County vs City Libraries

[listenyoubitch]

So I work at a City library. There is currently only one library in this city, and any libraries around us are not connected in any way. [Though we can most certainly interlibrary loan!] If you do not live in an annexed area of the city or are not within the city limits you are considered a non-resident and an annual fee is charged. There are a few

Comments

I've been a patron where I had to pay a similar fee

[dakiwiboid]

However, it was a lot lower--just $10. I felt it was worth it, and paid without complaint to use the system one county over. Since then, there's been a lot of finagling between municipalities in our area, and I can now, by showing proof of residency, either use my current card or get valid cards for all the systems for quite a large swath of territory without paying anything.

[endlessplain]

We are in the same situation. Not sure how it all works there, but here we just explain to customers that the taxes paid by residents pay for the library, so a subscription is just their contribution. It also helps to let them know if one of our residents tried to join their library they would have to pay a fee as well. We've been working to reduce the amount and give different options like $5 a month or whatever.It makes it easier.

I think the solution like the person above has mentioned, is to get reciprocal arrangements organised with libraries near you. Everyone benefits, including the staff!

[madmarty]

Yeah, the best way to explain it is to say: residents of the city pay the roughly the same amount in their taxes by default, whether they use the library or not. It comes out of property taxes, so people who own property in the city pay it too. The service is not free to anyone- it's just that residents of the city have it taken from them through their taxes, which they have a civic duty to pay to maintain their city, and people who do not live in the city have a choice whether to pay or not.

Hopefully there are a few details in there you may find useful. Best of luck!

[aardy]

'Round here, there are state-wide reciprocal agreements that include all (or just about) the public libraries, so that anyone with a library card from any library in the state can use any other library in the state. They may be restricted in what they are allowed to borrow (e.g. no DVDs), but most books are fair game.

The problems come with those people who live in areas not part of any library's service area. Since they don't pay taxes to any library, they have to pay a fee to get a card. Also, for many libraries, anyone who wants to be treated as an in-district can pay a fee that's theoretically approximate to what an in-district person pays in taxes and get an "non-resident" in-district card.

All in all, it generally works pretty well, and there aren't too many problems. (Except with libraries who are on the rocks with their quality of service who hemmorhage patrons to surrounding libraries and then can't get a tax increase passed in order to improve service.)

[amanda_2112]

It is hard to sound inviting and open of a public place when you have to tell a lot of people no... you can't check stuff out here. We are a county library so we work with all the branches in the county. I would tell them to talk to their city representative.