Sundays, with hours at the 11 largest libraries cut to 48 hours a week from 58. Last year, operations at those libraries were cut from to 58 hours a week from 70.

Special programs organized for all libraries would be eliminated, including celebrations of Black History Month and Gay Pride Month.

About $5.7 million would be saved by breaking the contract with Nova Southeastern. The county and the university agreed in 1999 to build the Alva Sherman Library and signed a 40-year contract. The county has been paying for about 40 percent of the operations since.

In budget cuts made last year, the county shut most regional parks on Tuesdays. That would be expanded to Wednesdays. And, parks would be closed on Thanksgiving, New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day in addition to the current holiday closures of Veterans Day, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Grounds-keeping would be slashed, nature centers would be open only five days a week and the pool at Markham Park would be closed. Free recreational programs such as Halloween parties would be dropped.

Also, the animal shelter in Pompano Beach would be closed to the public. Cities could still drop off stray dogs, but residents would have to go to the other shelter in Fort Lauderdale for adoptions.

Scott Wyman can be reached at swyman@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4511.

Sarasota - Privatized libraries: The notion gets a look

Privatized libraries: The notion gets a look

By Zac Anderson & Roger Drouin

Published: Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 10:42 p.m.

Sarasota's public libraries might become not so public.

In an effort to trim $50 million from the county's budget next year, county officials are looking to cut expenses everywhere -- including the library, a service that some residents consider one of the most basic.

The county is checking to see which companies run libraries and if privatizing the library system would reduce costs. At a budget workshop last month, County Administrator Jim Ley told the county commissioners there are "no sacred cows" when it comes to trimming the budget.

"We're looking at a $50-million revenue loss, at best projections," Ley said Wednesday. "So we have a challenge."

Long-time library supporters were surprised by the privatization news Wednesday and wondered why the county had not given them more notice about plans to study what could drastically change the way the library is run.

"This is something totally new to me. I don't even know what to think," said Jane Forbush, president of the Friends of the Jacaranda Library group in Venice and a member of the county's library advisory board for 12 years.

Forbush said she had a hard time seeing how privatization would be a good thing for the library system.

"A tremendous amount of hours are given by volunteers. Volunteers keep the library afloat," Forbush said. "I would think it would be" more difficult to get volunteers to help a private company.

Forbush also cautioned that the county could end up losing more money by privatizing.
The Jacaranda friends group spent $3,000 recently to purchase a new computer for the library's children's department. It is unlikely volunteers would want to give money to a private company, Forbush said.

Ley said that the county is only studying the possibility, and that even if a company takes over operations, it would remain a county library.

Ley also said respondents to the county's annual survey said libraries are one of the areas they would prefer to see cuts in -- rather than "hard services" such as police, fire, street sweeping and road maintenance. "If there is a revenue shortfall and the county had to cut, they say cut parks and libraries," he said.

Before any privatization takes place, the County Commission and a library advisory board would have to approve plans.

The county commissioners have not discussed privatization yet. At last month's budget workshop, they talked in general about looking into streamlining aspects of local government.

"We're trying not to reduce services," Commissioner Joe Barbetta said. "If the administration thinks this can be done without reducing services, then they will come back to us. It is a fine line, and we have to do our best. In this tough economic environment, we have to explore all options."

A partial privatization is possible, Ley said. For example, a company could oversee book purchasing and inventory, while the county operates counter service and librarians.

"We have two responsibilities," Ley said. "One is to get the best service for the least amount of money. The second is to provide the best library experience. The question is if there is a mutually achievable overlap in there somewhere."

Sarasota library volunteer Lydia McIntire said the county would have to make a strong case for privatization, but she would at least be willing to listen.

"I certainly wouldn't condemn it without hearing the pros and cons, that would be kind of silly," said McIntire, who volunteers a few hours each week as vice president of the Friends of the Selby Library. "They obviously must have a reason for thinking of this."

But McIntire added that she has always viewed libraries as a basic function of government, and privatization "seems like such a dramatic change."

"Isn't there something in the constitution about having libraries?" she said with a chuckle.
Both McIntire and Forbush said there has been no hint that the county was considering privatization, even when the volunteers met recently with Sarasota County Commissioner Shannon Staub.

This story appeared in print on page A1