Collier County libraries to get more books, still far short of where they were
Greg Stanley
More books will be coming back to shelves at Collier County libraries over the next year if county commissioners approve a tentative budget in the fall.
The proposed spending plan for the fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, would give the library system $100,000 more than the county spent this year to buy books, both in print and electronically.
While it's not a windfall, and still leaves the library system far short of its past book budget, the increase is another step by the county to slowly roll back steep cuts to the library that were made during the recession.
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The increase would give county libraries a total of just over $1 million for books next year, which is still half of the $2 million-plus a year the county spent on books before 2008.
"We're slowly working our way back," said Tanya Williams, library director. "We're trying a methodical approach, adding about 10 percent to the budget each year."
When property values collapsed —and with it, the county's tax roll — the library was hit with cuts to staff, programs and hours, and most branches shuttered some days of the week.
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Now that property values, and the county's budget, have bounced back to record highs, the library has been slow to regain some of those services.
During the recession the county built up a backlog of more than $40 million of repairs and replacements to equipment and vehicles.
Commissioners now have to balance getting the county's fleet of cars, machines and buildings repaired while expanding roads, parks and ambulance docks to keep up with a growing population.
Bringing more books back to the shelves is one step of recovery for the libraries, Williams said. At the top of her wishlist is to eventually bring back professional librarians to all the county's branches.
Libraries in East Naples, Golden Gate Estates and Immokalee are operating without a librarian with a Master of Library Sciences degree.
"That has greatly hindered our ability to provide outreach and professional library services in those communities," Williams said. "Bringing back books is a piece, and hours is a piece, and putting librarians in all of our locations to make sure we're meeting the needs of that community is a piece. Gradually, we're climbing back up."