If the library cuts one day of service (they suggested Monday) then staff would drop. There are tons of "floaters" and "subs" who fill in for vacations, illness, etc. Losing one day means their work hours would go. Subs and floaters are not only pages and library aides, but include librarians. On this particular point it might be better to run the community libraries Monday through Friday and the district libraries Tuesday through Saturdays. WizardMarks, Central
michael libby wrote: >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >Hash: SHA1 > >On Thursday 10 October 2002 17:29, Gibson, Kristi wrote: > >[regarding a possible $1.5MM budget shortfall in the MPL] > >>Therefore, the Library Board will need to enact one or more of the >>following service reductions for 2003: >> > >[dire acts deleted for brevity] > >Could someone from the Library please detail what technology spending looks >like for the Library? I've seen a lot of (new) fancy automated checkout >machines that certainly cost more than the expense of a checkout clerk's >annual salary (I also rarely see them used, which is the real problem). >I've also noticed that the library seems to be running fairly recent >releases of Microsoft software... so I have to ask if the collection >management software the library uses is dependent on Windows, or if the >book database isn't on some serious hardware and most of those windows >machines are simply clients. > >If the latter is true, there is almost no justification for the expense of >licensing Windows for any new client machines (for instance, the >ubiquitous "internet terminals"), if you ask me. In my home I run only >Free Software (that's free as in freedom, see http://www.gnu.org/ for >more information), and I am able to run a lot of pretty fancy software, >all of which cost me nothing but download time to acquire and all of which >I am allowed to reprogram (as I am given the source code) and all of which >I am free to share with my neighbor. It don't get any better than that! > >Obviously existing seat licenses and hardware are paid for and no effort >should be exerted to replace them until necessary, but hopefully the >replacement cost of technology is considered carefully in the ongoing tech >strategy. A partial migration to Free Software should be strongly >considered at least as a pilot test, so that a real world study of the >costs and other factors can be compared somewhere besides a financial >planners spreadsheet. > >Looking at the 2001 Annual Report I do not see a single line item that >would appear to contain this sort of technology expense, so maybe you've >got $1.5MM hiding in there somewhere. But it appears as if the only real >place you're going to find a cushion the size of $1.5 million is in staff >expense, so whatever solution you settle on pretty much has to have its >largest impact in that area. Too bad, librarians are people I'd like to >see stay employed, it's one of the professions I respect the most. > >I'd suggest no libraries open on Sunday as first step. Why should just a >handful be open on that day? Doesn't make sense to me... I don't think one >of my nearby libraries is even open on Saturday! > >Next, is there a community library that is significantly less visited than >the rest, or could be somehow folded into a nearby facility? As I've never >managed to make use of it myself, I'd suggest Webber Park (although maybe >if it were open on Saturdays I'd find it more useful). North Regional >isn't far away, and isn't a library going in at the Grain Belt brewery >site? That's not too far away either. > >The collection itself seems like a bad place to cut spending, unless there >are creative ideas that could lower spending without reducing overall >effectiveness. Perhaps certain popular books could have shorter loan >spans? No renewals on videos? Less duplication of the collection across >branches, especially in the periodicals department (so many periodicals >have web versions these days... and there's plenty of internet access to >be had at the library)? I'm just throwing out ideas here. > > -michael libby (cleveland neighborhood/north mpls) > >++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >Michael C. Libby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >public key: http://www.ichimunki.com/public_key.txt >web site: http://www.ichimunki.com >++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- >Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) > >iD8DBQE9pjPa4ClW9KMwqnMRAtaoAJ9K0DbCYklbWQzOLW6rSURX5q1YTQCePa6d >4SfZWbTCaBWgsHO/1RbpMOU= >=0+iy >-----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > >_______________________________________ > >Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy >Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
