By Karen Cernich Record Staff Writer The population of Warren County has quadrupled over the last 55 years. Still, it has only one library branch to serve everyone — in Warrenton. It’s a nice facility, said Scenic Regional Library Director Steve Campbell, but there’s only one. “We have no branch in the southern part of the county, Marthasville, or even Wright City,” he noted. Come April 8, Campbell is hoping to be able to tell Warren County residents there will be a second or possibly even a third branch. Scenic Regional Library, which includes seven branches in Warren, Franklin and Gasconade counties, is proposing a 10-cent tax levy increase on the April 8 ballot. Currently Scenic Regional operates at a 10-cent levy, which is the same amount the district was given when it was formed back in 1959. After 55 years, the budget is stretched to the limit, said Campbell. A yes vote on the April ballot supports the issue, and means Scenic would be able to provide all of the things patrons asked for on a survey of 4,700 residents last April: Nicer facilities, more new material (books, e-books, CDs, DVDs . . . ) and longer service hours (more evenings and weekend hours). In Warren County, it would mean opening at least one more branch, said Campbell. If passed, the increase will cost property owners an additional $27.50 a year (per $110,000 property). That’s less than the price of a new hardcover book, Campbell likes to point out. Missouri State Library Association recommends a library operate at a 20 cent or higher tax levy to be able to provide adequate service, and we’ve been collecting at lower than half that rate for the last 55 years. Neighboring libraries all operate at higher tax levies: St. Louis County — 26 cents;
Jefferson County — 20 cents;
St. Charles City/County — 26 cents; and
Washington County — 20 cents. Improved Facilities If the tax levy increase is approved, Scenic has four priorities for using the funds. “The No. 1 thing we would do is major renovations or expansions at all of branches,” said Campbell, noting the work would be done over the course of several years. “We have some horrible facilities,” Campbell remarked. “We also rent three of our seven facilities, and we’re paying really high rent,” he noted. “Ideally, if we could . . . own our facilities, that would help us in the long term financially.” New, More Materials The increased funding also would be used to provide more new materials. Currently the waiting lists for new books can be as long as three and four months, said Campbell. “With this, we’d more than double our book budget, our materials budget,” he noted. More e-books would certainly be part of the plan, since more and more patrons are requesting them. “Our e-book usage has gone up 35 percent each of the last two years, so what we’d like to be able to do is more than double our e-book budget,” said Campbell. “Right now, patrons wanting e-books find that everything is almost always checked out. They have to put in a request to get any kind of e-book or audio book.” The expanded budget would even allow for the library to make e-readers preloaded with bestselling fiction titles available for checkout. It also would allow Scenic to increase both the number and variety of materials. “Right now we have a holds ratio of seven to one, so for every seven requests we have for a book we’ll order one copy, but we’d like to be able to increase that ratio so it’s only three to one or two to one, so people can get the books a lot faster,” said Campbell. Also, a lot of libraries are offering downloadable magazine, and Scenic would like to be able to as well. Magazines could be downloaded from home for patrons to read on their tablets, and then when the due date arrives, the magazine disappears off of their device, just like e-books do, said Campbell. Another new feature other libraries are offering is downloadable or streaming videos, like movies on Netflix or songs. “We don’t offer any of that, because that’s expensive technology right now,” said Campbell. “So we feel like we’re starting to fall behind . . . because we don’t have the budget.” More Service Hours People who work full-time jobs during regular hours have a limited number of hours that Scenic libraries are open to them. Most are only open late one night a week and have limited weekend hours.The reason, said Campbell, is that the budget doesn’t allow to staff the libraries any more. If the ballot measure is approved, that will change, said Campbell. “We’d like to be able to open our branches in the evenings and on weekends more.” More Outreach, Programming If you haven’t been into your local library or visited the Scenic website, you may not have known that every month each branch offers a variety of programs on topics like beekeeping, fly fishing, beginning yoga, self-defense, learning to crochet . . . Some are informational, like one on how essential oils are used to treat physical ailments. Others are crafty, like how to make a pin cushion button jar (coming up at the New Haven branch Thursday, April 10). One of the most popular programs was on trapping, said Campbell. Programming is another area Scenic would like to be able to expand if the tax levy increase is approved. “We would like to be able to offer not just more programming, but more specific programs catering to certain audiences — children, teens, seniors,” said Campbell, noting he’d like to bring in more high-profile presenters. Right now Scenic is doing a minimal amount of programming, but seeing a huge response from patrons. Last year, over 2,200 people attended 186 programs held at Scenic’s seven branches. “Even our small branches are still getting an average of 10, 15, 20 people per program,” said Campbell. “Sometimes it’s standing room only.” In addition to increased programming, Scenic would like to expand its outreach efforts, in other words, sending out staff to nursing homes, day cares, preschools, senior centers . . . The staff also visits nursing homes, day care centers and preschools to offer story time. Those are so popular that the library gets requests to do them weekly, said Campbell, when the best their budget allows is to offer them monthly. “The biggest thing is we’re trying to meet our demand,” Campbell remarked. “Libraries are doing these kinds of things because their job is to provide information to the public, no matter what format that is,” he said. “Whether it’s a DVD, CD or program, it’s still information. You’re learning something, which is what the library is really for.” Information Centers With all that libraries offer patrons today, information centers may a better name for them. “We offer fax service. People can register to vote. Some libraries also offer health screenings and tax help,” said Campbell. “We can’t do that yet because of the size of our staff. It requires staff to manage those things.” A budget increase, though, would allow Scenic branches to become more like community centers. Despite the rise of the Internet, people used Scenic libraries more than ever before in 2013: •Almost 500,000 items were checked out;
