City of Troy

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City of Troy Library Advisory Board
Presentation By Kul Gauri-Chairman
April 23 Leadership Troy Forum
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• Background
• 5 person Board with 2 Student Representatives
• Board Members appointed by City Council for 3
  year terms
• Current Members
• Kul Gauri Chairman
• Lynne Gregory
• Heather Eisenbacher
• Nancy Wheeler
• Aubrey Zembrzuski
• Student Representatives
• Arthi Krishna
• Shruthi Subramanian

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• Societal Values of the Public Library
• Libraries as arsenals of democracy
• Libraries as secular churches
• Instrument of human excellence and perfection
• Instrument of investment in human capital and
  public good  
• External Memory of the Mankind

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Actualized values of the Public Library   Values
must be conceived as realizable public good
or enjoyed values        
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Pricing of services from substitute sources (St.
Louis Public Library-1999)
Service Substitute Price Source Children's
books( paperback) Bookstore 8.00
Bowker Annual (1995) Books for adults(
paperback) Bookstore 14.00 Bowker
Annual (1995) Videos/films Video rental
3.25 Blockbuster Video Audio/music Audio
purchase 13.00 WalMart Magazines Newsstand
2.95 World News Ltd. Newspapers Newsstand
0.50 World News Ltd. Toys Education
resource 15.00 Parent-Teacher
Tools store Parent-teacher materials
Education resource 5.00
Parent-Teacher Tools store Reference research
services Information broker 50.00/hr.
Burwell Enterprise services
Houston Special events Cultural center
9.00 Center for Contemporary Art Craft
activity programs YMCA 1.00/hr. YMCA
School Age Child Care Social
skills/etiquette training YMCA 1.00/hr.
YMCA School Age Child Care
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Pricing of services from substitute sources (St.
Louis Public Library-1999) contd
Service Substitute Price
Source Computer services Telecommunity Center
Free U. of Mo.-St. Louis Adult education
St. Louis Public Free
Community Schools Education
Program Family or parenting programs St. Louis
Public Free Community Schools
Education Program Storytelling
programs Bookstore
Free Library Ltd. Meeting space St. Louis
Public Free Community Schools
Education Program Encyclopedias
Purchase encyclopedia 995 for
Encyclopedia (prorate over l0 yrs.)
one set Brittanica,Inc. Dictionaries and
almanacs Bookstore 5.00 WalMart
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Taxpayer's ROI on the impact public libraries in
Florida (2004)

• Overall, Florida's public libraries return 6.54
  for every 1.00 invested from all sources.
• For every 6,448 spent on public libraries from
  public funding, one job is created.
• For every dollar of public support spent on
  public libraries in Florida, gross regional
  product increases by 9.08.
• For every dollar of public support spent on
  public libraries in Florida, income (wages)
  increases by 12.66.

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Survey of public users of public libraries in
South Carolina (2005)
Library Users Improves overall quality of life
92 said Yes Increases local property values
47 said Yes Attracts new businesses to the
community 38 said Yes Attracts patronage to
local businesses 44 said Yes Enhanced
personal fulfillment 73 said Yes Nurtures a
love of reading 73 said Yes Is a source of
personal enjoyment 64 said Yes Helps manage
personal finances or saved money 32 said
Yes Helped to obtain a new job 11 said
Yes Helped improved or start business 15
said Yes Helped with a business
opportunity 25 said Yes Assisted workers to
be more productive in their job 37 said
Yes Introduced users to new technologies 28
said Yes Helped users with primary education
work 18 said Yes Helped users with life-long
learning 47 said Yes Contributed to their
home schooling efforts 12 said Yes
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Survey of public users of public libraries in
South Carolina (2005) contd

• Business Users
• 49 of business users indicated that they
  obtained most of the business/research
  information from their public library.
• 78 of business users indicated that Information
  obtained from the public library contributed to
  the success of their business.
• Without access to the information in their public
  library, 23 of the business users indicated that
  they estimated their operating costs would
  increase between 500 and 5000 and 7 estimated
  costs would increase by 5000.

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• Surviving the socio-political challenge   
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• Current economy   
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• Messianic zeal to reduce taxes as political
  agendas, "Read my lips
• Pragmatic approaches