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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