The Grand Tour, Part II

On the way back to the main branch, Joanne and I stopped for lunch at a deli, where we talked libraries some more. (Thanks Joanne for treating, and especially for splurging on a slice of the gooey butter cake. You were right: it was delicious.)

Among the interesting tidbits I learned was that e-books aren't quite as economical as I had previously thought. Apparently the library can only let out an e-book twenty-seven times before they have to purchase a new one. This is the number that the manufacturers settled upon for how many times a hardcover book can be lent out before it has deteriorated to the point where the library needs to purchase a new copy. (Although Joanne and I both agree that, if well-tended, a hardcover can last for significantly longer than that.) On one hand, this makes sense. The e-book manufacturers need to make money somehow, and that's not going to happen if they sell one copy to a library and it lasts indefinitely. On the other hand, this is not logical at all. Why spend money from an already tight budget to replace a perfectly good product? Joanne asked if I had studied the popularity of e-books in relation to their comparatively more expensive cost. I have not, but it would be an interesting trend to chart.

Speaking of the budget, I was treated to the saga of Skip Auld, the former DPL director and a SILS alumnus. Skip was apparently one of those people that you either loved or didn't care for at all, and I suspect that Joanne falls into the latter category. I get the impression that Skip was a bit of a pushover when it came to protecting the library's resources. When the county mentioned budget cuts to him, he agreed straight away and volunteered to cut other resources and services without consulting the appropriate staff members. One of those staff members was Lynn in the NC Collection, although she managed to preserve a fair amount of her material. More about Lynn in the next post though.

In the end, Skip was "let go" by the county. The new director, Tammy, seems to be more well-liked overall by the staff. She's working to get the library's budget back to where it was before the reign of Skip and seems to be doing a good job of it. DPL's current budget is actually quite stable, helped in no small part by the community's support.