Court Agrees That TN Library Could Be Outsourced

-- Library Journal, 4/25/2007

Library Systems & Services LLC (LSSI) is already running the Jackson-Madison County Library, TN, but a potential retroactive roadblock has just been removed. Madison County Commissioners had challenged the right of the library board to privatize library management; after a lower court agreed, the commissioners appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, which last week upheld the lower court ruling. (The county and city jointly fund the library.) According to the Jackson Sun, it's the first time courts in the state have ruled on the issue. County Commissioner Fred Birmingham told the newspaper that he didn't anticipate an appeal. Still, he said he was concerned: "The private sector can do things cheaper, but it is often a trade-off of services."