Statement before the Glenn
A. Walsh
Library
Association:
ACLA
Public Hearing Telephone:
412-561-7876
On Distribution of RAD Electronic Mail: < gawalsh@andrewcarnegie.cc
>
Funding to Libraries 2007
July 16
Good evening. I am Glenn A.
Walsh of
The problem with the formula
for distributing RAD funds to suburban libraries dates back to the conception
of ACLA. ACLA was designed by library directors of, primarily, the larger,
better-funded libraries, with the library directors of the smaller libraries
having minimal input into the formation of this new organization.
Library directors of the
smaller libraries could not just take-off time to go to a myriad of
organizational meetings. As most of these smaller libraries are perpetually
short-staffed, these library directors had to stay at their libraries to provide service to the public! In
the meantime, the library directors of the larger libraries could leave
sufficient staff behind to operate the library, while they went-off to play ACLA !!!
So, is it any wonder that
when library directors from the larger libraries designed the organization, and
later, the formula for suburban libraries to receive RAD funds, their bias led
to an organization and formula that favored the larger libraries. In the
beginning, their justification was that the organization should “raise the bar”
for library services in
Well, this is great if your
library is in an affluent community that can afford the additional money to “raise
the bar.” However, many of the communities, and their libraries, are struggling
in
Now after its first decade
of existence, ACLA uses its funding clout to continue empire-building. If a
small library cannot meet these higher thresholds, then they must give up their
independence to a larger library, or even to ACLA itself—even though many of
these smaller libraries continue meeting all criteria for State funding. ACLA
considers itself superior to Commonwealth Libraries, by continuing to require higher
thresholds than is required by the State. How temporary
will ACLA’s direct operation of the Robinson and Sto-Rox libraries really be?
And, some of their requirements
are dubious, such as the turnover-rate criterion, which is a disincentive to maintain older non-fiction
books which receive minimal circulation. Thus, libraries are financially penalized for maintaining a large
collection of older books, which include some of the wealth of human
knowledge! ACLA’s emphasis on popular
books with high circulation does not meet
the full mission of a public library.
A complicated distribution
formula, that is difficult to understand, benefits no one but ACLA bureaucrats
that enforce it. The distribution formula should be simplified and should
emphasize the population of a library’s service area, so county money is
distributed based on people to be served, not based the amount of money that an
affluent community can match.
gaw
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