Budget ax hits library services

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Dec 15, 2009 - 10:36:46am

The Volusia County Council wants to forestall a funding shortage by reducing library services.

The plan is to cut hours at libraries in Daytona Beach and Holly Hill, and retire the DeLeon Springs bookmobile.

The cost-cutting measures were approved, despite warnings about the importance of libraries.

“For many, we are an amenity; for others, a necessity,” County Library Services Director Lucinda Colee said.

The operational changes are supposed to avert layoffs of library personnel, County Manager James Dinneen said.

Also Dec. 10, the County Council approved recommendations to enter into partnerships with the Cities of Holly Hill and Daytona Beach to share operating costs for libraries in those cities.

Daytona Beach will share the costs of the S. Cornelia Young Memorial Library, which is in a building constructed in 1907 and is on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Register of Historic Places. The old building has some problems, and Daytona Beach may pay for repairs.

The John H. Dickerson Heritage Library in Daytona Beach and the Dickinson Memorial Library in Orange City will shorten their hours.

Perhaps one of the most significant changes affects Northwest Volusia, as the bookmobile that served the DeLeon Springs area until last year will be mothballed.

Earlier, the bookmobile had been taken to Deltona to serve that city while the Deltona Regional Library was closed for expansion. Dinneen said the bookmobile will remain in an “out status” as a cost-cutting measure.

Colee said it would cost about $10,000 to restock the portable library.

Council Member Andy Kelly lamented the loss to DeLeon Springs.

“They want it to stay,” Kelly said, referring to his constituents in the unincorporated town.

Colee reiterated what she had told the council previously: The economic downturn has greatly increased use of the county’s public libraries. More people are using the libraries as low-cost entertainment centers, checking out free videos and logging on to computers, as well as using library resources to search for employment.

“It’s almost like a Blockbuster with books. That’s what we’re becoming,” Dinneen said.

The surge in activity comes as revenues for libraries show signs of diminishing, and expenses — including the cost of books, other materials and librarians’ wages — are rising.

The rising popularity of DVDs is one example of the growing financial problems.

“We may not have DVDs,” County Chair Frank Bruno said. “It costs us about $1.50 to process a DVD [checkout]. It would probably be better for us to just put the red boxes out front of the libraries for people to pay a dollar to rent them.”

The Library Services budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year totals almost $21.7 million. The department has 186 authorized personnel for 16 libraries around the county.

Property taxes pay about $17.8 million of Library Services revenues. Property values, which form the basis of taxation for libraries, continue to decline.

The County Council’s direction on changes in libraries came during one in a series of budget workshops. The Dec. 10 session focused on libraries.

— al@beacononlinenews.com

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