As with any editorial, this article will be strictly my opinion. I will do my best to be as objective as possible but this is an emotional subject for me. I don't use the library as much as others, but I actually lost sleep for several nights after the news broke about a potential merger. But let me start at the beginning. [2018-03-15 - EDITED - Additional information was received from Smoot to correct original counts and give additional information.]
Smoot Library, or more officially The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library, was built in the late 1960s by Mrs. Ann Smoot. She ran the library for a few years before gifting it to the County on November 1, 1973. According to the Deed of Gift, "That the improvements on the aforesaid property be used in perpetuity by the Board of Supervisors of King George County, Virginia, and their successors, solely as a free public library for the citizens of King George County, Virginia." The same document says "That the present name of the library, to-wit: "The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library," be retained in perpetuity as the name of the library."
According to the Ordinance adopted by the Board of Supervisors on October 18, 1973, a Board of Trustees was created to operate the library. These seven people (increased to ten in the 1980s) were charged with setting the pay scale for employees, purchasing supplies and equipment, and maintaining the grounds. The Ordinance also states "The Trustees may receive assistance in operating the Library from the Virginia State Library System."
In Mrs. Smoot's Instrument of Gift, a Certificate of Deposit for $700,000 was included. This endowment fund was restricted "...so that only the income from such fund and any appreciation thereof may be expended for library purposes, and the principal amount of $700,000.00 shall always remain intact and held for investment by the Board of Supervisors."
My History At Smoot
Fast forward a few decades into the early 1990s and Smoot Library becomes my first job. Little did I know how much of an impact it would have on my work ethic and my love of books. For those of you that are younger, Smoot had no computers back then. Library cards had a metal piece on them that was used to stamp a card that went into the back of your book. If you needed to find a book, you used the Card Catalog. If you were really smart, you memorized the Dewey Decimal System and knew where to look without look through the Card Catalog.
The work atmosphere was great. I didn't know it at the time, but my co-workers were really nice people. Rita Schepmoes, who would retire as the Library Directory in September 2008, was my boss and was nice enough to hire me. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I was one of the only male employees at the time. I know there were some before me and some after, but when I worked there, I remember being one of the only ones that could go into the Men's Restroom to check on things. Working alongside me was Carol Sparbel, the current Board of Trustees Chair, who was kind enough to teach me it was okay to expand my reading preferences into other areas. Linda Addair was also a fixture at the library. As if to prove King George is a small town, I ended up working with her son for 15 years at another job.
The books at the time were well used, especially in the children's section. Fiction was almost always well-stocked and the reference books were fairly well populated with things that a resident may need. My dad was notorious for dragging me to the library when I was younger so he could read national newspapers or magazines. Worse was when he would check out a home improvement book or car maintenance manual because that meant I would be helping with a project soon.
Over time, I moved away and moved back to King George County. There's something about this place that pulled me back into the fold. As I put down roots and began to grow my family, I was approached to join the Smoot Board of Trustees. At first, I was skeptical. I felt like I had nothing to contribute. Sure, I had worked there, sure I had checked out books, but I didn't feel like I was in a place to help. After talking things over with my wife, I finally agreed to join the Board. I was appointed to the Board in 2012 and quickly learned that I had plenty to offer, just like everyone else at the table with me. Being on the Board was also a learning experience for me. I rapidly learned how board meetings were run and eventually rose to the rank of Finance Officer.
It was during my time on the Board, both as a member and as a Finance Officer, that I learned the Board of Supervisors were never keen to support the Library financially. At the time I assumed it was largely because of the expansion and the huge chunk of money that was spent on that. But as I've done more research these past few weeks, I've found it's more of an overall trend, not an exception during my short time on the Board. I say short time because in October 2015 I resigned from the Board. I felt that I had contributed as much as I could at the time and was not in a good place mentally. My full-time job was becoming more and more stressful and I felt that I would be a burden to the Board and the Library if I continued.
Smoot Today
As with most rumors, I first heard about the potential merger with Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) on Facebook. It had been discussed during my time on the Smoot Board of Trustees but never this seriously. Oddly, I heard the rumor shortly after I finished writing my report on the Board of Supervisors meeting from a few days before where I saw Mrs. Sparbel and Robin Tenney, the current Smoot Library Director, go into closed session. At the time I assumed it was to give a report on the library's budget. I would learn later that it was regarding the potential merger with CRRL.
