Parts of this strategic plan I can agree with but why on earth would you throw out a quarter of a million library books instead of reselling them to raise additional funds since the system is facing a declining budget? At the very least, donate them to charity or give them away to people who want them.
Fairfax Library Board Puts Its Strategic Plan To Revamp System On Hold
(By Tom Jackman,
Washington Post, September 11, 2013)
At a Fairfax
County Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss the outcry over proposed changes to the county library system, the
vice-chair of the Fairfax library Board of Trustees said Tuesday night that
“the entire matter of these changes will be put on hold” until the library
board can get more input from library staff and customers. The board this summer adopted a “Strategic Plan” to revamp the library system in order to
deal with declining budgets and advancing technology. But the plan called for
reducing staff in the branches, eliminating masters of library science degrees
as a requirement for branch managers, eliminating bachelors degrees as a
requirement for library assistants, and requiring children’s librarians to
spend most of their time devising reading programs instead of working in the
library, all of which brought criticism from employees and patrons.
In addition, the library moved to a “floating collection”
system this year and for seven months stopped providing discarded books to
volunteer Friends of the Library groups for resale or distribution to the
needy. About 3,000 books have since been provided to Friends groups, but about
250,000 books, many in good shape, were destroyed, county officials said. Supervisor Linda
Smyth (D-Providence) held up some of the library books she rescued from a
Dumpster in late August and said, “These should not have been in the Dumpster.
And I don’t want to see that again. I don’t think anybody in Fairfax County
does.” The supervisors on Tuesday night
were considering a resolution to ask the library board to stop the new
Strategic Plan, and revisit the policy for disposing of books, when Vice-Chair
Charles Fegan of Annandale was recognized. “I really do appreciate what you’ve
uncovered,” Fegan told Smyth. “I’m a taxpayer too. I was quite concerned; I learned
of it through the papers.”
Fegan said the library board was aware of the concerns
raised about the strategic plan, and that “the library board will decide
tomorrow, it’s been informally passed around, that as of tomorrow the entire
matter of these changes will be put on hold.” Fegan said the board would hold a
“staff day” where library employees can provide their input. “I’m very pleased
the community concerns itself so much.” He said the library board had a target
date of Nov. 15 to complete a revision of the strategic plan and report back to
the Board of Supervisors.
Smyth asked, and the board agreed, for the library to review
its policy on dealing with discarded materials. Supervisor Jeff McKay (D-Lee)
pointed out that the policy should not be left to the library board, that all
Fairfax agencies should have a consistent policy on how to discard
taxpayer-purchased assets. Fegan said the library board was going to consider
putting together an ad hoc committee to “review any policy that is currently on
the books for disposition of an asset.” Though Fegan said the library board was going to put a hold
on the new library plan, the board proceeded with its motion to ask the board
to do so, and also to review the policy on disposition of books.
Supervisor Pat
Herrity (R-Springfield) was the only dissenting vote, saying that “we’re
setting a dangerous precedent” by intervening in the library process. He said a
pilot project at Burke Center library was already proceeding smoothly, and that
“we’re in a difficult environment, we’re asking [staff directors] to be
creative, and we step in the way…I personally would commend [library] Director
Sam Clay for his leadership.”
The supervisors’ motion then passed shortly after 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, near the end of a lengthy day of business. The library board of trustees is still
scheduled to hold a meeting to consider the strategic plan on Wednesday night
at 7 p.m. at George Mason Regional Library.
The issue of discarded books began angering local Friends of the Library
groups earlier this year when they were told they could not salvage books from
their branch’s discard pile, and instead had to wait until they were sent to
the technical operations center in Chantilly. In April and May, Tysons-Pimmit
Friends volunteer Tresa Schlecht took photos of piles of books in the Chantilly
Dumpster, and in late August, Smyth took some shots of her own.
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