[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Fwd: North Boulder Library Station budget request from the Library Commission

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

Dear Colleagues


I would like to see the Budget amended to include a total of 40 hours of staffing weekly at the North Boulder Branch Library. We want this microlibrary pilot program to work. The comment that is well received by me is that the proposal for 16-20 hours
 a week represents so few hours as to make it seem unpredictable: kind of like buses that run on an odd and infrequent schedule.


I look forward to hearing from staff on this budget item at the next meeting.


Thanks very much.












Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member





1726 Mapleton Ave.








Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
Cell (303) 638-6884








Begin forwarded message:



From:
Anne Sawyer <anne at electroactive.com>


Subject:
North Boulder Library Station budget request from the Library Commission


Date:
October 4, 2013 10:40:46 AM MDT


To:
Suzy Ageton <agetons at bouldercolorado.gov>, "Appelbaum, Matt" <appelbaumm at bouldercolorado.gov>,
 Jane Brautigam <BrautigamJ at bouldercolorado.gov>, KC Becker <beckerk at bouldercolorado.gov>, Ken Wilson <WilsonK at bouldercolorado.gov>,
 lisa morzel <lisamorzel at gmail.com>, "Macon Cowles (macon.cowles at gmail.com)" <macon.cowles at gmail.com>, Suzanne Jones <joness at bouldercolorado.gov>,
 TimothyPlass <tim.plass at gmail.com>, "KarakehianG at bouldercolorado.gov" <karakehiang at bouldercolorado.gov>


Cc:
Anna Lull <annalull at comcast.net>, Celeste Landry <chlandry at earthlink.net>, Donna O'Brien <dob920 at aol.com>,
 Paul Sutter <pssutter at gmail.com>, Maureen Rait <RaitM at bouldercolorado.gov>, Jennifer Miles <MilesJ at boulderlibrary.org>



City Council Members,


At Wednesday night's Library Commission meeting, the Commission unanimously passed the following motion:  


The Library Commission requests that City Council increase the 2014 operating budget for the North Boulder Library Station by $60,000 in order to increase
 the number of proposed hours from 20 to 40 per week. This would increase the operating budget from $115,000 to $175,000 for the year; one-time costs would remain at $90,000.




For many years, we have worked as a community to be able to create a North Boulder branch library.  As this neighborhood has grown so significantly in the last ten years, it
 is more important now than ever. North Boulder is a unique community with mixed demographics and socio-economic needs which would truly benefit from having local library services.  However, Boulder and the Boulder Public Library do not have either the capital
 or operational funding to make it a reality right now. 


As a result of this fiscal reality, the Library Commission and a group of North Boulder community members have been looking for other opportunities to provide much needed library
 services to this area. A first step was the well-received "Little Libraries,” but a more meaningful step was to look for a storefront where we could create a small scale library branch requiring minimal capital and operating expenses. When the BHP space in
 the Westview Apartments became a possibility, we communicated with the community and with the BPL and BHP staff to help make this happen. We were thrilled when it looked like this might become a reality and the budget line item was added to the City's 2014
 budget requests. 


Throughout our communication with the community about this space, and their library needs, one of the consistent messages we heard from them was to "have it open as many hours
 as possible.”  When the Commission began to follow up with the Library Director about the services/hours included in the budget item, however, we were surprised the operating budget was scheduled to only provide 16-20 hours of service. Director Valerie Maginnis
 explained that she saw this as a "Library Station" model with limited hours,  a model that is generally used in specialized locations like transit hubs, where normal library branch hours are not needed. This model, however, is not what North Boulder needs.
 It is a thriving neighborhood, with daily needs for consistent library hours and services. To demonstrate how limiting these reduced hours will be, consider the current proposed hours for the library station:


Option 1:
Friday: 
1 - 5pm 
Saturday:
10am - 2pm
Sunday:
1 - 5pm
Monday: 
4 - 8pm


Option 2:
Saturday: 
10am - 2pm
Sunday: 
1 - 5pm
Tuesday: 
4 - 8pm
Thursday: 
1 - 5pm


Option 3:
Sunday:
1 - 5pm
Monday:
10 - 2pm
Wednesday: 
4 - 8pm
Friday: 
1 - 5pm




With any one of these schedules, it will be difficult for patrons to know when the library is open, be able to pick up holds within a three day time limit, provide storytimes
 for young children (which are best on weekday mornings), and even accomplish the goals outlined in the budget proposal:


Community input indicates that there is high interest in and enthusiasm for the following services and programs at the proposed North Boulder Library
 Station: materials return and holds pick-up; public access computers and WiFi; popular materials including bestsellers, DVD’s and children’s books; storytime programs, and art exhibit space. The proposed hours of operation include a range of weekend,
 evening, morning and afternoon hours, designed to meet the needs of the area’s residents, and in addition to city staffing, the proposed Library Station also would utilize community volunteers.


As the Library Commission and the North Boulder community want this micro-branch to be a valuable first step in providing much needed library services In North Boulder, and to
 reflect the proof of need in the community, it is important that this small branch have consistent and significant hours of service. It cannot meet the needs of the area's residents otherwise. For this reason, we feel strongly that it is essential to provide
 additional operating budget of $60,000 for 20 additional hours of service for this small, but important, library. 


Thank you.  


On behalf of the Boulder Library Commission,


Anne Sawyer
Boulder Library Commission
303.417.0713