North Kato, TdS to part ways

By Mark Fischenich
The Free Press

NORTH MANKATO May 08, 2007 10:31 pm

— The divorce between the North Mankato Taylor Library and the Traverse des Sioux Library System appears to be final after the North Mankato City Council rejected a services contract from TdS.
The North Mankato library will continue to officially be a member of TdS, but it will make no payments and receive no services from the regional system following years of increasingly strained relations.
“At this point, we’d function as a stand-alone library,” said City Administrator Wendell Sande Monday, shortly before the council voted unanimously to reject the $17,564 contract.
Council members said they don’t expect patrons of the North Mankato library to experience reduced services.
“It just ends the delivery service and the interlibrary loan program, which we weren’t using anyway,” said Mayor Gary Zellmer.
North Mankato residents will no longer be able to directly order books from the other libraries around the region and state, and when they visit other libraries, their cards will not be usable. (College and university libraries are an exception.)
And North Mankato’s library’s books will not be available to people from outside the city unless they come to the library in person.
But city officials said city residents will still have access to virtually all books and other materials.
“If they come and ask for a book, the book will be obtained,” said Councilman Billy Steiner.
In many cases, the city will purchase a book that’s requested by a patron but isn’t in the library’s collection, said Library Director Lucy Lowry.
Lowry also implied city librarians have methods of borrowing materials from other libraries.
“There are ways of handling things outside the regular system,” she said. “We try to be creative.”
Lowry said her library’s circulation numbers have been rising steadily and have set local records every month since October. That shows patrons are satisfied with their service, and she predicts that will continue to be the case.
“I don’t think they’re going to notice any difference at all,” she said.
Patty Biesterfeld, the acting executive director of TdS, said North Mankato’s decision will force TdS to use reserve funds to balance its budget this year. The remaining 16 libraries in the system won’t be asked to pay more, and services provided by TdS won’t be reduced this year.
North Mankato and TdS have butted head for several years, culminating in a lawsuit two years ago by the city. North Mankato officials criticized the billing practices and speed of service of TdS, which provides the computerized book circulation system for libraries and the courier service that moves books from libraries within the region and around the state.
North Mankato decided in 2005 to purchase its own automation system and balked when TdS attempted to charge the same fees as in the past when it provided North Mankato with the computerized system. For 2007, TdS asked the city to pay the $17,654 fee — a $13,000 reduction.
But city officials considered that fee to be excessive for the remaining services — deliveries by the courier and the opportunity to directly borrow books from other libraries. Broken down on a cost per transaction basis, the fees were much larger than many libraries in the system.
North Mankato City Attorney Mike Kennedy said TdS doesn’t seem to be setting fees on a cost-based system.
“It seems to have much more to do with the amount of money they want to receive from us,” Kennedy said.
Biesterfeld said the fee system was set up by a consultant working with an advisory council made up of the library directors. North Mankato declined to participate in the process, but the other 16 library directors were satisfied with the fee schedule and all other libraries have paid the fees.
“Whenever you’re a part of a cooperative, you learn to work together to come up with the best possible solution for the entire group,” Biesterfeld said. “I would think that’s where everybody else (other than North Mankato) is at this time.”
Lowry said the city didn’t participate in the advisory council but made its objections known to the consultant and the TdS Board of Directors.
While the differences appear to be irreconcilable right now, Biesterfeld hopes North Mankato will become a participating member of the regional system in the future.
“It’s very unfortunate it came to this,” she said. “... There are many benefits to being a member of the Traverse des Sioux Library System.”
Lowry doesn’t rule out a more amicable relationship with other libraries in the future, but the city also is looking forward to the single life.
“We’re just trying to avoid more fights,” she said. “We’re just tired of it.”