PLA 2010 Conference: The LSSI Infomercial

Public Library Association - PLA-Annual Conference - Portland

By Brian Kenney -- Library Journal, 04/02/2010

• Panel draws small crowd
• From outsourcing to private management
• No rebuttal from critics of LSSI methods

It can be a hugely controversial local issue when officials consider contracting with Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI), the only company that offers turnkey private library management, but a March 27 program, billed as “Outsourcing Public Library Services: Pros and Cons,” was mainly a humdrum sales pitch from LSSI, with fewer than 40 people in attendance.

LSSI put its best foot forward, highlighting a locally successful effort in Jackson County, OR. However, there was no one on the panel to offer any rebuttal, which left several people in the audience baffled and dissatisfied.

ALA reports less relevant
The session kicked off with Raymond Santiago, director of the Miami-Dade Public Library System, who referenced the American Library Association’s 1999 report, Outsourcing & Privatization in America’s Libraries and ALA's 2000 report Impact of Outsourcing and Privatization On Library Services and Management. 

The latter, according to Santiago, “found that outsourcing posed no threat to library governance.” The issue today, said Santiago, a member of the ALA Outsourcing Task Force, was not so much outsourcing, which nearly every library does to some degree, but privatization--or private management--when local government contracts with a vendor to provide library services.

Santiago threw out some cautionary questions: “Does the private sector always do it better?...Is everything privatizable? Do we privatize the police force?”

Anticipating a contentious discussion, Santiago admonished the audience to “not follow the lead set by our Congress,” but instead treat each other civilly. He reminded that audience that “we should also keep in mind that this discussion isn’t about one particular business,” an assertion undermined by the presence of only one vendor on the dais.

Pros and cons
Portland-based consultant Ruth Metz provided a list of outsourcing pros (“it’s allows for flexibility, nimbleness,” “let’s libraries accomplish what they couldn’t do—or do as well.”).

However, when it came to LSSI-type management, she was more dubious. “It’s difficult to compare the two models,” she said, referring to not-for-profit public libraries and libraries managed by for-profit companies. “If you insist on transparency in the numbers, you will get pushback,” said Metz, who evaluated LSSI's contract in Riverside, CA. (LSSI has been criticized for not stating how many employees it will use to provide service.) 

At the same time, “we can learn a lot from LSSI,” Metz declared. “Staff needs to be more empathetic to elected leaders, more thoughtful of the big picture.” The fundamental question, she said, is “do we have the staffing plan that the delivers the service this community needs?”

The Jackson County story
Danny Jordan, county administrator for Jackson County (Medford, OR), recounted the process in 2007 that led to his county contracting with LSSI to manage its 15-branch library system. Federal funding through the Secure Rural School and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, known as the “timber subsidy,” had dried up, leaving the county with a deficit of $23 million, of which $8 million came from the library’s budget.

While there was little opportunity to plan, the county tried unsuccessfully to create a library tax district. They issued an RFP to run the system, with LSSI chosen over a library management team bid. 

“The county maintains policy, but LSSI implements the policy,” Jordan said. Bringing in LSSI has increased involvement among friends and library advisory groups, he said. “But they remain our collections, our buildings, our libraries."

Inside LSSI
Mark Smith, LSSI's Senior Vice President for Public Library Operations/West and also project manager for the 35-branch Riverside County Library System (CA) , provided a PowerPoint presentation, “The View from Inside LSSI,” which documented the company’s success since they took over the Riverside system in 1997. (LJ provided a more nuanced take in its 10/1/04 feature, When LSSI Comes to Town.)

Smith said LSSI has suffered “denigration of its work by the library establishment, including the library press.” He then presented metrics touting the library’s limited growth in circulation, substantial gains in program attendance, and several awards. 

While library staffers have seen their benefits decline, Smith said they appreciate working for a company that has a “shared sense of purpose” and where there is “speed to resolution,” that is, things get done quickly. They are also “sheltered by contracts,” and LSSI has had “no layoffs, furloughs, hiring freezes, reduced hours, or wage reductions.”

“What can we steal from you?” one librarian asked Smith during the Q & A session. (“I’d like to steal a big pile of money from them,” quipped Jordan.) 

“We benefit from economy of scale: attorney, payroll, purchasing power,” Smith said, a claim questioned in LJ's coverage.

“Look at their staffing plan,” Metz added. “They run a lean, mean machine. We might be constrained in what we can do with benefits and salaries. They know our weak spots.”

Some concern
“I’m very disappointed in this session,” said Ruth Anna, a trustee at the Jefferson County Public Library, CO, addressing the panel. “There was no point-counterpoint. It was just a public relations effort by LSSI and gave me none of the information I need to make a decision.”

Her sentiment was seconded by several in the audience, though LSSI staffers from Jackson County enthusiastically applauded the company. (Also participating on the panel was Linda Mielke, director of the Butte County Library, CA, and a former LSSI staffer.)

“If you want the con, just read the pages of American Libraries. Or Library Journal,” responded Smith.

Click here for more PLA 2010 Conference News coverage from the editors of Library Journal and School Library Journal.