Did you know?

Some people pay to use a library?

After ten months here in Pelican Rapids, I wanted to take a few moments and reflect on my time here.

As I have previously noted, I am catching up on my bloglines. So I stopped short as I scanned over a post at the Liminal Librarian. The blog and the related site, lisjobs.com, are written and maintained by Rachel Singer Gordon. Ms. Gordon is an information goddess to those of us starting out or moving on to different points in our library careers. She does this great of keeping us all up-to-date on library things, as well as things in her life. But enough about how cool I think Rachel is, on to the post.


A few months ago, she had a great post on how she is an indiscriminate reader. I have friends that are indiscriminate readers, I however, am a bit of a snob when it comes to reading, but we will save that for another time.

Now there have been great discussions about what people should read, what libraries should own for people to read, and of course there is always the "literature" we all should read. If you take time to read her post, please don't take some of the comments from others too seriously. Everyone is free to their own thoughts and feelings.

But my favorite part was where she talked about renewing her nonresident public library card. We don't have such a thing here in Minnesota. In most libraries you can walk right in and with a photo ID and a librarian will give you a library card. That's it, a shiny new card and you can do what you wish, check email, get a bestseller, research the best hiking in the area, or locate all 38 pelicans in town.

For the rest of the world, if you live outside of a service area of a library, you might have a non-resident fee to get a library card. The Brookings Public Library charges $20.00 per person or $30.00 per family for an annual membership to the library. In Rapid City South Dakota people living outside of Pennington County will have to pay $70.00 per year.

So I knew that such fees were common place through out the nation, but Rachel caught me off guard. Two hundred and five dollars. $205!!!!!

Now that is someone who loves her library.


She explains:

$205! you say -- well, let's do the math. I visit the library weekly and check out around 20 items each time, costing me about $.20/each. (This doesn't account for children's programs, summer reading prizes, and other benefits.) That's a pretty good ROI, not to mention that I'm pretty happy with that $205 going to fund a public service for everyone else.

What I find interesting, is that I did the exact same thing to patrons in Brookings. When they found out that they had to pay since they lived outside of Brookings County, they usually voiced their concern. I am sure I would if I was in the same situation. However, to help calm them, I pointed out that the average cost one hardcover book was about $20 (hey it was almost six years ago). I continued to say that if they only checked out one book in the next 365 days, it would have paid for itself. Then every item there after was free. I never had a person refuse a card.

What a great value our libraries are. Where else can you go in, read the paper, leaf through a few magazines, check your email, and so much more. Most of things are free. Sure if you bring a DVD or VHS item back late you will have to pay a fine. If you print, make a copy, or need to send a fax there will be another small charge.

Over the next year, the Viking Library System and its member libraries will tell you about some of the common services you know and use. However, other months will focus on some of the behind the scenes workings of the libraries. Whatever the topic is, the eleven libraries and the Bookmobile are there giving you the best service they possibly can.