Librarians' lament: Oh, the places the money goes

Quick,
Lets let the SEIU run our lives.

Public employee unions need to go away.

Centralized government library systems right after them.

SEIU is making accusations of financial waste: The pot calls the kettle black.

I say lets save a ton of money by closing all the county libraries, only the poor and crazies use them anyways.

This shouldn't be all or nothing. Couldn't say a small percentage of the book buying budget be controlled by the branch librarians.

And are the same books being sent to each branch, or are the history and demographics of that branch considered? If so this would save money

Librarian Todd says the job of the librarian is to serve the public. Librarian's selecting books that are in high demand in the community they serve should be a good thing then! The librarian is in the trenches with the public, the decision-makers sound far removed and are making purchases of books that become dust collectors on the library shelves. How much money is really saved when the public stops finding the books they want and stop going to the library? This is similar to the public school situation. Decision and policy makers have power, while teachers in the classroom do not. Teachers see the issues up close, but have no power to direct meaningful and positive change. When they do, using collective bargining, they are scapegoated by the public. Same thing with the librarians in this situation.

Each year, the county wastes millions of dollars buying books that people rarely, if ever, check out.

We can show you that in just one small-size community library over the past two years, the centralized selection process has purchased approximately $35,000 worth of materials that have never been checked out.

At the same time $21,000 of materials have only been checked out once in two years. When you multiply that over 85 libraries, that's millions of misspent dollars.

Librarians love to select books. They love to personally pick out the books, but that's really not the primary job of our community library staff. Their primary job is to serve the public. Of course selecting books for their neighborhood branch based on demand is not serving the public?

When tax dollars are really precious, we have to take the time to examine some of these things and if there is a large number of books at the library that nobody is checking out, the taxpayers are telling us the wrong books are in the library.

Millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted buying fiction books, coffee table books filled with mostly pictures and other books no one checks out. 85 percent of patrons are Spanish-speaking yet headquarters sends books in languages no one in the community speaks.

The book selection process is a management issue and a new $8 million state-of-the-art library computer system will help improve the book-buying process. The new system allows statistical analysis of book checkout trends. Are we getting the right things? What should we be getting? We're probably going to see some additional adjustments as we go?

Why does the reporter quote the SEIU hack Schoonover? This guy could care less about books; we all know what the SEIU wants.

Sure wrote:

Librarians love to select books. They love to personally pick out the books, but that's really not the primary job of our community library staff. Their primary job is to serve the public.

AND they best serve the public by carrying materials that they, as representatives of a local community, with oversight into what that community reads and watches, are best suited to choose. It's ridiculous to try to homogenize Los Angeles County, and, in a time of ever-dwindling library budgets, catastrophically stupid.

SEIU pointing the finger?!?!?!?!? HAW HAW HAW!!!!!!!!!

This is EXCATLY what is wrong with Los Angeles- no local control.

Spend the money on books, Not the Taj mahal Libraries with marble floors, fountains and other luxuries...have you been to the Downtown Library? Also any adult that signs up for a library card, take down their drivers licence and any fines or past dues add on their car registration, that will get those libraries in the black.

The Insane are not cute wrote:

Quick,
Lets let the SEIU run our lives.
Public employee unions need to go away.
Centralized government library systems right after them.

I have not been a fan of unions in the past….but the article clearly states the union is
not asking for any money or increase in benefits. They are asking for help to be able to
do their job better. That argument has nothing to do with the article.

mark wrote:

Spend the money on books, Not the Taj mahal Libraries with marble floors, fountains and other luxuries...have you been to the Downtown Library? Also any adult that signs up for a library card, take down their drivers licence and any fines or past dues add on their car registration, that will get those libraries in the black.

I like the way you think Mark!

HB Local wrote:

<quoted text>
I have not been a fan of unions in the past….but the article clearly states the union is
not asking for any money or increase in benefits. They are asking for help to be able to
do their job better. That argument has nothing to do with the article.

Yeah, I was in a union for 30 years and we were always interested in help doing our job better. We were NEVER concerned about higher wages or better benefits, just in ways to do a better job.

Libraries are planned obsolescence just like buggy whips and newspapers.

Even now all reference materials are available on line and with in 5 years all books will be digitized.

Not one more penny should be put into costly inefficient buildings staffed by costly inefficient unionized public employees in limited locations. All future taxpayer money must be put into making full service on line internet libraries that can be access by all.

Vic wrote:

<quoted text> Yeah, I was in a union for 30 years and we were always interested in help doing our job better. We were NEVER concerned about higher wages or better benefits, just in ways to do a better job.

The exception that proves the rule?

Or merely more propaganda.

Unions are consistently parasites that live off of the sweat of their members and attempt to suck the life out of society at large. SEIU is a great example, along with all of the other "public employee" unions.

H Wood Riviera wrote:

Libraries are planned obsolescence just like buggy whips and newspapers.
Even now all reference materials are available on line and with in 5 years all books will be digitized.
Not one more penny should be put into costly inefficient buildings staffed by costly inefficient unionized public employees in limited locations. All future taxpayer money must be put into making full service on line internet libraries that can be access by all.

Are you planning on eliminating copyright law?

All books will not be digitized in the next 5 years and many people using public libraries are thjose who don't have their own computers.

The Insane are not cute wrote:

<quoted text>The exception that proves the rule?
Or merely more propaganda.
Unions are consistently parasites that live off of the sweat of their members and attempt to suck the life out of society at large. SEIU is a great example, along with all of the other "public employee" unions.

I was indulging in a lame attempt at irony. I was a union member for 30 years and of course never once gave a damn about the job or the company, all I was interested in was MORE!!!! I think this is true of any union and is what every member expects of his union. Again, irony, not to be taken seriously.

Vic wrote:

<quoted text> I was indulging in a lame attempt at irony. I was a union member for 30 years and of course never once gave a damn about the job or the company, all I was interested in was MORE!!!! I think this is true of any union and is what every member expects of his union. Again, irony, not to be taken seriously.

So everyone in a union is a shallow selfserving person like you? Wow, you might consider taking down all the mirrors in you house.

Librarians have a very clear complaint. One of the PRIMARY duties of the librarian is to select books and other materials specifically for the community they serve. How can centralized purchasing possibly know the individual wants of 84 diverse communities in Los Angeles County?