I was shocked, baffled, and upset. Like I said before, I lost sleep over this potential deal. The more I heard, the more I read, the more I realized I needed to find out for myself if this was a good deal or not. So I began to research everything I could about Smoot, CRRL, and the potential merger between them.
The first thing is that according to the draft proposal from CRRL, it wouldn't be a merger. It would be a takeover. Their draft proposal states that "... libraries within a political jurisdiction are not county departments, but are governed by the regional library board." That would mean the "Smoot Library staff would become employees of the regional library..." and "... materials are owned by the CRRL in perpetuity, and shared system wide." It would also mean serious technology changes for Smoot. CRRL and Smoot run on different circulation systems and CRRL primarily uses Chromeboxes versus Smoot's Windows computers.
There are a few important parts to point out about the CRRL draft proposal. The first being that it's just a draft. This isn't the final deal or even the final offer. Second, the original proposal is dated November 27, 2017. That means this has been discussed prior to that despite there not being any record of it in the Meeting Minutes of the Board of Supervisors. Third, the original cost of the draft proposal was $552,388 with an amended cost of $460,888. This amended cost, dated January 31, 2018, shows a sharp reduction in the one-time start-up costs in the Technology category, presumably by using Chromeboxes instead of upgrading the existing Windows computers.
By The Numbers
In my mind, the deal to have CRRL take over Smoot began to fall apart when I began my research. But in an effort to give a balanced opinion, I'm going to include things that CRRL does well and similarities between the two libraries. By no means is my list conclusive. Some parts are also subjective but I will try to keep things as objective as possible.
CRRL as a whole has more money, more staff, more branches, and a larger collection. They also have a mutual relationship with library systems in northern Virginia (Caroline, Culpeper, Fauquier, Orange, and Prince William Counties). It serves Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Westmoreland Counties as well as the City of Fredericksburg. Residents of King George can join for only $30 a year. There are no late fees for "Other Materials" and children's books, magazines, and paper backs can be checked out indefinitely. CRRL also has longer operating hours at some branches and an extensive collection of 482,000 print items and a large number of programs to offer to the community.
That's about where the list ends. Yes, I've heard from several people about the staff at Smoot being unpleasant. Personally, I've experienced nothing but pleasant employees and volunteers. In fact, the staff at the CRRL branch in Fredericksburg has frequently ignored me when I've tried to get help researching something. I think this is something that can be improved upon across the board, not just at libraries. It's also very subjective in how everyone defines "great customer service."
I've also heard the arguments about how students in the local Governor's Schools need a membership to CRRL to get their homework done. I've also heard the arguments about how students in the local Governor's Schools DON'T need a membership to CRRL to get their homework done. In the end, I don't know who to believe. The one statement that did seem to be the same across the board was that all Governor's School students are given a CRRL membership so that they can have access to the same library.
Smoot excels in a few areas, namely the convenience of a local library being within 12 miles of any point in King George County. Smoot also has a longer check-out time at 21 days (CRRL is only 14 days). And while many may claim CRRL has longer hours of operation, if you look closely, that's not exactly true. Yes, four branches in the CRRL system are open 69.5 hours per week, but Smoot is open 61 hours per week. Those other three branches of CRRL are only open 32 hours per week, which is less than Smoot's summer hour of 58 hours per week. And when you average all the branches, CRRL is open on average 54.9 hours per week. Still not a compelling argument.
I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again; I'm a spreadsheet nerd. So when it came time to crunch the actual numbers, a spreadsheet was necessary. In looking at the draft proposal from CRRL, the base annual operating cost is going to be $374,490 plus some extra money based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). They've based this on their agreement with Westmoreland County. In looking at Westmoreland County's budget, they spent $431,241 on CRRL for 2017. King George spent $523,989. Over the last three years, Westmoreland spent $106,528 less than King George on their respective libraries.
While $106,528 sounds like a considerable amount of money for the County to save. Until you dig deeper. Westmoreland spends 1.5% of their expenses on their libraries. King George only spends 0.7% of expenses on Smoot. This is less than the 0.82% from ten years ago. If we were base our spending percentage on Westmoreland's percentage, we would need to spend twice as much to match their levels. You could argue that Westmoreland has three CRRL branches but remember, they aren't open for as many hours as Smoot.
