Cost Formula Work Group 2024 for 2025 Minutes
February 13, 2024, 11 am
Via phone/video conference
Action Items:
None
Present: Larry Oathout (STP), Jan Holmes
(SUN), Elizabeth Clauss (CSP), Tracy Herold (DCL), Jill Porter (MFD), Nicole
Menzel (ROM), Emily Whitmore (SGR), Pat Garvey (MPL), Molly Warren (MPL)
Absent: Cathy Borck (WID), Margie Navarre Saaf (MPL)
Excused: None
Recorder: Michelle Karls (SCLS)
SCLS Staff Present: Vicki Teal Lovely, Kerrie Goeden, Martha Van
Pelt
1. Call to Order at 11:01 am
a. Introduction of guests/visitors
i. None.
b. Changes/Additions to the Agenda
i. None.
c. Requests to address the Committee
i. None.
2. Approval of previous meeting minutes: January 23, 2024
a. Motion: n/a
b. Discussion: We will have the previous minutes available for approval at the next meeting.
c. Vote: n/a
3. Action Items
4. Discussion
a. ILS Formula Review
i. Discussion: V. Teal Lovely shared the cost formula document for the ILS. We experimented with different formulas. Anytime you change one thing, another is affected. SCLS has increased its contribution to the ILS Budget by $25,000 which will be applied in 2025. The 2025 budget has not been created yet. The final draft will be done in March. The current formula may not be as stable as we would like it. For example, during the pandemic, circulation decreased and rose back up for different libraries at different times. A potential goal is to find a base and “freeze” the fees in a tiered approach. After that, each library’s fees would increase by the actual budget increase (usually 2-3% each year). Another goal is to reduce fees for small libraries. The budget allocates 42.5% based on the annual circulation formula and 42.5% based on the number of items formula. A fixed building fee is 15% and every library has the same fee. Population could be another factor but DCL doesn’t record it. This may be something to use as a check. V. Teal Lovely demonstrated the 2024 formula and applied different changes. She tried the building fee + the 3 smallest libraries pay $850 per 20,000 people. Small libraries would get more substantial savings. We could use this for the remaining SCLS libraries not currently on the ILS. Libraries like the fixed building idea. Can the $25,000 given by SCLS be a subsidy for libraries to join LINKcat? We could try this. We generally use LSTA grant funds to pay for libraries joining. The joining fee isn’t usually the issue, it’s the cost to maintain it. V. Teal Lovely also tried taking out the building fee and splitting it 50/50 between Circulation and Collection. The savings are in favor of the smaller libraries but MAD goes up $15,000. SGR asked if we could use the $25,000 to offset the increase for larger libraries. One of the tenants is to use data that’s currently available. We will try to different options such as building fees, “fixing circulation and collection”, and moving forward with the 2-3 percent increase. K. Goeden asked about the building fee being set at $5,000. That’s possible too. What if larger libraries should be paying more? Circulation doesn’t necessarily cost more for SCLS to support. Every library has an account and codes. Some libraries charge fees and that requires more overhead on our end. Larger libraries typically have more patrons, item records and transactions, resulting in more storage, which is part of what we pay LibLime for. We could set goals and have libraries experiment with the formula factors. Our goals are to provide stability, fix fees for each library, and prepare them for an increase. Should we even look at circulation since it doesn’t affect SCLS work? This practice goes back decades and can be associated with the use of the system. V. Teal Lovely is going to try separating the building fee from the overall formula and fixing the fees. V. Teal Lovely will work on different combinations and send them out to the group via email. She is still working on the Technology fees and Network fees. This will require us to schedule more meetings but V. Teal Lovely is willing to put in the time.
5.
The next meeting: Tuesday, March 12 at 1 pm
via phone/video conference.
a. V. Teal Lovely will send out different scenarios/formulas to the group via email by February 29 to review before the March meeting.
b. V. Teal Lovely will send out the spreadsheet so libraries can play with the formulas. By May All Directors we would need to present these changes. We can review our goals in March.
6. Adjournment at 12:14 pm
For more
information about the Cost Formula Work Group, contact Vicki Teal Lovely.
Cost Formula Work Group/Minutes/02-13-2024