Higher than expected energy and technology costs prompt scramble for more revenue
By: Rachel Silverman
The Princeton Public Library is considering higher user fees for non-residents to even out its lopsided balance sheet.
At a board of trustees meeting Tuesday night, board members wondered how to reconcile revenue generation with the need to provide "core services" to non-resident library users.
Currently, non-residents pay $150 a year for library membership. Library Director Leslie Burger said that Princeton residents pay an annual $146 in taxes to support the library, and asked if this difference was substantial enough. She noted the rate jumped from $125 to $150 in 2004.
Board members also considered increasing computer fees for non-residents.
Currently, the library offers 15 minutes of free, but standing-only, computer access to anyone without a library card. For those without library cards who want to sit and log on for longer amounts of time, the going rate is $25 for six months.
Board members Tuesday contemplated raising the rate for these non-residents to $1 an hour. They also discussed hiking the price of a six-month card to $30.
Some did not take kindly to this proposal.
"I do have a gut feeling we ought to avoid these marginal charges," board member Ed Beckerman said. "It will not produce that much money and you all know there is that view out there that there is Princeton and there is the rest of Mercer County that Princeton somehow thinks it’s better."
Board member Ryan Lilienthal agreed, stressing that "the nickel-and-dime type of thing disrupts the atmosphere of the library.
"I would much rather raise the non-resident fee and drop this administrative headache," he said.
Board President Nancy Russell said the issue should continue as a matter of strategic planning, and that fees should be balanced against "the foundation of services which we hold sacred."
Higher room rental fees and a $1 penalty for lost library cards will also be considered in this process, Ms. Burger said.
But fees involving lost-and-found items will definitely change in January.
Currently, when an item is lost, the person responsible is charged a processing fee in addition to the price of replacement. If the item is later found and returned, the fee is refunded.
Under the new policy, the library will not return these processing fees. This policy will be applicable to multimedia items and hardcover books, which have $10 processing fees, and paperback books, which carry $5 fees. Fees for miscellaneous items, such as magazines, maps and pamphlets, may be either total item replacement or $5 or more. Interlibrary loan fees will be determined by the lending library.
Ms. Burger said the library’s financial scramble comes from higher projected energy and technology costs in 2006.
The library is hoping to offset some of these costs with a passport processing service. This service, which would bring in $30 an application, is contingent on state approval.