Steve Coffman's Case for Plural Funding
Good Day fellow Publiber's and other interested parties
By now some of you are probably aware that there's going to be a big old debate on the future of library funding at PLA.
On the one side will be Thomas Hennen (of the HAPLR Index) urging that we stick with the traditional, largely tax-based approach to public library funding, which has brought us all to the rather unenviable position we're in today. And if you don't think it's unenviable just remember your salary. Tom has pretty much stated his case in an article he wrote for the August 2004 issue of American Libraries and you can read a copy of it here http://www.haplr-index.com/restore_our_destiny.htm.
And on the other side will be little ol' me -- Steve Coffman -- who suggests that we would do better to follow in the footsteps of NPR and other thriving cultural institutions in our communities and develop a plural funding strategy that relies on taxes -- along with voluntary memberships, sponsorships, contributions and income we earn ourselves -- to significantly increase our budgets and take greater control of our own destiny. Of course, I've also written about this in an article in the February 2004 issue of American Libraries ...which you can read here http://www.lssi.com/coffman%20feb.pdf and in addition a number of we forward-thinking librarians commissioned a report from an NPR fund-raising consultancy on implementing the NPR model in public libraries. The report is called Saving America's Libraries and if you're interested in reading it, you can download it here http://www.pluralfunding.org/sal.pdf.
The debate is scheduled for Friday morning 3/24 from 8:30 - 9:45 at PLA in Boston. Mike Wallace will be doing the moderating now that he's freed up from 60 Minutes. Just kidding, June Garcia will be doing the moderating and sadly CBS will not be broadcasting it – I guess they don’t know what they’re missing. Each speaker will have 20 minutes to make their case in an opening statement. After that each speaker will respond to a series of carefully screened and pre-selected questions that have been contributed by the on-site audience ... or sent in online in the days leading up to the debate.
That's where you all come in ... if you have a question for either speaker that you'd like to see used in the debate you can either 1. send it to Publib so everybody can see it (Tom and I will be moderating the list and taking down everything you send or, 2. you can leave your question as a comment here on this blog.
The winner of the debate will be judged by a group of impartial city managers (just kidding ... whoever heard of an inparital city manager?) ... and the loser will be forced to pay $25 to help pay-off the library budget deficit in a city of their choosing.
Hope you all are having fun ... and getting well-paid for it ... and we look forward to hearing from many of you.
Yours, as always
SC
posted by Dust Up at PLA @ 10:39 PM
5 Comments:
I want to know why you didn't call the debate 'full frontal funding for libraries'...you would've gotten much better attendance that way.
What do you think about libraries establishing stores or boutiques to sell literary-oriented items (bookmarks, bookbags, reading glasses, etc.)? Can you offer some suggestions or some success stories?
Dear Mr. Coffman,
If we adopt the kind of plural funding approach you suggest, what's to prevent the cities and other local taxing authorities from cutting our general fund revenue as we raise more of our own money. That's what has always been one of the primary concerns about this type of approach in the library world. And I say this as an ex-library trustee. Still, I'm looking forward to attending your program at PLA.
Gerald
I've been around libraries for over thirty years now, and during that time our primary fund-raising 'mechanism' has been the local Friends group. I know there are exceptions, but these are typically made up of a small number of 'blue-haired old ladies' (I can say that because I'm one myself now) who struggle to raise money for the library with book sales and bake sales. They're all very nice and well-intentioned, and I've always been happy for what they could contribute to the library ... BUT, I would hate to depend on them for any significant percentage of my operating budget. How do you possibly hope to adopt NPR-style funding for libraries, if that's the tool you have to work with?
Allison Teavy
Hays, Kansas
I tend to think both sides have it wrong. Libraries are part of the educational infrastructure of a community. They are a public good and should be supported with public funds. Private fundraising, for-profit ventures (eg. sales of specialty items) should enhance library services, not support it fully.
Where the "Campaign for America's Libraries" goes wrong, however is that it makes us sound pathetic. Instead of focusing on what we do and how to sell our value to people who don't necessarily already value us, we assume that everyone out there values us already and if we cry and whine that we're persecuted and poorly funded, people will rally around us.
Reality check on two points, folks: 1) not everybody values libraries, so we have to "sell" ourselves, and 2) People do not give to failure. They give to success. They don't give to organizations either, they give to help the people our organizations serve. They do not for long devote either tax dollars or private donations to struggling organizations beset on all sides -- just how the "Campaign for America's Libraries" paints us. If we act like victims, we'll be treated like victims.
Libraries have an incredible history in this country for leveling the playing field of education, ideas and information. Focus on communicating how much good we already do and how much MORE good we can do if adequately funded, and THEN you'll start seeing the flow of funds.
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