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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-08-26; City Council; N/A; Serra Systemr 0 August 11, 1980 Memorandum TO: Bill Baldwin, Assistant City Manager FROM: Georgina D. Cole, Library Director SUBJECT: SERRA SYSTEM Perhaps it would be in order to begin a memo on the Serra System by giving some background. WHAT IT IS A cooperative library system which includes all the public libraries in the San Diego area: Carlsbad City Library Chula Vista Public Library Coronado Public Library Escondido Public Library National City Public Library Oceanside Public Library San Diego County Library San Diego Public Library Imperial County: Brawley Public Library Calexico Public Library El Centro Public Library Imperial Public Library Imperial County Library Other libraries may apply for membership in the system. HOW IS IT FINANCED: Cooperative projects are financed by Federal and State grants which encourage the development of FREE public libraries for the purposes of: 1. Assisting them in establishing, improving and extending library services. 2. Encouraging establishment of library systems where cooperation between independent libraries would improve library service. HOW DOES 17 OPERATE: The system is administered by an Executive Committee of the head librarians of the member libraries who meet once a month, decide on rules and regulations for the system, and authorize expenditures. A consultant from the State Library usually attends as advisor. Although the member libraries cooperate in system -wide projects, each main- tains its independence, selects its own books and hires its own personnel. 9 Continuing ,•111, Page Two - HOW DOES IT BENEFIT READERS: Freedom of Access Any borrower in good standing in one member library may borrow books fr.,m another member library without payment of a non-resident fee. Books borrowed from one library may be returned to another member library. Rapid Interchange of Books Any borrower may request his local library to borrow books he needs on interlibrary loan from another member library. Over 3,300,000 volumes are available among the libraries, plus large i numbers of government documents, periodicals, directories, back newspaper files, maps, historical materials, pamphlets, audio-visual materials, Etc. Photocopy Service If the material a reader grants is non -circulating, photocopies are provided. Reference and Information Center The San Diego Public Library, because it has the largest collection, houses a reference and information center where questions that cannot be answered by the member libraries or their branches are referred. Teletypes are provided for each member library to speed communication between local libraries and the Center. ' Cooperative Projects A union list showing what current periodical titles are to be found in ' each of the member libraries has been compiled, and is revised annually. Other union lists which will make it possible for readers to know the holdings of the combined libraries are being considered. s Member libraries have film collections which they share with each other }, through a Film Circuit. Over 35,500 films are available through the system. Other cooperative projects which would increase the efficiency of the member libraries are considered annually. The four cities of Carlsbad, National City, Oceanside and San Diego, on July 1, 1965, entered into an agreement entitled "Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement" (JEPA) which was in effect the creation of the Serra System. The original JEPA was entered into as a result of the State of California enacting the Public Library Services Act (PLSA) in order to encourage the development of free public libraries throughout the State by grants to public library systems for the purpose of: 1. Assisting them in establishing, improving and extending library services; 2. Encouraging the establishment of library systems in areas where such cooperation would facilitate improved library service. On July 7, 1978 the California Library Services Act (CLSA) was adopted to replace the Public Library Services Act. a r^- Continuing Page Three Without Council approval, none of this participation would have been possible. The original JEPA and the six amendments have each been submitted to the City Council for their review, input and approval. Local jurisdiction authorization was also required for continued participation under the provisions of CLSA programs, interlibrary loans, universal borrowing and equal access; Council approval was obtained on August 15, 1978. In each instance, the emphasis has been on FREE library service to everyone, regardless of residency. When the System was formed, and in many respects to this date, few cities have received greater benefits than has the City of Carlsbad. In 1965, the Carlsbad City Library had 24,224 books in its collection to serve the population of 11,150. The book count included all adult fiction, non --fiction; children's fiction, nor. -fiction; and reference. A book and periodical budget of $13,000 was approved for FY 1965-66 by the Council. While the Look collection was growing, it was far from adequate to serve the needs of a growing community and its citizens ranging in age from pre-school to college to senior citizen. Under the provisions of the PLSA, funds were made available to improve library collections upon joining a System and Carlsbad received $10,000 a year for two years to purchase reference and non-fiction materials. Prior to System membership, there was very little cooperation between libraries and therefore interlibrary loan was not a viable option to the residents of Carlsbad. A non-resident fee of $5.00 could be paid to obtain a library card at the various libraries in the area, however the card was good only at the library at which the fee was paid. This fee caused undue hardship particularly on students (who needed greater resources than Carlsbad or