‘It’s a lot more than a library’: What local libraries are doing to stay afloat

Teens take advantage of the digital creativity station and numerous electronic equipment available for patron checkout at the Bloomfield Public Library on Monday afternoon.

By Kelly Slaven

Local libraries are what some might consider the heart of a community, though in today’s world, some may consider them a dying breed.

“The biggest obstacle we have is the financial side, trying to stay relevant and up-to-date, and that’s sort of been the biggest challenge since I have been here, which has been about three years,” said Bloomfield Library Director Austin Stroud. “There are so many things that we want to do, but we can’t afford to do them, or we have to find a cheaper way.”

Stroud said he worked at the Bloomington Public Library in Monroe County for several years, a much larger library with a larger service area; though Bloomfield is also home to Greene County’s largest and most widely served library, serving multiple townships.

“They (Bloomington Library) don’t have all of the money in the world, but it can seem like that compared to here, they have anything and everything you can imagine, pretty much any tech thing I wanted there I could just tell my manager, and it would be there that week.”

Stroud said if they want to do something at the Bloomfield Library, they must find a grant, community support, donations such as the Friends of the Library group or hold fund raising events such as the recent golf fund raiser.

“The tax support we get is barely enough to just survive,” said Stroud, “so we can’t really do a lot of extra.”

Stroud said local librarians, such as in Worthington, Linton and the Eastern Branch meet regularly to help each other, rotating where the meeting takes place between the libraries.

“I feel like that has really helped all of the libraries a lot,” said Stroud, “we talk about things we are doing and help each other.”

One product of the meetings was the Greene County Scavenger Hunt around the time of Indiana’s Bicentennial, which Stroud said they considered to be a success.

In the near future, Stroud said they hope to extend service areas to nearby bordering towns, such as Newberry, Lyons and Switz City, though they currently serve six townships already.

According to Stroud, Bloomfield has the largest library in the county, though Linton is a bigger town only serving Stockton, while Bloomfield serves about twice as much as Linton.

“We would like to expand service area in the near future, bring in more income, so we can do more,” said Stroud.

Stroud said the expanding service area proposal will be discussed at the board’s next meeting in April.

“When I came first here-- big change, not having the resources, but on a smaller scale, it’s more appropriate for here,” said Stroud. “There are different needs of the community.”

As for obtaining the nearby Main Source Bank building, Stoud said they are being cautious and exploring their options, though the prospect isn’t over yet.

“It is not looking great, big thing is cost. We have the trust fund but thats kind of for security, if we need it its there, and if we spend $100,000 on this bank, which would be nice to have, we just want to make sure we are set-up to be here for the long-haul--and not overextend too much,” said Stroud. “It’s been a roller coaster, being excited because we need more space...but just have to be realistic.”

Another modern twist enabled the Bloomfield Library to start accepting credit and debit cards, said Stroud. A 55 inch television was also recently installed by the Adult Librarian Desk to promote programs.

“It’s a lot more than a library, its in the position as center of community, in a good location close to school, even Eastern isn’t too far,” said Stroud.

Attracting youth seems to be a common problem among may libraries.

“We’ve had a struggle, going from those in teen years to retirement age, and then parents with young children. We are really trying to get young adults, or ‘millennials’ more involved,” said Stroud, “We had about 5 or 6 regularly coming to teen activities, but we’re back to ground zero,” said Stroud.

Stroud suggests turning to the community, to find out what they want to see change, and figure out how it might fit into that.

“We know a big thing here is how there is really nothing safe for kids to do,” said Stroud. “I think it’s why people leave, we have to keep people here and feeling like they have safe places to go, things to do.”

As for the Little Free Libraries (LFL) many have probably seen throughout town, Stroud said the goal of 15 LFL in Greene County should be met by the end of the summer.

Stroud said the LFL focus on placing them in rural, under-served and even unserved areas.

A petition would be the first step in expanding service, as Stroud said it would need signed by 20 percent of registered voters to say they do want library service before being considered.

“Getting people to understand how libraries actually benefit them--not just us. Just a few perks are free materials access, the new digital creativity station, magazines, data bases, high-speed internet and wi-fi, e-books , so many ways to save money---between two locations we have 113 magazine and newspaper subscriptions, not to mention our State park passes,” said Stroud, “People don’t have a lot of money in this area, and thinking of all we provide for free.”

The State Park pass, which allows free entry to a State Park, can be kept up to one week at a time, though cannot be renewed. Late fines are $1 a day, and if it is lost, the fee is $50 to replace it. There is no waiting list, and the card operates on a first-come first-served basis. One pass is available at most Libraries, though both the Eastern Branch and Bloomfield have one pass.

“We are in no danger of closing, just exploring options, and being very cautious, as a public place, we don’t want to rush, we want to do whats right for the community.

Jasonville Librarian Cheryl Kennett said their new community building, which is available for rent, has already had several bookings and seems to be bringing more traffic to the smaller library.

Kennett said they seem to see familiar faces, despite being open three days a week, and generally know what patrons are interested in when choosing and purchasing books for patrons at the Library.

Jasonville Librarys new community room.

“We are doing more comparative shopping to try and get the most out of our tax dollars. We have always had a small budget, so things haven’t changed a lot for us, said Kennett, “All relative to where we serve, and I think we're doing pretty well.”

Historic photos of Jasonville adorn the walls of the new community center at the Jasonville Library.