And the money is really where I think it boils down to the decision makers. Over the last ten years of budget documents, Smoot has seen a funding increase of 4.27%. Departments of similar size have seen larger increases (General Properties is up 68% and E-911 is up 24.9%). Larger departments have also seen an increase in spending over the last ten years, such as the Department of Emergency Services with a 67% increase. This isn't to say that one department is better or worse than the other or more important than another, but as a whole, Smoot has seen a smaller share of the pie over the last ten years. In total, the County has increased spending by 21.73% over the last ten years and 23.82 percent in the last five years. But again, Smoot has only grown 4%. So while revenue and expenditures have seen a large growth, Smoot has not.
And the budget is a key point of consternation for me. Having sat on the Board of Trustees and been the Financial Officer, I know what the budgeting process is like for the library. Every budget cycle I was a part of the library was told to reduce spending and remove positions. Every year it was the same story where the Library Director would present the request for money in the budget cycle and get sent packing with a list of things to cut. As a member of the current Citizens Budget Advisory Committee, I can see the other side of that coin. The Board of Supervisors is constantly looking for ways to save money. And I'm perfectly okay with that. But to save money by cutting services isn't always a good deal. On top of that, cutting the second largest educational service in the County seems to fly in the face of the present Board of Supervisors desire to promote professional education for County employees. At a recent budget work session, the Supervisors appeared to encourage the County Department heads to increase their spending on professional education.
My biggest concern in this budget is the claim made by a member of the Board of Supervisors. I hesitate to call them out as I'm waiting for them to give more details to their claim and to cite their sources. But the claim was that "... just in the last two years, the budget has gone up almost two-hundred thousand dollars [$200,000]..." But in doing the homework I was advised to do, this is not true. In fact, in the last ten years, the budget has only gone up $22,242. Even if you look at the least funded year in the past decade, 2012, the increase was less than $49,000. Where the $200,000 increase claim comes from, I have no idea but I can only see it as a grievous math error, a serious lack of knowledge on the issue, or an effort to make the CRRL take-over more appealing.
The Hole Deepens
From here, the research continued to prove that a CRRL take-over would not be in the best interest of King George County residents. So in no particular order, here are a few data points to prove that point.
More Spreadsheets
Number of Meeting Rooms (any meeting room that could be divided into multiple rooms was counted as the largest number possible - for example, a single large room that could be divided into two rooms was counted as two rooms)
Number of Computers and Books Per Capita (based on 2015 population estimates; CRRL computers estimated based on "over 200" quote)
[2018-03-15 - EDITED - Additional information was received from Smoot to correct original counts.]
Smoot History
Smoot Library, or more officially The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library, was built in the late 1960s by Mrs. Ann Smoot. She ran the library for a few years before gifting it to the County on November 1, 1973. According to the Deed of Gift, "That the improvements on the aforesaid property be used in perpetuity by the Board of Supervisors of King George County, Virginia, and their successors, solely as a free public library for the citizens of King George County, Virginia." The same document says "That the present name of the library, to-wit: "The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library," be retained in perpetuity as the name of the library."
According to the Ordinance adopted by the Board of Supervisors on October 18, 1973, a Board of Trustees was created to operate the library. These seven people (increased to ten in the 1980s) were charged with setting the pay scale for employees, purchasing supplies and equipment, and maintaining the grounds. The Ordinance also states "The Trustees may receive assistance in operating the Library from the Virginia State Library System."
In Mrs. Smoot's Instrument of Gift, a Certificate of Deposit for $700,000 was included. This endowment fund was restricted "...so that only the income from such fund and any appreciation thereof may be expended for library purposes, and the principal amount of $700,000.00 shall always remain intact and held for investment by the Board of Supervisors."
My History At Smoot
Fast forward a few decades into the early 1990s and Smoot Library becomes my first job. Little did I know how much of an impact it would have on my work ethic and my love of books. For those of you that are younger, Smoot had no computers back then. Library cards had a metal piece on them that was used to stamp a card that went into the back of your book. If you needed to find a book, you used the Card Catalog. If you were really smart, you memorized the Dewey Decimal System and knew where to look without look through the Card Catalog.
