Sacrifice By a Few Leads to Continued Service for All: Written by Kyle Kuphal
Rather than cut services or jobs, the director and the administrative staff of the Plum Creek Library System (PCLS), which provides interlibrary services to 25 libraries in a nine county region of southwestern Minnesota including Pipestone, voluntarily sacrificed money from their own pockets to continue operating as usual.
A projected five-to-six percent operating deficit drove the PCLS’s decision. With an annual budget of roughly $690,000 in state library funding, the deficit of roughly $40,000 could have resulted in fewer services to area libraries, a reduction to half-time hours for one or two staff members or even a layoff.
However, PCLS employees and director Mark Ranum began discussing alternatives in November and by January had reached an agreement whereby every administrative employee would cut one workday per month to help reduce operating expenses.“It’s really tremendous how the employees came together at Plum Creek,” Ranum said. “The employees solved the problem with that sacrifice.”
Ranum, in order to show leadership, decided to go one step further. He voluntarily gave up his position as director and continues to fulfill the same duties as a consultant. That decision cost him roughly $28,000 in salary and compensation.“I still have a great job,” Ranum said. “I’m as committed as the people that work for me to keep good library service in the state.”
It is the people that work for him, he said, that deserve the credit. By spreading the impact of the projected deficit among the entire staff, they were able to keep everyone’s job safe and continue to provide the services local libraries have come to expect. It also led to PCLS projecting a small surplus rather than a deficit for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
PCLS Office Administrator Chris Lang said she speaks for all the staff at PCLS when she says they are a dedicated bunch. The main concern of the staff, he said, is to provide member libraries with the support necessary to provide quality service to library patrons in the nine-county region covered by PCLS.“We will continue to be creative and financially savvy as we strive to provide patrons of southwest Minnesota with the excellent library service they’ve come to expect and enjoy,” Lang said.
“They’ve done a great job,” said Stephanie Hall, director of Meinders Community Library in Pipestone. “It tells me that the libraries are the most important part.”
Meinders Community Library, she said, has not felt the pinch of the poor economy and budget cuts as has PCLS. That is due in part to the unique relationship between the Meinders Community Library and PAS High School. Because the library also serves as the high school library it receives funding from the city, county and school district, which has helped prevent budget shortfalls.
“It hasn’t affected us nearly as much as the Plum Creek Library System,” Hall said.About one third of the libraries in the nine-county system have had to make budget cuts. Ranum said he expects that will be the case for the next few years. In a way, it is a bit of a Catch-22 because typically, when the economy takes a downturn, people tend to turn to the local library for entertainment and information. “Consumer information becomes a more valuable commodity,” Ranum said. “People want to continue to live the life they live, but at a cheaper cost.”
Hall said she too expects library use to increase because libraries offer the goods and services that in good times are taken for granted, but in difficult times are considered luxuries. Already she has heard library patrons say they turned off their cable or Internet to save money. Fortunately, they have the local library to fill those needs.
“We are in the business of taking care of the needs of the community and Plum Creek is definitely doing that too,” Hall said. “They keep us all connected. I think it would be very difficult to be a library on your own without that support.”
All citizens need to stay connected, she said, is a library card — and that’s free.
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