Budget Information:
The library has presented their budget proposal to the city and the county.  What is the proposal?

For the City of Independence, an average library budget for a town our size (comparison made with city allocations to libraries in Iowa towns with a population of 5000-7000) is the request. 

Unfortunately, the library budget has historically been below average and this means a 29% increase.  With the new building and increased operation costs, it has become crucial to have average funding to maintain a larger facility and serve more people, as well as to improve our materials selection and programming opportunities. 

How will the funding increase benefit the community?

• Increase open hours, including Sunday afternoons and opening 30-minutes earlier Monday through Saturday.  This adds up to six additional open hours.
• Add one new full-time person in the position of program coordinator, focusing on teen and adult programming.  Goals for teens would be to provide a safe and engaging place to hang out, programs and activities, and the capability to mentor and make a difference.  Goals for other programming would be to have on-going technology classes for a wide variety of interests and knowledge levels.  These are the two major emphases, however, it would also allow some shifting of current responsibilities to improve the library in many additional ways.   
• Cover the higher operating costs with of the new facility.. 
• Small increases in funding for books, audiobooks, and DVDs.  After years of insufficient funding, these library collections are from 61% to 75% of the average size in comparable Iowa cities.
• Begin to replace public computers on a five-year cycle.
   

Usage:

The library has seen large increases in usage.  These are increases comparing one year in the old building to one year (same time frame one year later) in the new building:

• 78% increase in people coming to the library
• 49% increase in check outs
• 95% increase in computer usage

      The library issued 1132 new library cards in 2008-2009. 
      The meeting rooms were used 978 times in 2008-2009.

County Budget Information:

A decision is made about the amount of money from the county for each of the public libraries, and the amount goes through a formula to get distributed to each of the county libraries.  The libraries are Aurora, Fairbank, Independence, Jesup, Lamont, and Winthrop. 

Current funding for the libraries in the county averages to $11.11 per capita.  Average county support in Iowa is $14.34 per capita.  The libraries requested $12.50 per capita for the '10-'11 fiscal year budget.  The goal is to be funded at 75% of the average city per capita support of Buchanan County Libraries.

Please contact Craig Ankerstjerne (334-4346) or Laura Blaker (334-2470) if you have any questions about the library budget.