One Idea to Raise Funds to Offset State Budget Cuts

From the SEMLS News website:

"...Ideas to the rescue. Several colleagues were talking yesterday, and many are unhappy about the regional planning process and how the regions are being torn apart so rapidly. There is admiration for our colleagues in the West who have voiced their concerns; yet we know we can do better when we all join forces to promote our cause.

Funding is the issue. State dollars are scarce, and there is minimal hope that library dollars can be restored. Ideas to the rescue. In FY 2010, there will probably be more than 14 million items that travel through the delivery system. Delivery costs absorb 40+ percent of the regional budgets. If this is our core service with a $7 million budget and it costs over $3 million to maintain; maybe we should look at this as a way to enhance the revenue that comes to the regions and even the networks.

Someone suggested that maybe we should consider charging a one-time fee for anyone who requests materials, network transfers or interlibrary loan requests. Could we do this? Should we do this? The proposal isn't fully worked out, but I would like to get our conversation going and will roughly sketch out how this might work." ~ Read More