The work atmosphere was great. I didn't know it at the time, but my co-workers were really nice people. Rita Schepmoes, who would retire as the Library Directory in September 2008, was my boss and was nice enough to hire me. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I was one of the only male employees at the time. I know there were some before me and some after, but when I worked there, I remember being one of the only ones that could go into the Men's Restroom to check on things. Working alongside me was Carol Sparbel, the current Board of Trustees Chair, who was kind enough to teach me it was okay to expand my reading preferences into other areas. Linda Addair was also a fixture at the library. As if to prove King George is a small town, I ended up working with her son for 15 years at another job.
The books at the time were well used, especially in the children's section. Fiction was almost always well-stocked and the reference books were fairly well populated with things that a resident may need. My dad was notorious for dragging me to the library when I was younger so he could read national newspapers or magazines. Worse was when he would check out a home improvement book or car maintenance manual because that meant I would be helping with a project soon.
Over time, I moved away and moved back to King George County. There's something about this place that pulled me back into the fold. As I put down roots and began to grow my family, I was approached to join the Smoot Board of Trustees. At first, I was skeptical. I felt like I had nothing to contribute. Sure, I had worked there, sure I had checked out books, but I didn't feel like I was in a place to help. After talking things over with my wife, I finally agreed to join the Board. I was appointed to the Board in 2012 and quickly learned that I had plenty to offer, just like everyone else at the table with me. Being on the Board was also a learning experience for me. I rapidly learned how board meetings were run and eventually rose to the rank of Finance Officer.
It was during my time on the Board, both as a member and as a Finance Officer, that I learned the Board of Supervisors were never keen to support the Library financially. At the time I assumed it was largely because of the expansion and the huge chunk of money that was spent on that. But as I've done more research these past few weeks, I've found it's more of an overall trend, not an exception during my short time on the Board. I say short time because in October 2015 I resigned from the Board. I felt that I had contributed as much as I could at the time and was not in a good place mentally. My full-time job was becoming more and more stressful and I felt that I would be a burden to the Board and the Library if I continued.
Smoot Today
As with most rumors, I first heard about the potential merger with Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) on Facebook. It had been discussed during my time on the Smoot Board of Trustees but never this seriously. Oddly, I heard the rumor shortly after I finished writing my report on the Board of Supervisors meeting from a few days before where I saw Mrs. Sparbel and Robin Tenney, the current Smoot Library Director, go into closed session. At the time I assumed it was to give a report on the library's budget. I would learn later that it was regarding the potential merger with CRRL.
I was shocked, baffled, and upset. Like I said before, I lost sleep over this potential deal. The more I heard, the more I read, the more I realized I needed to find out for myself if this was a good deal or not. So I began to research everything I could about Smoot, CRRL, and the potential merger between them.
The first thing is that according to the draft proposal from CRRL, it wouldn't be a merger. It would be a takeover. Their draft proposal states that "... libraries within a political jurisdiction are not county departments, but are governed by the regional library board." That would mean the "Smoot Library staff would become employees of the regional library..." and "... materials are owned by the CRRL in perpetuity, and shared system wide." It would also mean serious technology changes for Smoot. CRRL and Smoot run on different circulation systems and CRRL primarily uses Chromeboxes versus Smoot's Windows computers.
There are a few important parts to point out about the CRRL draft proposal. The first being that it's just a draft. This isn't the final deal or even the final offer. Second, the original proposal is dated November 27, 2017. That means this has been discussed prior to that despite there not being any record of it in the Meeting Minutes of the Board of Supervisors. Third, the original cost of the draft proposal was $552,388 with an amended cost of $460,888. This amended cost, dated January 31, 2018, shows a sharp reduction in the one-time start-up costs in the Technology category, presumably by using Chromeboxes instead of upgrading the existing Windows computers.
By The Numbers
In my mind, the deal to have CRRL take over Smoot began to fall apart when I began my research. But in an effort to give a balanced opinion, I'm going to include things that CRRL does well and similarities between the two libraries. By no means is my list conclusive. Some parts are also subjective but I will try to keep things as objective as possible.
CRRL as a whole has more money, more staff, more branches, and a larger collection. They also have a mutual relationship with library systems in northern Virginia (Caroline, Culpeper, Fauquier, Orange, and Prince William Counties). It serves Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Westmoreland Counties as well as the City of Fredericksburg. Residents of King George can join for only $30 a year. There are no late fees for "Other Materials" and children's books, magazines, and paper backs can be checked out indefinitely. CRRL also has longer operating hours at some branches and an extensive collection of 482,000 print items and a large number of programs to offer to the community.
