By Khalida Sarwari
A year after the $80 non-resident Santa Clara County Library District fee went into effect, the numbers seem to suggest the library’s governing board made a wise decision in establishing the fee.
Acting county librarian Nancy Howe said that while the circulation of materials did drop initially, one unexpected result has been a surge in residents using their local libraries.
“Since the fee implementation, we have increased our resident cardholder base to about 220,000, and have checked out approximately 15 percent more materials to our residents,” said Howe. “We sold far more cards than we expected.”
She said the library district’s overall circulation is expected to drop from about 12 million in 2011 to 10 million this year, but over the same time period the resident circulation is growing from about 7 million to more than 8 million.
Previously, non-residents were responsible for about 43 percent of the library district’s circulation.
For decades libraries had reciprocal agreements that allowed California residents to borrow books and materials from any library in the state, said Howe. The state would then reimburse the libraries for any losses they incurred in an effort to make the library experience a seamless one for residents.
“It was a really marvelous program–the envy of many states,” Howe said.
However, the state’s reimbursement rate dropped every year as a result of budget cutbacks until it came to a complete halt last year.
The elimination of the reciprocal borrowing fund was the primary trigger for implementing the $80 fee, said Howe. The Joint Powers Authority, the library’s governing board that was created in the mid-’90s to preserve library service amid state cutbacks, elected to set the $80 fee in July 2011.
The fee is equivalent to what the district residents pay through property taxes and other special taxes, said Howe.
“That was a very difficult decision for our board,” Howe said. “We were trying to maintain hours and services. There wasn’t enough revenue to meet demand.”
The annual budget for all the branches in the district combined is about $33 million. Revenue from the fee allowed the libraries to continue operating without making significant cuts, said Howe.
“Library service does have a cost and the goal, of course, is to have it to be free for everyone all the time,” she said. “But we’re struggling, as are a lot of public agencies, in a time of huge funding shifts and changes between state and local government.”
With the new card, non-residents can check out up to 100 items at a time and reserve as many as 12 materials. They can access databases anytime and from anywhere and receive tutoring and language learning assistance. Non-residents can still visit any of the branches in the district and attend library programs without a card.
Students in preschool through 12th grade who are non-residents but attend a school in any of the cities within the district are exempt from paying the fee.
Through April 30, the library district had sold 4,698 cards and issued 7,186 free student cards.
The library district serves the residents of Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Saratoga and unincorporated Santa Clara County.
For more information, visit www.santaclaracountylib.org.
