The Great Neck Library board of trustees agreed at Wednesday night’s meeting to pay a $13,000 disputed charge to the Nassau Library System – the organization which provides access to online databases to the library, and whose decision to hike rates last year was met with protest from library officials who argued that the NLS’ fee structure unfairly targeted Great Neck.
The board had previously paid only 2011’s $19,800 fee out of the $33,127 charged by NLS for 2012, in protest of what board members called an unequal formula that bases fees on the budgets of member libraries, not their use of NLS services, and forces Great Neck to subsidize other libraries.
The board authorized the payment of the remaining funds, accompanied by a letter stating its continued disagreement with the fee, after NLS sent a letter in late December saying it would cut off services if it did not receive the full sum.
“We still feel our position… is a good position,” said board President Varda Solomon. “However, until we can do something about it, we feel our patrons should not suffer.”
The board said it had been unsuccessful in its efforts to contest the fee in 2012, and that though it would pay to protect services for members it would continue to oppose the fee in the coming year.
The board authorized the payment with trustees Josie Pizer and Marietta DiCamillo voting in opposition.
The NLS, a consortium of 54 member libraries that provides services including database access and book delivery, hiked its fees after the state cut its funding in recent years. Under the current fee structure Great Neck would be charged $33,127 for 2012, $46,912 in 2013, and more than $50,000 in 2014.
“Any library electing to withhold payment of its share of member library support for the 2012 and 2013 NLS fiscal years, in the amounts established by the member library boards of trustees, will be deemed to be a member not in good standing and as a consequence, services and programs heretofore provided to member libraries beyond those mandated by statute or regulations will be discontinued,” wrote NLS president Ellen Garnson to the board.
The NLS letter said 85 percent of member libraries had supported the formula when it was approved in 2011.
Following protest from Great Neck and other libraries, the NLS is reviewing its payment formula and soliciting comments through mid February.
Trustees said the operating budget-based fee discriminated against Great Neck for several reasons, including the greater budget the library has for operating four branches and the library’s practice of paying for programs out of its general budget instead of relying on a separate “friends of the library” committee.
Great Neck has largest operating budget of any library in the system, and its $33,000 fee was about $20,000 higher than the average fee charged in the consortium.
Pizer said the NLS expected Great Neck to pay more than libraries in other well-off communities.
“Their mandate is fee for service. Given that we use the service much less than other libraries… we are subsidizing [them,]” Pizer said.
NLS sent the board a comparison of costs for the library to purchase database rights individually versus through the consortium. The comparison showed major savings through NLS; the board indicated it would try to verify the figures sent by NLS before making a decision on how to proceed.
The board also appointed Assistant Library Director Laura Weir to serve as acting director, as the board searches for a permanent replacement for former director Jane Marino. The board agreed to hire retired Syosset Library Director Judith Lockman to serve as a consultant and aid Weir while the search for a long-term director is ongoing.
“We’re looking for a full-time director, but until such a time as we have one in place… we felt the prudent economic decision was to hire a consultant,” said new Trustee Michael Fuller, who was formally welcomed to the board at the meeting.
Fuller, a former member of the library nominating committee, resigned from the committee after the resignation of Trustee Martin Sokol and was one of two candidates nominated by the committee to serve as Sokol’s replacement.
Lockman will be paid $100 per hour, up to 20 hours per week as needed.
