After losing millions of dollars in government funding, the Gwinnett County Public Library plans to launch a major private fundraising initiative this fall.
Though details remain to be worked out, the library’s board of trustees is discussing plans to solicit corporate sponsorships and individual contributions to supplement scarce tax dollars even as the library continues to cut spending and reduce hours.
The fundraising plan comes as Gwinnett and other libraries try to balance rising demand for services with shrinking resources. They’re also providing new services like e-Books as information technology changes the media landscape.
The push and pull of those forces have spawned competing visions of how the Gwinnett library should move forward.
Board Chairman Phillip Saxton believes private donations might be the only way to maintain library services as government support wanes in an era of austerity.
“How much do you think we can actually cut before we start hurting people?” Saxton said. “I’d rather just go to the public and say, would you please donate $5?”
Board member Dick Goodman thinks the private fundraising initiative will distract the library from developing a new, more efficient operating model. He thinks the library should consider operating its 15 branches on different schedules to avoid the across-the-board hour reductions that are likely coming this fall.
“I’ve been trying to look at the big picture,” Goodman said. “I’m frustrated at the emphasis being placed on fundraising.”
Money has become a big issue for metro Atlanta libraries. Some local governments have reduced library spending as the economy saps property tax and other revenue.
Cobb County has cut library hours twice in the last year. DeKalb County closed its Briarcliff branch in October and delayed opening its Stonecrest library. Fulton County plans to build eight new libraries and expand, renovate and consolidate its existing branches in a massive 10-year construction program, but for now doesn’t know where it will find the estimated $8 million per year needed to staff and operate them when they open.
Gwinnett closed its libraries on Sundays and Mondays for a time in 2009. The library board later restored seven-day service but reduced weekly operating hours from 71 to 53.
Gwinnett library officials say budget cuts likely will force them to close libraries at least one day a week later this year. Gwinnett County cut library spending by $2.8 million, or 15 percent. State funding for the library fell $138,000, or 13 percent.
Library officials have cut full-time jobs through attrition and hired more part-time employees. They’ve reduced spending on books and other materials, but added e-Books and other new services. And they’ve partnered with community groups and volunteers to expand programs for teens and other patrons.
“We’re increasing programming and spending fewer tax dollars to do it,” Saxton said.
Many residents have rediscovered the library as they look for free entertainment or search for jobs.
Michelle Kelso of Buford was out of work for a year and a half and spent her days at the Hamilton Mill library looking for jobs. She used library computers and reference materials and eventually found a job as an account manager for a payroll company.
Kelso said she wouldn’t have a job without the help she got from library employees.
“For at least six hours a day, I was in that library trying to find a job,” she said. “I was never made to feel like I was in the way.”
Saxton wants to maintain that kind of customer service. But government funding is uncertain. So he wants to turn to the private sector. His goal: to raise the $2.8 million in government funding the library has lost.
He said an endowment would help stabilize the Gwinnett library budget in the long run. And he said corporate sponsorships could strengthen library materials in key areas. For example, the library might ask engineering firms to pay for more math and engineering books.
Goodman doesn’t object to fundraising. But he’d rather see library officials rethink the way they operate branches. All branches now keep the same hours and will suffer equally when hours are reduced.
Goodman said having uniform hours and staffing might not be the most efficient way to run the branches. He said some branches might need longer hours because of community demand.
“In an effort to be fair and treat everyone equally, some people are going to be treated unfairly,” he said.
In 2009 library officials proposed reorganizing the 15 branches into a system of three regional libraries, nine community branches and three computer labs. Thousands of residents objected.
Three county commissioners threatened to disband the library board and demanded the branches be treated equally.
Goodman thinks a reorganization might go over better today.
“People are more realistic now,” he said. “I think they have seen the consequences of the shrinking county budget.”
Saxton, who opposed the 2009 reorganization, doesn’t think so.
“I think we learned from that that whatever we do is going to be really difficult to justify to the public,” he said. “Whatever we do to reduce services has to be equal across the board.”
If a fundraising campaign is launched, library officials will have at least one eager donor.
“I will forever go to my library to support it and do what I can,” Kelso said.
About the Author
