LAKE COUNTY-The first library in Lake County opened in 1907 at Main and Third Streets in Lakeport in the old Levy building, and in the 100 years since, the county-wide system has seen its share of ups and downs-in tandem with the tumultuous state budgets that fund public libraries.
Last year”s relatively sufficient $14 million K-12 funding for public libraries translates into more patrons enjoying a higher number of new books on local library shelves. And despite the unpredictability from year to year for library budgets, county librarian Kathy Jansen says the four libraries in the county are doing well.
With growth in mind, goals for the future of the Lake County library system seem more tangible after a good budget year; they include expanding the children”s and literacy programs, hopes of hiring a children”s librarian, increasing circulation and boosting interlibrary loans.
The Transaction Based Reimbursement (TBR) interlibrary loan program gives money to libraries when they loan an item to a library outside their system; this service provides that patrons can receive books from any state library without having to travel or be charged fees.
“We have really good statistics for tracking the usage of the libraries; we break them down by what zip codes are using the libraries, to where the county is growing, to what kinds of books are being checked out. That”s how we determine where our growth should focus,” said Jansen. “It”s definitely growing-we will be filling a new position soon, we do have a deputy assistant librarian position open who would be an assistant to me, the county librarian, and I will be retiring in December-so that position will be open. And hopefully at some point we could have a children”s librarian,” said Jansen, adding that it is difficult to get people with MLS (Master”s of Library Science) degrees to relocate to Lake County.
According to Jansen, the budget for libraries is based on property taxes and state funds. “Of course, donations are always welcome, but lately funding has been good. We have had a good budget, which is really nice. We were able to get a lot of new books, but the budget does fluctuate, so we rely on state funding that reimburses us for books loaned out of the county. The county loans out far more books than we request in, so that is a major source of funding for us,” said Jansen.
The Public Library Fund (PLF) pairs with the TBR program in a dual state funding program. The PLF was enacted in 1982 to require that the state provide assistance to libraries with a baseline according to the state”s population. It requires a 10 percent state/90 percent local match. For the 2006/2007 year, with the combined $7 million for the PLF and $7 million to TBR, the baseline was set at $14.1 million.
But that leaves libraries at only 25 percent of where they would be if the foundation were fully funded, according to Mike Dillon, lobbyist for the California Library Association. “It would take a little over $80 million today to fully fund,” said Dillon in a prior interview with the Record-Bee.
The new 2007/2008 budget has missed its deadline this summer, and the amount of funding libraries will get in the future remains to be seen, but with the deficits in the state growing larger, pressure is put on the Governor to slash whatever he can, according to Dillon.
In recent years, funding has supplied public internet access terminals at each branch. The main branch has the majority, with ten computers. Jansen says the computers are popular with all ages, especially school-age children who come into the library after school to surf the internet or work on research papers. Local schools are increasingly requiring that students write their papers on a computer and do computer-assisted research.
But even if the trend is to become as tech savvy as possible – along with a growing preponderance of online books and books on tape or cd – it doesn”t mean a smell-good, hard-bound book will loose appeal and become a thing of the past, according to Jansen. “I think we”re still going to see the most traffic from people coming into the library to check out books. That”s definitely what most of our patrons are looking for.”
