Minutes 09-14-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 Director and staff have spent the last two months reviewing possible options for outreach and 2 library service opportunities to the rural communities in Orange County. Through this review 3 and conversations with Planning, staff recognizes that "rural" can apply not just to Cedar Grove 4 but to other outlying unincorporated areas and service projections could theoretically 5 encompass their unique needs as well. 6 7 1) Develop Separate Branch Libraries to Serve Rural Communities; i.e., Cedar Grove, Efland, 8 White Cross, Caldwell, etc: There is the option to build individual "bricks and mortar" facilities. 9 The first step would be to identify current vacant locations and/ or build a new facility. In 10 addition, there would be ongoing annual operational costs associated with staffing and 11 providing a full service branch for each location. In 2009 the 23, 500 sq. feet Main Library 12 was constructed and furnished for$6.521 million. Using this cost, another new facility would 13 equate to an investment of $277.52 per square foot. This figure does not include the annual 14 personnel / operational costs for Main which are currently $1,260,820. 15 16 The 2004 Library Services Task Force Report recommended new facilities plan through 2024. 17 The plan identified the following locations and staff has provided updated construction costs. 18 19 • Central Orange— recommended 65,000 sf (actual 23,500 sf& 20 $6.521) 21 • Regional Branch in Carrboro— 25,000 sf estimated$6.938 million 22 • Efland Cheeks Township— 10,000 sf estimated$2.775 million 23 • Cedar Grove Branch to be monitored and expand to 7,000 sf estimated$1,942 million 24 25 To operate another full service branch of 20 —23,000 sf, exclusive of central administrative 26 and technical services, would require annual support of $964,000. The Cedar Grove Branch, 27 which was 1,200 sf, required annual personnel, operational and facilities support of $245,000. 28 29 It should also be noted that the 23,000 sq. ft. Mebane Library, located 11.5 miles from 30 Hillsborough was constructed and opened in 2006. This library serves the Mebane area and a 31 portion of the Efland Cheeks Township. 32 33 2) Purchase and Deploy Bookmobiles to Serve Rural Areas: Rural communities are regularly 34 served by bookmobiles that include several public Internet stations. These types of units 35 require an initial investment of at least $285,000 and annual personnel / operational support of 36 $105,000. The unit would be deployed on a weekly schedule to stop and stay a certain 37 number of hours at a specific location each week, allowing for consistency and continuity. 38 Technologies will always an issue when working within rural Orange County, as most current 39 types of equipment needed to support internet access on these mobile units requires a strong 40 signal, similar to a cell phone. 41 42 3) Purchase and Deploy Library Service Kiosks: The Library Director and staff also evaluated 43 the Kiosk model of delivering library service and two models are listed within the report. 44 Preliminary evaluations of these two systems suggested that kiosks are more suited to urban 45 areas with high traffic locations such as malls and subways. 46 47 4) Strenqthen Collaboration and Reciprocal Relationships with Neiqhborinq Town and County 48 Libraries: The Library Director would also like to further explore our relationship with the 49 libraries in Durham and Alamance, particularly Mebane. Currently, the Alamance County