By By KATHIE HEMPEL / Niles Daily Star
NILES – A proposed 50 percent State funding cut to libraries would not create a major problem for the Niles District Library, according to Director Nancy Studebaker.
However, the effect on the Southwest Michigan Library Cooperative (SMLC) of which Niles is a member would be disastrous.
The proposal is being discussed and is supported by Governor Jennifer Granholm.
Today, Studebaker is attending a SMLC Task Force of the Future meeting to discuss what, if any, solutions there might be to answer what could be a crisis situation for the cooperative.
SMLC Director Gail Powers-Schaub said, "suffering a 50 percent funding cut basically leaves us one of two options: maintaining two staff with no services or services with no staff."
In Niles, the state funding represents only 2 percent of the total budget. For the SMLC, however, the State funds represent 85 percent of the budget revenue, with the remaining 15 percent achieved through fees and the leasing of a portion of its office building.
"Our goal as a task force has been to find a way to generate 30 percent of our budget, but now we are in a situation where a possible huge loss could knock the legs right out from under us. I understand that the state is in a hard place and I don't know that anyone is going to get away with no cuts. At times it seems like choosing between a slow or fast death." Powers-Shaub said.
The SMLC is comprised of 93 libraries; 34 of which are public with the remainder being schools, colleges and small corporate libraries. There are 13 library cooperatives in the state of Michigan with a common goal of providing resource sharing, continuing education and support services for their members.
Powers-Schaub knows that most people do not have a clear understanding of all the cooperatives make possible. "We all provide the same services and some provide different services. Interlibrary loans of books and audio-visual materials and the delivery service of those materials between the libraries is but one part of what we do. We also provide the database by which individuals can find a material's availability and who has it. Continuing education through workshops in staff training and professional development; institutes and leadership training for trustees and library staff; joint project development; professional consultation/referrals and group purchasing and discount programs are among the other services we provide. SMLC has even sponsored gaming (video game) tournaments to attract more teens to our libraries."
Though the effect on Niles is much smaller, the local director knows that any cut is unwelcome. The threat of another government cut in addition to the loss of funds stemming from the repeal of the small business tax will mean a potential loss of $44,500 in FY08.
"It is a bit of a double-edged sword for libraries which have been less than entirely pleased with the level of state support for several years. Now we are rather glad we are not totally reliant on those funds," Studebaker said.
She attends today's meeting in Paw Paw fully aware that the SMLC is facing the possibility of serious survival issues. Currently the member libraries receive 40 cents in state aid for each person in the service area and an equal amount for belonging to a co-op. They then pay 50 percent of the co-op related funds to SMLC. All other libraries in the state pay 100 percent of this amount to their co-op. Studebaker sees only three options for SMLC and its members at this time: increasing the amount of state aid returned to the co-op to 100 percent; merging with another cooperative or ceasing membership in any cooperative. She recently let her board know that the first two options would result in approximately $9,250 in additional expense to the board, as their payout to either SMLC or another cooperative would increase. The other option would lose the cooperative membership related funds entirely. In Niles the two main funding streams are property tax, the only funding over which there is any control, and penal fines. Studebaker admits that having penal fines as the second largest means of revenue makes for unusual bedfellows, however, admits there is some poetic justice in it all.
"Penal fines are distributed on a per capita basis, based on county. We are fortunate in Berrien County, in a strange way, because we are bordered by two states with a great deal of Interstate trucking traffic crossing the state lines. Any fines collected at the weigh stations result in added revenue to the penal fund. However, there is no way to budget for this, as the amounts continually fluctuate," she said.
With these two funding streams accounting for 95 percent of the local library's revenue and with a healthy reserve, the Niles library will continue to operate without any visible impact because of these particular aid cuts. The primary service Niles receives from SMLC is the facilitation of inter-library loans through access to the SMLC catalog. Studebaker said this impact can be negated by being prepared to join the statewide shared catalog, Michigan eLibrary Catalog (MeLCat).
Still the loss of state aid is an ongoing trend. In FY07 the library received approximately $18,500, down from approximately $22,000 in FY05 and FY06.