Close the Libraries! Why not just...

Cut back on expenses?
The Douglas County Public Library System has already had its operating budget cut several times. Coming into this budget cycle the system was already down to the bare bones. With this budget cycle we are now losing bones. The five largest (and busiest) of our county’s eleven libraries that were open for 40 hours per week are now down to 24 hours of operation. We are now at a point where we can not provide adequate service to meet our county’s needs with the amount of funds we have.

Run it all with volunteers?
While volunteers can be very helpful, running a public library system requires, at a minimum, enough trained full-time specialists to supervise the volunteers and professional librarians need to be paid.

Because volunteers are not required to put in more working hours than they want to put in, they can not be relied upon to show up at work on a steady basis. This creates a scheduling nightmare and leaves the public libraries vulnerable to unexpected severe staff shortages on any given day.

Pay for it all with grants?

Our public libraries do apply for grants and regularly receive funding from charitable organizations. However, the charitable groups and agencies that provide grant money almost never offer funds for employee salaries, preferring to fund specific capital improvements such as computers, building repairs and educational materials or funding for specific special programs such as our Summer Reading Program for children and adult literacy programs. Unfortunately, the bulk of the cost of running our public library system is in paying the employees.

Start charging for services?
While it is possible to run a library system on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis doing so excludes those who can not afford to purchase the services that are currently available to everyone free of charge. Those who would be most affected by the fees are, in fact, the very people who need a free public library the most.