Blogfinger

By Mary Walton, Blogfinger literary editor Once upon a time patrons of the friendly little Neptune Township Library could request a purchase with the near certainty that the book or video of their choice would soon be in their hands. The library’s doors were open 60 hours a week. Then came a dark and stormy night. In 2010, the budget was ravaged by government bean counters. Seven of 18 employees were laid off in 2010; hours shrank to 49 a week that year and to 44 the next. As a result, the number of visitors declined 21 percent, from 102,952 in 2009 to 81,042 in 2011. Just when people urgently needed computers for job searches, the library was forced to close on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. With the remaining employees now assigned to more hours on the circulation desk, fewer people were available to teach computer skills. The number of classes dropped from 230 in 2009 to 101 in 2011 with a corresponding decrease in students. This story isn’t like a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end. Funds from the library’s three main sources continue to plunge. In 2009, the Township budgeted $1.4 million for the library. In 2011 it was $1.3 million. The 2012 budget released last week calls for $1.2 million. In October, 2009, the state allocated $25,662 for the year to come, down from $34,000. This year the library is receiving $12,873. Supplemental revenues from fines and video rentals channeled through the Library Board of Trustees are down by a third since 2009, to $35,055. Amid the clouds, there is a bit of good news. Library director Marian Bauman has managed to hire two additional part-time employees and restore Tuesday and Thursday mornings to the schedule. Open hours now total 56. The increase in hours has been made possible by “a lot of cost cutting measures,” she says. “We’re just being really careful. We’re not buying as much for the patrons.” Now, says Bauman, when the staff weighs a request for a new book, they ask, “Are other people going to use this?” Older books may be available through interlibrary loan. (Fans of histories, biographies and other nonfiction may be among the less fortunate, because a survey of 2,000 users last fall indicated that patrons prefer videos and fiction.) No longer does the library spend $2,300 a year for the Asbury Park Press on microfilm. Notes Bauman, “If you get three requests a year for it, that’s $800 per use.” As people have turned to the Internet for research, as much as 40 percent less is now spent on reference materials. Still, says Bauman, “I’m in a happy place. I’m happy that we got our hours back.”