Library Funding Quick Facts

·      The Budget the Mayor has proposed is for FY04 is less than the Budget he proposed in FY01

In each year since 2001 the Library has seen it’s budget cut at some point during the fiscal year.  Those cuts were:

                        2001:   $225,000

                        2002:   $700,000

                        2003:   $992,00

·      The District of Columbia spends less than most comparable jurisdictions:

Percent of Expenditures

                                  City                                  Spent on Libraries

Cleveland                          Not available

DC                                          0.45%

Baltimore                                0.85%

Denver                                    1.5%

Milwaukee                              1.6%

Boston                                    1.6%

Seattle                                     1.7%               

(Cleveland is funded directly from property tax collections and is not part of City government.)

·      The Library’s costs are increasing just like any other businesses

For example, pay increases, negotiated by the Williams Administration, have increased the Library’s costs by $2.4 million during the last two years alone.  The contracts call for another increase later this fiscal year

·      The Library’s costs are driven by its payroll costs.

Seventy-five percent of the Library’s budget is consumed by payroll and benefits for its employees. 

o      However, the Library’s starting salary for Librarian’s lags most comparable systems:

Library                                    Starting Salary

Baltimore                         $30,290

DC                                     31,754

Denver                               32,436

Milwaukee                         33,442

Boston                               34,166

Cleveland                           39,272

Seattle                                46,550                 

·      The materials budget (or ‘book budget’) continues to be woefully underfunded by virtually any measure.

In recent years the library materials fund of the DC Public Library has received only no cumulative increase in funding. Rather, in the past eight years the library materials fund has actually been cut.  The library materials fund budget over the last eight years has been:

The effect of inflation on the Materials fund is dramatically shown in the graph below:

Materials Budget in Real Dollars

1992 to 2004 Proposed

·      We have witnessed an explosion in demand for new media including electronic databases, business resources, videos, books-on-tape and world language materials in addition to demand for more children, adult and senior printed materials.

The lack of meaningful increases in the library materials fund has meant that we are unable to expand our collection to meet the demands of our customers. 

·      The District of Columbia spends less per capita on materials than similar library systems. 

            City                                         Spending per Capita

            Milwaukee                                          $4.10

            District of Columbia                             4.56

            Baltimore                                              6.21

            Indianapolis                                          6.53*

            Columbus                                            10.28*

            Denver                                                13.08

            Boston                                                13.79

            Cleveland                                            23.33

* These Library systems are rated as the best within similarly sized communities on the HAPLR Ratings and serve populations similar in size to the District. 

·      And we spend less on materials than other nearby library system.

            City                                         Spending per Capita

            District of Columbia                           $4.56

            Prince Georges County                         4.85

            Alexandria                                             5.71

            Prince William                           5.78

            Fairfax County                                      6.57*

            Arlington                                               6.72

            Montgomery County                           7.07

* This Library system is rated as the best within similarly sized communities on the HAPLR Ratings and serves populations similar in size to the District. 

·      Our facilities are in poor condition because their maintenance is not properly funded.

The national average for maintaining a public library is $3.23 per square foot.  DCPL is provided a maintenance budget of $1.40 per square foot.

·      Staffing Levels at the Library Have Been Reduced

Over the past 25 years, DCPL staff has been cut dramatically.   Despite this, DCPL has opened new branches and expanded outreach and other programs.

·      The DC Public Library is well-used by the citizens.

In 2002 the Library provided the following:

Library materials used within the Library:                             2,331,732

Visits to DC Public Libraries:                                                 2,022,925

Library materials circulated:                                                   1,224,362

Reference questions answered:                                               1,070,784

Virtual visits to the Library website:                                          549,992

Children ages 0 thru 5 participating in programs:                         67,986

Children in grades 1 through 8 participating in programs:            52,897

Young Adults and Adults participating in programs:                   32,818

Customers participating in information technology classes:          5,603

·      DC Public Library is the single greatest provider of free, public access computing in the District.

o      33,554 people used the free public access computers in the first quarter of FY03 alone.  They used our free computers for over 48,000 hours of computer usage.

o      5,603 people received free training on computer usage last year.