•Some 276,000 people visited Scenic’s seven branches;
•Almost 2,000 children participated in the Scenic summer reading program;
•Over 3,800 children attended Story Time;
•There were over 150,000 searches of Scenic’s research databases;
•People used Scenic’s Internet computers 50,000 times; and
•Over 40,000 people attended its children, teen and adult programs. Learn a Foreign Language, Research Your Genealogy, for Free In addition to all of its books, CDs and DVDs, Scenic also offers patrons free access to dozens of databases, including one that teaches a foreign language, several for genealogy research and another that offers free real-time tutoring help to students. These databases are available through the Scenic website, which means patron can access them through their home computers. Go to the Scenic Regional website (www.scenicregional.org), and on the left side of the screen click on Databases. More than a dozen subject areas pop up, including foreign languages. A click here takes you to Mángo Languages, which works just like the well-known Rosetta Stone brand advertised on TV. “Only you don’t have to pay $400,” he remarked. Other popular databases Scenic provides are the ones that help with genealogy research, like Ancestry.com. Scenic patrons can access it, again, through the Scenic website without paying the fee, Campbell noted. There’s also the Chilton Library database of manuals for auto repair. People can access the database for free using their Scenic library card number, print off things like wiring diagrams, schematics, anything they would need. “We have lots of databases like that, and Washington patrons can use them all for free too with their Washington library card,” said Campbell. If news of these databases surprises you or if you haven’t visited your local branch library in a while, Campbell invites you to check them out. Drop in or go online. See what today’s libraries have to offer. They are no longer just repositories of print books. They are information centers and community centers offering programs and outreach. If You Don’t Use the Library People who don’t use the library at all should know that this tax levy increase will help them too, said Campbell. “It helps home values, just like good schools and good parks,” he said. “People constantly call the library asking us what services we offer because they are thinking about buying a home in the area. “People are constantly coming to the library to use the computers for things like working on their resume and searching job websites because they don’t have home computers.” People who are lucky enough to have access to things like a home computer or who can afford to purchase a brand new book whenever they want may forget that there are a lot of people in their community who can’t, said Campbell. The library is for everyone. “The library services benefit the kids in our communities, they grow up to be more productive members of society,” he remarked. “It can help us all.”‘ Efficient User of Taxpayer Money’ Scenic Regional Library colleges the third-lowest tax rate in the state of Missouri. It is 131 out of 133 libraries. “Our library is considered a poor library,” said Campbell. “If you talk to other libraries about Scenic, what they know is Scenic is poor. That’s what we’re known for.” He likes to say Scenic has been able to more with less for decades, which makes it “a really efficient use of tax payer money. “If someone checks out just one hardcover book from one of our branches, that is basically what they’ve spent in taxes for the year, because an average book costs $28,” said Campbell. “Now some people are paying more than that in taxes, but even two books, that’s significant. No other government entity can say if you use our service one time, you’ve gotten your money back for an entire year.” As Campbell has been out visiting communities, giving presentations on the library’s proposed tax levy increase, he’s heard from conservative residents who say they don’t like government, so he likes to point out to them that the library is funded 96 percent by local property tax. “I always point out that (the government) doesn’t control us,” he said. “We don’t get money from them, we are completely locally governed and locally funded. All of our board members are from your communities.” Thinking back to the ’40s and ’50s, when many libraries were formed, Campbell said they were basically just “rooms with books. “There were card catalogs, people checked out books, and that was all the library offered. “We’re wanting a tax rate increase, because we’re offering a lot more — outreach and computers and ebooks, all these things they didn’t have back then,” he said. “It costs a lot more money to run a library now.“I think we provide a lot of good services for what we get, but we’re clearly not meeting the demand in terms of materials and other services,” said Campbell. “We’re giving (patrons) an opportunity to get what they want.” 'The tax levy increase needs a majority to pass, or 50 percent plus one vote, said Campbell. However, each county’s vote will be considered on its own, he said, meaning the issue could pass in one county, but fail in the others. In that case, the new revenue would only go to the county where it passed.
'We're trying to meet our demand"
