Jackson, TN, Battle Heats Up: Newspaper Endorses LSSI, County Commission Intervenes
-- Library Journal, 4/14/2006
Two days after the Jackson-Madison County, TN, library board heard presentations from two private firms wishing to run the library (as well as current management), and the same day the Jackson Sun editorially endorsed the bid by Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI), the Madison County Commission voted 17-1 yesterday to find out if the outsourcing effort is legal. The commission asked the county attorney to seek a judgment regarding the library board's authority to enter into such a contract, and to block the board from signing any deal until a court has ruled. (Four cities in Shelby County outside Memphis have outsourced their libraries to LSSI, but the Jackson-Madison library is funded by both a city and a county, with a jointly-appointed board.)
At a three-hour meeting on April 11, the Library Board members heard LSSI and Information International Associates (IIA) promise improved programming, the addition of a north branch, and new Sunday hours, according to the Jackson Sun. The bid requires that 20 percent of the library budget be spent on materials, and board chairman Gary Kerr asked library director Thomas Aud if he would meet that, even if the city and county don't give the library—which receives less than one-third of the national average—more funding. Aud said that "it would come out of staff and benefits." The two other bidders have proposed cuts in staff expenditures, and most questions from board members concerned such personnel and benefit cuts. In an editorial yesterday endorsing LSSI, the Jackson Sun ignored the issue of personnel and benefit cuts and provided a stilted reading of LSSI's record. While the editorial said the company operates "about 50 libraries" nationwide, that refers to buildings, not systems—the Riverside County Library System, CA, includes 28 branches and two bookmobiles. The editorial stated that LSSI "operates some very large public library systems such as in Riverside County," but Riverside is the only such example. The editorial also cited new resources "at our disposal" from LSSI's "nationally known advisory board." However, as the company's web site states, the advisory council simply "meet[s] bi-annually to discuss topics of interest to the library profession and LSSI."
