County would be wise to restore library money
There’s an old saying that goes, “You shouldn’t be penny wise and pound foolish.” That saying sums up the fiasco currently surrounding Magness Library.
If the Warren County Commission restores $6,000 it recently cut from the library budget, the library will get to keep what’s been estimated at around $100,000 worth of books and services from the state. If the $6,000 isn’t restored, services many library patrons have grown to expect will be eliminated because Warren County will be breaching a contract it has with the state.
It’s not difficult to see which path the county commission should take and how commissioners should vote. They need to restore the $6,000 they cut from the library budget so there isn’t a perceptible loss of services.
A public library reflects the value a community puts on learning and education. It reflects how much we care about our children and their future.
If it’s simply a matter of dollars and cents – and commissioners in fact care nothing about maintaining the level of quality we’ve come to expect at Magness Library – restoring the $6,000 would still be a smart move. That’s because the state’s regional library is currently in charge of cataloging all the books at Magness Library. If that service is eliminated, the library would be forced to hire a cataloging professional because one is not currently on staff. The going rate for that position would not be less than $18,000 to $20,000 a year.
Another valuable service Magness Library would be forced to abandon without the state’s help is the inter-library loan program. Using this program, library patrons in Warren County have access to books throughout the state. All it takes is a wait of a couple days for delivery.
At the backbone of any library is books and Magness Library would be hit hard in that category too. The library would lose 12 percent of its books, over 4,000 of them. The state would literally back up a truck and take the books away.
It’s of vital importance to note these books would not be returned. Once they are snatched, they would be distributed to other libraries in the system. Even if Warren County commissioners were to reconsider some two months down the road and decide to meet the state’s requirements, the books would be gone.
That’s 4,022 books from Magness Library which will be taken and another 1,845 books on loan at deposit stations in the Morrison, Dibrell and Smartt communities. If you take those books and attach an average price of $20 to each book, the county would lose $117,340 worth of materials. All of that for $6,000.
It is a lean budget year and money is tight. There’s no doubt about that.
But if commissioners really are concerned with stretching the most out of our tax dollars, restoring the $6,000 that was cut from the library budget is the best possible move. Even officials who place no emphasis on education should be able to do the simple math and see it’s the best decision for the county’s residents and for Magness Library.