their school libraries could provide), and on people with low or fixed incomes. It caused exceedingly poor public relations in that people who lived in surrounding unincorporated areas (La Costa in particular), whose children attended Carlsbad schools, who felt aligned with Carlsbad, were forced to pay a $5.00 fee to use this library. When Proposition 13 was approved by the voters in 1978, an Advisory Committee was appointed by the City Council "to consider ways and means of reducing General Fund expenditures in order to implement Proposition 13". Their report was forwarded to Council July 18, 1978 under Agenda Bill 5512. On a scale of one to three - Serra System participation was given the highest rating of a 113 ". The Committee definitely recognized the importance of System participation. This impartial group of citizens, appointed by the City Council, felt that this was the most cost-effective program for the library, thus for the City. To address the question raised by Council as to whether Carlsbad could withdraw from the System, tl,e answer is yes, it could, but it would be a most unfortunate action. As with most associations, there are both tangible and intangible benefits to be derived. Among those received by Carlsbad due to membership in the Serra System are: 1. Free access to over 3,300,000 books among member libraries through direct loan and interlibrary loan. 2. Free access to over 39500 film owned by member libraries. 3. Free access to research through Serra Research Center (housed at San Diego Public Library), which is funded by State and Federal grants. r4l -11 Continuing Page Four 4. Teletype machines provided to each member library to speed reference and interlibrary loan operation. 5. Telephone credit card provided to each member library to be used for long distance System business calls. 6. Daily truck delivery between all public libraries, colleges and universities in San Diego County. This service enables patrons to return books to the library of their convenience and it is thus returned to the owning library on the Serra delivery van. 7. A valid library card is honored at any member library, thereby providing extensive resources to Carlsbad residents. 8. Serra has access to specialized libraries (eg. Medical, Legal) not open to the general public. 9. Continued emphasis on staff development through: (a) management workshops (b) specialized workshops for staff (c) cooperative special projects (eg. Serra Days, Story Telling, annual Children's Authors Luncheon, etc.) (d) monthly meetings of committees (eg. Executive, Reference, Automation, Audio Visual, Children's, etc.) for interchange of ideas and ongoing professional development. (e) making available the specialized knowledge of resource people to member library (eg. Grant Writing, etc.) One additional factor which should not be overlooked is what is received directly by the library in gifts from non-residents. Entire personal libraries have been donated by people living in Oceanside, Fallbrook, San Marcos, etc. The Genealogical Library has been in large part donated and these people live in all parts of San Diego County. This library is currently in the wills (that we have knowledge of) of three different and totally unrelated families in Oceanside, and one in San Diego. One of these bequests is in the amount of $25,000, for the purchase of genealogy materials. The question of withdrawing from Serra arose at the time the City of Carlsbad was conducting a study on fees. (The fee study was done by City staff, not Library staff). The question was, "Does the City of Inglewood charge fees for library use?". The answer, "Yes, for non-residents they charge an annual fee of $10. Prior to this fee they had 15,000 non-resident users; now they have only 10% of these, or roughly 1,500. They figure that they lost money because of the loss in overdue charges. They also estimate that if they participated in CLSA reimbursement for non-residents they could make $40,000 per year as opposed to the $15,00� they took in for fees. Additionally, much goodwill was lost among neighboring communities". The same would be true if Carlsbad should with- draw from the System. Since Council approved Carlsbad participation in CLSA (July 1978) a total of $61,376 has been received for reimbursement for use by non-resident borrowers. These funds, as stated in the Act, "may not be used to support other than Library purposes", and "the funding may not be used to replace local funds for library services, but only to supplement the local funding to further the purposes of the Act". At the time the Act was adopted, the libraries were reimbursed at 40� per item checked out by non-resident Continuing Page Five borrowers. The amount was increased to 42� and has again been raised to 48� per item. These funds are deposited into a separate account. The Library Directors have proven to be a forward thinking group by forming and perpetuating the cooperative library systems. They are able to offer resources considerably over and above what local funding could provide while saving money through resource sharing. Even with the sense of oneness, each library retains its own rules and regulations. The Serra System is to libraries, what the Mutual Aids Agreement is to the Police and Fire Departments. In the State of California there are presently fifteen cooperative and three single jurisdiction library systems. If System membership did not provide something very worthwhile to the various libraries and their patrons, the 152 city and county libraries (with innumerable branches) would not be interested in perpetuating System activities. Georgi a D. Cole Library Director GDC:ch i 3 t Council Action: 8-2640 It was the consensus of Council that a further report be furnished to Council in written form addressing the issues discussed by Council relative to methods of changing SERM regulations to include a fee to non-residents, and effects of withdrawing from the System.