Current Issues
May '04 Article
The Independence Public Library has to make some tough
decisions during this time of budget cuts.
One decision that has already been made is to cut back in the area of
periodicals (magazines and newspapers). One
of the reasons for this is because of our online database, EBSCOhost, which is
paid for primarily through the state library.
We are able to access the full text of many periodicals and journals by
using EBSCOhost. The use of this
product is not the focus of this article, so I won’t spend much time on it
other than to tell you how to get to the database.
Go to the library website <www.indylibrary.org>,
then click on EBSCOhost, type in Independence as the username and Library as
the password. If you have
questions about using it, please ask. We
also plan to have classes teaching how to use it later this summer.
We would like to keep all of our magazines and newspapers for browsing and checking out, but it is not feasible with our budget limitations. We used several criteria to make the decisions about which periodicals to cut; including usage, whether it is available in full text from EBSCOhost, and how many other similar periodicals we have. I would like you to be aware of which subscriptions we will be canceling. This also creates a wish list-magazines for which we would welcome a monetary donation for our subscription price so that we can continue to offer it to the community.
| American Cheerleader American Heritage Antiques and Collecting Audubon Boys' Life Business Week Consumer's Research Country Woman - from 2 copies to 1 Crafts - from 2 copies to 1 Crafts n' Things - from 2 copies to 1 Discover Field & Stream Hot Rod House Beautiful Iowa Heritage Kiplinger's Ladies Home Journal |
Midwest Living - from 2 copies to 1 Mother Earth News Newsweek Organic Gardening Pack O Fun Parents Psychology Today Ranger Rick Saturday Evening Post Smithsonian Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated for Kids Time USA Today Vogue Woman's Day Wood X Box Nation |
If you would like to purchase any of these subscriptions
for our library, please stop in, call, or e-mail
me.
Our city budget has been cut, so other difficult cuts will
need to be made in addition to periodicals at the library.
The city council has asked the library board to return after the start of
the fiscal year to ask for more funding. Because
we don’t know if or how much more funding will be given to the library, we
will have to start out in July with the cuts necessary to maintain service
throughout the year. The library
budget committee will be meeting to determine recommendations that will be
presented to the library board. The
recommendations will be discussed at the May 20th board meeting,
which starts at 7 pm at the library. You
are welcome to attend. I will do my
best to keep you posted with my article and the library’s website.
In addition, I always welcome your questions…they help me to understand
and get to know the community and residents, and give me an idea what I need to
publicize or explain more clearly.
P.S. – Yes, the title is intended to be a pun!
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