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SCLS Makes Libraries More Effective

SCLS member public libraries are fantastic community resources for people of all ages, providing information, education, and recreation at bargain prices.

SCLS serves to make its member libraries even more effective by:

• helping them share materials so expenditures of thousands of dollars locally become worth millions in services to the general public in a shared environment;
• providing them with leadership in the areas of automation and telecommunications; and
• providing them with the training and expertise to cope with new and constantly changing technologies and demands for service.

SCLS Promotes Resource Sharing

In our world, the ability to obtain and effectively use information is critical to individual and collective success. More than half of Wisconsin’s prison inmates cannot read, which in most cases means they cannot hold productive jobs in society. Nearly 80 percent of all small businesses fail within their first five years of operation, frequently from a lack of information concerning markets, products, or sources of capital. If we do not ensure that all citizens have access to good information now, we must pay ruinous costs to pick up the pieces later.

Shared Digital Content -- System residents have access to a growing collection of digital content, like downloadable audiobooks and ebooks, through online resources like OverDrive (available through WPLC membership) and NetLibrary.

Contracts for Library Resources -- No one library can afford to pay for everything its customers need, so SCLS pays the Madison Public Library more than $300,000 annually to provide backup reference and interlibrary loan services, and to purchase additional resources for reference and for circulation to all member libraries. Madison Public Library also uses these funds to purchase items not owned by other member libraries, and handles requests from libraries nationwide to share materials.

Cooperative Management Services -- Because no library can or should stand alone, SCLS coordinates orders and shipping for everything from library cards to puppets to computers, thus saving libraries money. The system manages county library budgets on request and cooperative projects on behalf of our member libraries (for example, the e-book consortium and LINKcat project), and it represents member libraries in statewide forums in the areas of interlibrary loan, delivery, reference, and technology.

Circulation/Interlibrary Loan -- Shared automation is a cost-effective way to provide library services to Wisconsin residents. In cooperation with its member libraries, SCLS operates the LINKcat integrated library system (ILS) that makes the resources of 41 of the major public libraries in the system area readily available to all area residents. The success of this endeavor is indicated by the fact that about 54 percent of the system’s more than 800,000 residents have LINKcat library cards and more than 12.2 million books (and other library materials) were checked out last year by area residents from all our member public libraries. Other SCLS member libraries (including Marshfield and Portage County) circulated more than 1 million items last year, bringing the total to more than 13 million. At a conservative estimate of $20 per book, (averaging in the price of everything from paperbacks to reference books) this direct traffic represents $240 million in value to patrons for this service alone because they can check out books instead of purchasing them. Since the combined budgets of all member libraries total less than $25 million, it’s evident through this shared integrated system that libraries significantly multiply the value of the public dollar.

Most library patrons can find everything they want or need at their local library, but no library can afford all of the print and electronic resources required by its customers. One component of the total circulation figures mentioned above is the interlibrary loan system. Last year SCLS member libraries successfully provided about 3.1 million books and other materials citizens requested through LINKcat, but which their local libraries did not own. Each book requested through interlibrary loan represented an item that the borrowing library did not have to purchase. Using the same $20 estimated book cost, the 3.1 million interlibrary loans saved system libraries and taxpayers more than $60 million in book purchases last year.

Other Technology Services -- Harriet, the automated library voice that contacts customers by telephone when their books are available, saved member libraries an additional $276,000 in postage and printing costs last year. SCLS also funds and maintains central Internet access, e-mail, and e-lists for member libraries; provides video equipment for meetings and workshops, a training lab and a portable wireless lab, saving time and mileage for member libraries; conducts experiments in new technologies leading to things such as a public computer reservation system, experimentation with gadgets people are using; and provides computer technician services.

SCLS Provides World-Class Delivery Service

Delivery is essential to resource sharing, so SCLS delivers materials requested by area residents to their local libraries and, when they have finished with these materials, returns them to their home libraries again. In 2009, our red truck delivery service carried 13.4 million items among SCLS member libraries making nearly 34,000 stops over a distance of 373,000 miles.

Our delivery service cost $875,000 in 2009, and the cost to send an item from one library to another within SCLS is 13 cents, a vastly less expensive solution than the U.S. mail which costs more than $3.00 per book sent. Delivery’s volume has increased 73 percent between 2001 and 2009. Some larger member libraries now receive up to three deliveries a day, which enables them to rapidly respond to customer needs. Delivery staff and member libraries continually work together to increase the effectiveness of this service.

SCLS Provides Professional Consultants & Quality Continuing Education Programs

Citizens can ask librarians any question under the sun in their quest to get up-to-date information. Libraries are vital partners in providing information, education and recreation to their communities, and to perform this task in a changing technological environment, librarians must continue to learn and develop.

Last year, SCLS staff visited almost every member library in the system. Every day our consultants field a variety of requests from member librarians for assistance with library-related issues ranging from creating a budget to making effective use of the newest technologies.

SCLS maintains a collection of professional materials for use by member libraries. The system also seeks out special grants from the federal government (Library Services & Technology Act [LSTA]), various state programs, and a number of private sources to help libraries supplement local funds.

In a world of information that is ever changing, learning must be never ending. Ongoing training is vital for member library staff, and more than 830 members from all types of libraries attended 49 continuing education programs SCLS produced last year. Of these, 29 were recorded and made available online, and there were 2,475 views of these programs. The majority of viewers were from within SCLS, but some were from all over the United States, and one from Oxford University in England. SCLS also provided 96 continuing education grants to member libraries to attend non-SCLS continuing education programs or conferences.

Children are our future, and they need libraries to grow and to provide roots as well as wings. SCLS helps member libraries develop programs that serve children, young adults and families, and finds ways to create library programs that foster a culture of literacy. The system also helps sponsor members’ Summer Library Programs (SLP), which last year involved nearly 25,000 children systemwide.

Libraries help all users realize their goals and dreams. SCLS helps member libraries provide services to users with special needs through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, family and adult literacy programs, Adaptive Technology training sessions, and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

It doesn’t matter how good of a job libraries do if no one knows about it. SCLS helps its member libraries form partnerships with businesses and community groups, and through publicity materials and web pages inform publics about the services available at their library. The system manages the Library Advocacy Network on behalf of its members libraries, through which nearly 1,700 citizens have volunteered their participation. We also have implemented the project “Libraries for Real Life…,” through which residents can share stories of how the library has positively impacted their lives.

No library building lasts forever. Commercial building consultants can cost as much as $1,000 a day, so as a basic service to member libraries, SCLS helps members that are building new libraries or renovating old facilities.

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For more information about marketing and public relations, contact Mark Ibach.

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