RE: [Videolib] borrowing fees for videos

Sarah Beasley (beasleys@carnegielibrary.org)
Tue, 9 Nov 2004 16:46:39 -0500

I don't think anyone likes the idea of charging for any public library materials, but I do think there is an argument to made that if you have to find additional ways to support your materials budget in order to meet demand, perhaps it is most fair to charge for materials that are readily available for a reasonable fee elsewhere (which is arguable, too, I know). I'm not discounting the fact that any borrowing fee, no matter how small, will result in limiting who has the financial ability to borrow the materials, I know that is a huge factor, I'm just talking about trying to find the least harmful way to do it. There are no easy answers, which is why my library has started this discussion. I should emphasize that we really are just talking about all of these issues and exploring possibilities. I do appreciate both the practical and philosophical feedback I have been getting, and I hope to hear from more of you.

Sarah Beasley
Manager, Film and Audio Department
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
4400 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412.622.1918
beasleys@carnegielibrary.org

The views, opinions, and judgments expressed in this message are solely those of the author. The message contents have not been reviewed or approved by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

-----Original Message-----
From: videolib-bounces@library.berkeley.edu
[mailto:videolib-bounces@library.berkeley.edu]On Behalf Of deg farrelly
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 3:38 PM
To: videolib@library.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: [Videolib] borrowing fees for videos

Afraid I disagree with this philosophy.

Why should videos have to be self-sustaining fiscally or be discontinued?
Why not periodicals, or novels? Or self-help books.

Isn't the cost per loan of a video significantly lower than the cost per
loan of a novel?

--
deg farrelly, Associate Librarian
Arizona State University West Library
PO Box 37100 
Phoenix, Arizona  85069-7100
Phone:  602.543.8522
Email:  deg.farrelly@asu.edu




> From: "Griest, Bryan" <BGriest@ci.glendale.ca.us>
> Reply-To: "videolib@library.berkeley.edu" <videolib@library.berkeley.edu>
> Date: Tue, 09 Nov 2004 11:22:23 -0800
> To: "'videolib@library.berkeley.edu'" <videolib@library.berkeley.edu>
> Subject: RE: [Videolib] borrowing fees for videos
> 
> 2 things: 1) Tax revenues are plummeting; you may be paying for something,
> but it may not be the cost of the materials. You may be paying for the
> building, or the salaries, etc. This is an obvious statement, but I've
> worked in a couple of libraries that had $0 for materials in some
> years--$0!--even though taxes were still being collected. 2) If we didn't
> charge for video rentals (which are admittedly the only materials we could
> "get away with" charging for), we wouldn't have had money to buy anything at
> all. At least from my experience, the video collections had to become
> self-sustaining fiscally or be discontinued completely. Given that choice, I
> think even the irritated middle class would vote for a continued collection.
> Bryan
> Glendale Public Library


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