Friday, July 29, 2005

What do you think of this story? Click here to send a message to the editor.

Opting out of library system could cost PTC

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The Peachtree City Library could cost quite a bit more to operate if Fayette County officials ultimately decide to withdraw from the Flint River Regional Library System, according to city officials.

At last week’s City Council meeting, Leisure Services Director Randy Gaddo said the Peachtree City library receives support from the FRRLS that would be costly for the city to provide on its own.

Although Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn recently has said the county is large enough to create its own regional library system, the County Commission wants to get more data from FRRLS before it makes any decision to change the current library setup.

The county’s library board has complained that it doesn’t receive enough services from FRRLS to justify the annual cost of more than $72,000. But the service has improved markedly, Gaddo said, noting that the Peachtree City Library gets between 500 and 700 new books a month from FRRLS staff.

FRRLS also provides three deliveries a week of interlibrary materials and membership to the PINES computer network for Internet and Galileo database access, Gaddo said. In addition to ordering, cataloging and processing books and other material, FRRLS also compiles all necessary state paperwork and forms, Gaddo said.

“They do provide a lot of services that we may not be able to get anywhere else,” said Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford.

Councilman Steve Rapson said he felt Dunn should be commended for wanting “due diligence” in the matter. He added that a new funding formula for the FRRLS should be fair and equitable. Given that, however, if the option was between staying in the FRRLS for $15,000 or paying $1 million to be a separate library, Rapson said he’d opt for the lowest cost.

“I don’t even need a spreadsheet for that,” Rapson said.