That's about where the list ends. Yes, I've heard from several people about the staff at Smoot being unpleasant. Personally, I've experienced nothing but pleasant employees and volunteers. In fact, the staff at the CRRL branch in Fredericksburg has frequently ignored me when I've tried to get help researching something. I think this is something that can be improved upon across the board, not just at libraries. It's also very subjective in how everyone defines "great customer service."
I've also heard the arguments about how students in the local Governor's Schools need a membership to CRRL to get their homework done. I've also heard the arguments about how students in the local Governor's Schools DON'T need a membership to CRRL to get their homework done. In the end, I don't know who to believe. The one statement that did seem to be the same across the board was that all Governor's School students are given a CRRL membership so that they can have access to the same library.
Smoot excels in a few areas, namely the convenience of a local library being within 12 miles of any point in King George County. Smoot also has a longer check-out time at 21 days (CRRL is only 14 days). And while many may claim CRRL has longer hours of operation, if you look closely, that's not exactly true. Yes, four branches in the CRRL system are open 69.5 hours per week, but Smoot is open 61 hours per week. Those other three branches of CRRL are only open 32 hours per week, which is less than Smoot's summer hour of 58 hours per week. And when you average all the branches, CRRL is open on average 54.9 hours per week. Still not a compelling argument.
I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again; I'm a spreadsheet nerd. So when it came time to crunch the actual numbers, a spreadsheet was necessary. In looking at the draft proposal from CRRL, the base annual operating cost is going to be $374,490 plus some extra money based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). They've based this on their agreement with Westmoreland County. In looking at Westmoreland County's budget, they spent $431,241 on CRRL for 2017. King George spent $523,989. Over the last three years, Westmoreland spent $106,528 less than King George on their respective libraries.
While $106,528 sounds like a considerable amount of money for the County to save. Until you dig deeper. Westmoreland spends 1.5% of their expenses on their libraries. King George only spends 0.7% of expenses on Smoot. This is less than the 0.82% from ten years ago. If we were base our spending percentage on Westmoreland's percentage, we would need to spend twice as much to match their levels. You could argue that Westmoreland has three CRRL branches but remember, they aren't open for as many hours as Smoot.
And the money is really where I think it boils down to the decision makers. Over the last ten years of budget documents, Smoot has seen a funding increase of 4.27%. Departments of similar size have seen larger increases (General Properties is up 68% and E-911 is up 24.9%). Larger departments have also seen an increase in spending over the last ten years, such as the Department of Emergency Services with a 67% increase. This isn't to say that one department is better or worse than the other or more important than another, but as a whole, Smoot has seen a smaller share of the pie over the last ten years. In total, the County has increased spending by 21.73% over the last ten years and 23.82 percent in the last five years. But again, Smoot has only grown 4%. So while revenue and expenditures have seen a large growth, Smoot has not.
 |
| Expenditure Increases Over Last 10 Years |
And the budget is a key point of consternation for me. Having sat on the Board of Trustees and been the Financial Officer, I know what the budgeting process is like for the library. Every budget cycle I was a part of the library was told to reduce spending and remove positions. Every year it was the same story where the Library Director would present the request for money in the budget cycle and get sent packing with a list of things to cut. As a member of the current Citizens Budget Advisory Committee, I can see the other side of that coin. The Board of Supervisors is constantly looking for ways to save money. And I'm perfectly okay with that. But to save money by cutting services isn't always a good deal. On top of that, cutting the second largest educational service in the County seems to fly in the face of the present Board of Supervisors desire to promote professional education for County employees. At a recent budget work session, the Supervisors appeared to encourage the County Department heads to increase their spending on professional education.
My biggest concern in this budget is the claim made by a member of the Board of Supervisors. I hesitate to call them out as I'm waiting for them to give more details to their claim and to cite their sources. But the claim was that "... just in the last two years, the budget has gone up almost two-hundred thousand dollars [$200,000]..." But in doing the homework I was advised to do, this is not true. In fact, in the last ten years, the budget has only gone up $22,242. Even if you look at the least funded year in the past decade, 2012, the increase was less than $49,000. Where the $200,000 increase claim comes from, I have no idea but I can only see it as a grievous math error, a serious lack of knowledge on the issue, or an effort to make the CRRL take-over more appealing.
