MySmartGov.org

De facto censorship

Many of us recoil in horror when we think about book burnings. We are angered when we hear that a few complaints have prompted a school to remove a book from its reading list or a library to remove one from its shelves.

We like to think that books are widely and readily available to anyone who wishes to read them.

Yet 400,000 Hoosiers are denied free and easy access. They have no library service. No way to borrow books or CDs for free. No way to access a public computer.
 
That’s unconscionable, especially in a state that has 239 library districts! How can Indiana have so many districts but fail to serve every one of its citizens?

We’re not saying that Indiana has too many libraries. But it does have far too many library systems, each with its own infrastructure, accounting systems and management. That overhead translates into wasted taxpayer dollars.

Grant County has eight public library systems.  Benton, Lake, Elkhart, Hendricks and Kosciusko Counties each has six. Six more counties have five systems each, and many more have three or four systems.  Of the 239 systems, 95 serve a population of fewer than 5,000 residents.

And yet nearly 400,000 Hoosiers have no library at all.

Does this make sense? Is this smart government? We don’t think so. We think it makes more sense for the 72 stragglers to follow the lead of the 20 counties that have countywide library systems. They could achieve economies of scale that save money yet ensure every citizen can use the library. Savings can be achieved even if not a single library building were closed.

Consider this: It costs an average of $3.68 for a library to circulate a book, CD or DVD in Indiana. In some systems, it costs more than $10 to circulate a single item! In Lake County, the average cost to circulate an item in its six library systems is $6. If Lake could create a countywide system, eliminate duplication, buy in bulk, establish economies of scale and thus achieve the statewide average cost of circulation, its taxpayers would save more than $9.5 million annually.  If it could reduce its circulation cost to $2.25 an item – the cost in Marion County – taxpayers would save $15.5 million a year. 

Just imagine the statewide savings if all 92 counties followed suit.

If you’d like to cut the bureaucracy while extending library services to all Hoosiers, tell your legislators to consolidate public library systems. Join us  and we’ll help you reach them.