Outsourcing Issue Divides TN Community

-- Library Journal, 08/24/2006

The plan by the board of the Jackson-Madison County Library, TN, to outsource library management to a private vendor has divided the community. Even though Chancellor James Butler ruled that the library board can enter into such a contract, not everyone in the community is convinced. At a board meeting on Tuesday, according to the Jackson Sun, Jo Ann Birmingham, mother of Madison County Commissioner Fred Birmingham, observed, "The library is not a business. It's a personal thing. I've talked to people everywhere, and they do not want a private business coming in here to run the library." All in the audience agreed that the library could improve, but most said they wouldn't prefer a private company. County Commissioners voted 20-3 to challenge Butler's ruling, and the Library Board has suspended discussion of outsourcing. The Sun editorialized, "It is a shame that the Madison County Commission won't allow the Jackson-Madison County Library Board to do its job." The county and the city jointly support the library.

Library Director Thomas Aud, a 31-year veteran, announced that he would take early retirement by October 31. While he cited progress over the years in building expansion, technology, and grants, he stated that "recent events have placed me in an untenable position and have forced me to retire earlier than planned.... It is my hope that the library's future will remain positive through cooperative efforts by all involved in its management, funding and oversight." Current library managers were invited to submit bids to the board to run the library, but the managers' bid, because of higher civil service personnel costs, cannot compete with the bids from Library Systems and Services, LLC (LSSI) and Information International Associates.