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Thursday, June 02, 2011

Ind. Gov't. - "Don't drive Marion County Library patrons away" ILB observations

An editorial today in the Indianapolis Star notes that visitors are down since the budget cuts:

New figures from the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library suggest a syndrome more commonly associated with mass transit:

Reduction in service leads to reduction in use, which starts a vicious cycle. * * *

Record numbers of residents were using the libraries when the decision was made to lay off 37 employees, shorten hours, add a day of closing each week and reduce the budget for books and other new materials. Since then, visits have declined 16 percent and circulation 4 percent; though, in keeping with the times, website use has seen a slight uptick.

ILB observations: Until the cutback, I journeyed to the Main Library several times a week. Now my visits total less than once a month. Why? (1) Later opening time -- I used to stop at the library when it opened at 9, as it is right on my route when doing early morning chores. Now it doesn't open till 10. (2) Closed on Thursdays -- ironically, it is usually a Thursday when I think about a trip to the library. (3) End of free first 1/2 hour parking in lightly-used underground garage. Now it costs a dollar. -- This no-longer-available convenient parking was a godsend for older people of limited means stopping by to pick up books they had placed on hold. (4) Fine for cancelling book on hold. -- I used to have a long list of holds, which you may conveniently place on-line. But it may be many months before a book you have requested becomes available, you may no longer have need of it. Notice comes out of the blue, with no advance warning. If you cancel your request at that point, you are now fined $1. Or if the weather is bad and you can't get to the library to pick up the hold in the time allowed, you are fined $1, as again, you can't cancel without penalty and it costs $1 to stop in the garage for the time needed to pick it up.

Although some of these issues may not affect me personally, they may go to show why the library is losing some of its older, most-frequent, patrons.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 2, 2011 02:21 PM
Posted to Indiana Government