The Hole Deepens
From here, the research continued to prove that a CRRL take-over would not be in the best interest of King George County residents. So in no particular order, here are a few data points to prove that point.
- CRRL computer policy hasn't been updated in seven years. Smoot's policy is no more than three years old.
- CRRL uses Chromeboxes which are quickly becoming obsolete (Chromebooks on the other hand are becoming more popular).
- CRRL requires 85% of funding to come from localities. Based on the current Smoot budget of 70%, we would need to pay more.
- CRRL branches in Westmoreland increased their operating hours last year.
- CRRL libraries have been underfunded in the past by certain localities causing them to receive fewer services.
- Spotsylvania County almost left the CRRL system 15 years ago. According to the county's Finance Department, they would save about $400,000 per year by running their own library.
- Smoot originally provided services to Caroline and Westmoreland Counties.
- Smoot almost took over operations of the library on the Navy base in Dahlgren.
- Staff at Smoot could be moved to other libraries at will.
- If another county opens another branch of CRRL, King George helps pay.
- CRRL uses an outdated bar code system to check-out books while Smoot uses an RFID chip.
- CRRL has 19 meeting rooms available in their system. Smoot has more than any two CRRL branches combined with nine rooms.
- Smoot will forfeit your meeting room reservation if you don't show up. CRRL will not, therefore disallowing anyone from using the room for that time period.
- CRRL limits computer terminal usage to one hour while Smoot allows you to use it for three hours.
- Smoot houses one of the only STEM Resource Hubs in the state.
- Spotsylvania, and presumably all member-localities, pay part of the debt service for libraries in the CRRL system.
- The claim that "The library is no longer efficiently serving the community and is fast becoming a tremendous fiscal burden in its current form of management" is false as the pro rata share of expenses has dropped over the last ten years.
- CRRL has 482,000 print items for use while Smoot has
67,00079,000. Based on population estimates, this works out to 1.5 books per person in the CRRL system versus2.633.1 books per person in the Smoot system. [2018-03-15 - EDITED - Additional information was received from Smoot to correct original counts.] - CRRL has "over 200 computers." Assuming this is a number between 201 and 299, at most that means over 1,000 people (in the population they serve) per computer compared to Smoot's ratio of 654 people per computer.
More Spreadsheets
Number of Meeting Rooms (any meeting room that could be divided into multiple rooms was counted as the largest number possible - for example, a single large room that could be divided into two rooms was counted as two rooms)
Number of Computers and Books Per Capita (based on 2015 population estimates; CRRL computers estimated based on "over 200" quote)
Loan Periods
Late Fees
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
If you've made it this far, congratulations. There is light at the end of the tunnel. My bottom line on this topic is that a CRRL take-over of Smoot would be a bad idea. As a resident of King George County I feel I would pay more and get less. But I do feel there are some areas for improvement with Smoot and how it can be an even better resource for those in King George.
Funding
I think more funding would solve a lot of problems. More employees means more hours and more activities. More resources means more services for users.
Work With CRRL
I think that instead of working against a CRRL take-over, we should work towards a partnership with CRRL. Better inter-library loan programs means more access to more material. Leveraging strengths from both systems could only help both parties. Best example I can think of is using a mobile app like CRRL to make the check-out process easier.
Work With KGCS
Just like working with CRRL, Smoot can work with the local school system to coordinate efforts on collections, activities, and connectivity. Spotsylvania opens their high school libraries to the public to allow a free internet connection to library patrons.
Dahlgren Branch
This is a hot topic and garnered me a voicemail, text, emails, and plenty of messages on Facebook but I truly think that Dahlgren is going to become a major population hub in King George County. It only seems fitting that we should start planning now for a future branch in Dahlgren. Partnering with University of Mary Washington may increase our leverage.
Work With Food Banks
Not my idea but certainly one worth sharing. Work with a local food bank to help collect food donations in exchange for forgiving fines. Smoot will "...typically conduct a “Food for Fines Week” (for Food Bank donations) in September which is National Library Card Sign-Up Month and we have a “Fine Free Week” (for long overdue items) which corresponds with National Library Week in April." [2018-03-15 - EDITED - Additional information was received from Smoot to clarify this idea.]
More Than Just Books
Smoot can offer more than just books. Several libraries across the globe are offering seeds and tools. If we truly want to preserve our rural character, why not look at ways to further that by helping farmers and residents grow crops by lending seeds. We can also lend tools as a way to help residents save money while improving their homes.
