This presentation discusses what happened when the Hood River County Library in Oregon closed in 2010 and reopened later as an independent library district. It discusses some of the positive and negative (mostly positive) aspects of being a district. This presentation was last given at the annual membership meeting of Josephine Community Libraries Inc. in Grants Pass on July 28, 2012.

1. We are district (And so can you!)
Or, the joys and tribulations
of being a library district
(with apologies to Stephen Colbert)
Presented by:
Buzzy Nielsen
Library Director
This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution
July 28, 2012 United States license. http://www.creativecommons.org

2. A library like many others
Photos c2011 Brian W. Robb. Used with permission.

3. Make that three libraries
Hood River
Parkdale
Cascade Locks

4. Hood River County, Oregon

5. When we were a County department
Community Development
Budget & Finance Justice Court
Administration
Health Department Human Resources
Sheriff
Public Works Emergency Management
Forestry Elections
Information Technology
Parks & Buildings Community Justice
Commission on
Children & Families
Veteran's Services
District Attorney

6. A dwindling department
Hood River County Library budget
$1,200,000
$1,000,000
$785,648
$800,000 $690,820
$600,000 $479,486
$400,000
$200,000
$0
$0
2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2009-10 2011-12 2012-13

7. Increasing costs, decreasing revenues
Declining revenue from sale of
county-owned timber
Mounting PERS costs

8. And dwindling public service
Hood River
65 65
70
60
Public 50
34
service
40
30
hours 20
10 0
0
2008-09 2009-10 2012-13
2007-08 2009-10 2011-12*
Parkdale Cascade Locks
19 19
20 20
14 14 14
15 15
11
10 10
5 5
0 0
0 0
2008-09 2009-10 2012-13 2008-09 2009-10 2012-13
2007-08 2009-10 2011-12* 2007-08 2009-10 2011-12*

9. A slight addition:The “D” word

10. Quick primer: library governance
Municipal libraries:
Part of a larger governmental
entity (city, county, school, etc.)

11. Quick primer: library governance
County service districts:
Districts with dedicated tax funding
that are governed by their counties
Special districts:
Districts with dedicated funding
and independent governing boards

12. Things are better. Ish.
Hood River
65 65
70
60
Public 50
34 34
43
service
40
30
hours 20
10 0
0
2008-09 2009-10 2012-13
2007-08 2009-10 2011-12*
Parkdale Cascade Locks
20 20
19 19
20 17 20 17
14 14 14
15 15
11
10 10
5 5
0 0
0 0
2008-09 2009-10 2012-13 2008-09 2009-10 2012-13
2007-08 2009-10 2011-12* 2007-08 2009-10 2011-12*
*2011-12 hours figured are averaged as hours increased in January.

13. Numbers can be deceiving
Hood River County Library (District) budget
$1,400,000 $1,268,993
$1,200,000
$1,000,000 $897,533
$785,648
$800,000 $690,820
$600,000 $479,486
$400,000
$200,000
$0
$0
2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2009-10 2011-12 2012-13*
Over 20% of the 2011-12 budget was grants and donations.
One-third of the 2012-13 budget is carryover.
*Budgeted amount

14. Library district, take 1
Measure 14-37
Creating a special library district
at the rate of $0.70 per $1,000

15. Why $0.70?
Standards for Oregon Public Libraries
Governance
● Policies Access
● Boards
● Missions
● Branches Staff
● Electronic services ● Benefits
● Long-range planning
● Hours ● Credentials
● Outreach ● Staff development
Technology ● Volunteer vs paid
Internet speed
Materials
●
● Maintenance
● Public computers and & services Community
wireless
● Technology programming
● Children's and adult involvement
programming ● Civic involvement
● Evaluation
● Friends and Foundation
● Print and electronic offerings
● Partnerships
● Volunteers

16. What community wouldn't want
their libraries to be excellent?

17. Our community didn't
Measure 14-37
Creating a special library district
at the rate of $0.70 per $1,000
FAILED
54% to 46%

18. Shuttered
Hood River
Parkdale
Cascade Locks

19. And we made the news
“ Hood River County, OR
Library to Close, After
Residents Vote Down District
”
“ Libraries in Hood River
Library Journal
June 4, 2010
County Close
”
Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 1, 2010
“Locking Up an Oregon
Library, and Walking Away
”
The Oregonian
July 21, 2010

20. A harsh way to learn invaluable info
48% 62%
60% 54%
38%
43%
48%
31% 38%
39%
38%
If you overlayed demographic
maps of precincts with large
Latino populations or many 41% 35%
workers in the agricultural
sector, they would correspond
almost perfectly with precincts
most against the district.
Source:Yakley, C. (2010). "Summary of voter data"

21. Salvation: November 2, 2010
Measure 14-39
Creating a special library district
at the rate of $0.39 per $1,000
PASSED
53% to 47%

22. Campaign

23. Salvation: November 2, 2010
Measure 14-39 Measure 14-37
Creating a special library district Creating a special library district
at the rate of $0.39 per $1,000 at the rate of $0.70 per $1,000
PASSED FAILED
53% to 47% 54% to 46%

24. Hood River County would
not have libraries right now
if they hadn't been closed.
But your mileage may vary.

25. Hard decisions
What services can and
can't we provide, now and
in the future? Should we borrow against
future tax revenue in
order to open in July?
Should we rehire
employees of the previous
county-run library?
Who should we hire?
What does the community
want its libraries to look like Should we reopen all
in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years? three branches?

26. The most important decisions
Library board:
Who will we hire as director?
Library director:
Who will I hire as staff?

27. Out budget is awesome! ...
Hood River County Library (District) budget
$1,400,000 $1,268,993
$1,200,000
$1,000,000 $897,533
$785,648
$800,000 $690,820
$600,000 $479,486
$400,000
$200,000
$0
$0
2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2009-10 2011-12 2012-13*
*Budgeted amount

28. ... but look what else we have to do
Human resources Maintenance
Finance
Information Legal services
technology
Intergovernmental
agreements
Administration

29. Policies
Mission, vision, and values
Meeting room
Volunteer Public records
Board governance Code of conduct
Employee health
Library director
care benefits
evaluation
Collection development
Privacy
Personnel Exhibits Personal services
Intellectual property
Financial management
Strategic goals
Public contracting
Internet and computer use Library card

30. HRCLD is, in many ways, more
like JCLI (or LSSI in Jackson
County) than the previous
county-run library.

31. Personnel differences
County District
Retirement PERS 403(b)
Unionized? Yes No
Health insurance Negotiated Monthly caps
Step increases Automatic Merit-based
Volunteers 29 90+
Volunteer hours 2,251 6,000+
Anything we can
Volunteer jobs Limited
get them to do!

32. Increasing costs, decreasing revenues
Declining revenue from sale of
county-owned timber
Mounting PERS costs

33. And we're reaching out

34. Thank you
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