The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Library board seeking patron feedback on future plans

Community input and determining its strategic plan are key concerns.

Geneva Bridgers and her son, Jaden Bridgers, read together the Huber Heights branch of the Dayton Metro Library. The library system may need to cut more services because of the shrinking budget. Staff photo by Jim Noelker

JIM NOELKER/Tadpole Tales at the Dayton Metr Geneva Bridgers and her son, Jaden Bridgers, read together the Huber Heights branch of the Dayton Metro Library. The library system may need to cut more services because of the shrinking budget. Staff photo by Jim Noelker

ENLARGE PHOTO

Libraries face cuts if state revenues don't improve

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By Lynn Hulsey, Staff Writer Updated 12:21 AM Wednesday, March 17, 2010

DAYTON — The Dayton Metro Library board today will consider a $28.7 million general fund budget for the year, but also faces the larger question of what the library system will become in a world of uncertain funding and changing customer needs, said Tim Kambitsch, executive director.

“I don’t see how we can sustain a service organization with defined service locations, with as many locations as we have and the hours that we are open,” Kambitsch said.

He said the board, which meets at 4 p.m. at the downtown library, will likely reappraise its strategic plan this year. The community will be a part of that discussion, although the format and timing of that is undecided.

A key question: would people rather have multiple, convenient library branches with fewer hours, or would it be preferable to have fewer branches but longer hours?

Kambitsch said libraries need to find ways to be more of a community gathering place, not just a place where library materials are stored.

But the more immediate need for Dayton Metro and libraries across the region is to respond to more bad news about the state funding. The funding is tied to state tax receipts; so when the state suffers, the libraries suffer.

Year-to-date public library funding statewide is nearly $82.8 million, down from $101.7 million during the same period last year, Kambitsch said.

If the trend continues that could mean the additional loss of about $800,000 in state funding for Dayton Metro Library this year, Kambitsch. While that is not a huge amount in a $28.7 million budget, it is on top of state cuts that cost the library more than $3.3 million between 2008 and 2009 and is expected to cost more than $1 million this year compared to last, Kambitsch said.

He had hoped revenues would exceed expenditures through 2012, but now said it looks like 2011 will be the last break-even year without cuts.

“It makes making these decisions something we are going to have to do sooner rather than later,” Kambitsch said.

Voters last year approved a new higher 1.75 mill tax levy, which boosted revenues by $4.6 million annually; but even before it passed, Kambitsch warned that the library would need to make cuts because of the loss of state money.