Book Donations
Any new book that's donated to the library should be added to the collection. I think this would be a wonderful way to add to the collection without any costs to the library or the County.
Volunteer Training
If staffing is an issue, train a volunteer to train more volunteers. Shelving books and reading shelves is not a very difficult task and it should be easy to train volunteers of any age.
Work With Local Makers
Smoot can work with local artists to showcase their work on a rotating schedule. Smoot can also work to create a maker space to promote STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math).
Bring Back Bookmobile
A bookmobile was actually partially funded for a time but the Capital Improvement Project was eventually killed. Bringing it back would be a great way to bridge the gap between now and when a new branch opens. It would also make access to under-served communities much easier and could even partner with local churches that feed needy families
Sources
I gathered information from numerous sources over the past two weeks. Everything is cited below, including scans of the original gift documents through the recent CRRL proposal to take over Smoot. The only documents I reviewed that were not included in my sources below are the Smoot Board of Trustees Meeting minutes. I did not include the information I found in my article above because it was based on rumor and not fact. While the meeting minutes were informative and could help prove the rumor, it was not enough information to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt and was therefore excluded.
Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Branches and Hours: [http://www.librarypoint.org/branches]
Central Rappahannock Regional Library. The CRRL Budget: [http://www.librarypoint.org/crrl_budget]
Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Library 2010-2011 Budget Update: [http://www.librarypoint.org/2010_budget_update]
Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Library Policies and Frequently Asked Questions: [http://www.librarypoint.org/library_policies#question9]
Central Rappahannock Regional Library. February 22, 2017. News Release. Beginning March 1, new library hours in Westmoreland County offer service 6 days a week: [http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-Release--Beginning-March-1--new-library-hours-in-Westmoreland-County-offer-service-6-days-a-week.html?soid=1101578795609&aid=i350Fa4wjGs]
Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Proposal.
Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Use of Computer Resources [http://www.librarypoint.org/use_computer_resources]
The Free Lance-Star. March 3, 2018. King George Ponders Joining Regional Library System: [www.fredericksburg.com/news/local/king_george/king-george-ponders-joining-regional-library-system/article_c50a4a44-73a5-54c4-8493-3535c449fc55.html]
King George County. Annual Budget 2008/2009: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/111]
King George County. Annual Budget 2009/2010: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/110]
King George County. Annual Budget 2010/2011: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/109]
King George County. Annual Budget 2011/2012: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/117]
King George County. Annual Budget 2011/2012 version 2: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/118]
King George County. Annual Budget 2012/2013: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/116]
King George County. Annual Budget 2013/2014: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/113]
King George County. Annual Budget 2014/2015: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/115]
King George County. Annual Budget 2015/2016: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/114]
King George County. Annual Budget 2016/2017: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/112]
King George County. Annual Budget 2017/2018: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/245]
King George County. Board of Supervisors Ordinance.
King George County. Comprehensive Financial Report. 2017: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/260]
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Annual Reports 2014: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/143]
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Annual Reports 2015: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/242]
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Annual Reports 2016: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/243]
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Annual Reports 2017: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/263]
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Board of Trustees By-Laws: [Page 1 and Page 2]
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes.
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Computer Use Policy: [https://www.kinggeorgecountyva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/422]
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Deed of Gift.
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library. Instrument of Gift.
Spotsylvania County. Partner Agency Application for Funding - 2015: [http://www.spotsylvania.va.us/filestorage/21027/21029/23134/27346/25566/25988/CRRL.pdf]
Spotsylvania County. May 28, 2002. Board of Supervisors Meeting Minutes: [http://www.spotsylvania.va.us/filestorage/21027/29250/4652/4656/4688/4840/05282002.pdf]
Stafford County. December 19, 2017. Board of Supervisors Agenda: [http://bos.stafford.va.us/2017/12192017/6.pdf]
Stafford County. Budget. 2012: [https://staffordcountyva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1165]
Virginia Public Libraries Extranet. Library Development and Networking. [http://vpl.virginia.gov/youth-services/stem-resource-hubs/]
Thanks Neil for this amazing effort - balanced and really well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteGood job Neil. I appreciate the effort and I feel that Project 94 is going a long way to fill the newspaper gap in the county.
ReplyDelete