New Tualatin Public Library fee for Clackamas County residents

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The Tualatin Public Library is introducing a $95/year fee to Tualatin residents whose homes are located within Clackamas County. This fee is optional, but required if those residents want to use any of the services provided either by Washington County Cooperative Library Services or Clackamas County Library Services. In short, they no longer have access to the network of resources within both organizations and only have access to resources of the Tualatin Public Library.

Related links

Notes

Of the books I've checked out personally in the last year, only one is available at the Tualatin Public Library. All of the others have come from the intralibrary loan network that WCCLS offers:

  1. Get Back in the Box by Douglas Rushkoff - Available only at the Tigard Public Library - $8.00 at Powell's
  2. Followership by Barbara Kellerman - Available at the Hillsboro Main Library and Tigard Public Library - $29.95 at Powell's
  3. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder - Available at nine libraries, including the Tualatin Public Library
  4. Future Shock by Alvin Toffler - Available at four libraries, not including the Tualatin Public Library - $4.25 at Powell's
  5. Blue Covenant by Maude Barlow - Available at three libraries, not including the Tualatin Public Library - $16.75 at Powell's
  6. Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken - Available at six libraries, not including the Tualatin Public Library - $10.95 at Powell's
  7. Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky - Available at four libraries, not including the Tualatin Public Library - $10.98 at Powell's

The total cost of buying all of these books instead would be $80.88, but that would defeat the point of a public library, right?

Data I might want to get from the library:

  • Percentage of books checked out each month that are from another library within WCCLS
  • Percentage of those books checked out that are from the 3,000 that are affected by this new library fee

Questions

Some of the questions that have been brainstormed thus far (and answers provided by the Tualatin Public Library):

Library: Tualatin is not imposing this fee, nor will Tualatin get the money from this fee. The fee is imposed by the Counties for people who do not pay property taxes for library service.

  • Why the change now?
    • Library: Clackamas County passed a library service district in November 2008; that district takes effect on July 1, 2009 (counties use a fiscal year of July 1-June 30)
    • Follow up question: why was Washington County providing service before November, and what prompted them to drop the coverage?
  • Where did this specific dollar amount come from?
    • Library: The amount is roughly equivalent what an average household pays for library service in their property taxes.
    • Follow up question: What was the process in regards to creating the fee (i.e. were the public privy to the discussion), and were the residents informed of this change at any point in time before last week?
  • Who initially proposed the change, and what was the process for approving it? How long has this fee been in the pipeline?
    • Library: The fee has existed for years; for example, a person living in Marion County (no library property taxes) who wants to use a library in Clackamas or Washington County has to buy a library card. This is the first time the fee has been applied to Tualatin’s Clackamas residents because they had previously paid property taxes for library service.
  • If Clackamas County tax dollars in general fund the Clackamas County Cooperative Library Services, then why don't the Tualatin residents in Clackamas County have free access to that library network?
    • Library: Clackamas County has stopped funding libraries through their general fund. Starting July 1st, libraries will be funded through an additional “library service district” tax. Tualatin-Clackamas residents are not paying this additional tax, and therefore are not eligible for ‘free’ access.
  • Is it $95 per account, or $95 per address/family?
    • Library: per library card. A family can share a card.
  • Is there a sunset to the fee?
    • Library: No; if Tualatin-Clackamas someday joins the district, the fee would not be imposed. (However, the fee would still apply to people in Marion, Yamhill counties, etc.)
  • Where will the monies raised by these fee go?
    • Library: The fee goes directly to the county; Tualatin does not receive any money from the fee.
  • Will I be able to use Wilinet to search and reserve books?
    • LLibrary: You can always search the catalog, but you will not be able to reserve items.
  • What percentage of library books lent by the Tualatin Public Library are from other libraries within the Washington County Cooperative Library Service?
    • Library: About 15% of the books lent May 2009 came from other WCCLS libraries.
    • Follow up question: how has that percentage changed over time?
  • What part/demographic of the city does this affect?
    • Library: East of 65th is Clackamas County.

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