Planning & Budget

2012 Budget (PDF)
2011 Budget (PDF)
2011 DCL Foundation Budget Message (PDF)
2010 Audit Report (PDF)
2010 DCL Foundation Audit Report (PDF)
2010 Budget (PDF)
2009 Budget (PDF)
2009 Audit Report (PDF)
2008 Audit Report (PDF)
2007 Audit Report (PDF)
2006 Audit Report (PDF)
2005 Audit Report (PDF)
2004 Audit Report (PDF)
2003 Audit Report (PDF)

A Message from the Director - Budget 2012

Mission: Douglas County Libraries is a passionate advocate for literacy and lifelong learning.

Vision: Through engagement, education and entertainment, Douglas County Libraries transforms lives and builds community.

As noted last year, we knew there would be a dip in revenues for 2012-13. The recession resulted in a roughly 8.8% reduction in the library's annual income from property taxes. We are ready for it. Thoughtful staff reductions through attrition and other belt-tightening measures helped us avoid even a single layoff or reduction in hours. This is in sharp contrast to many other libraries in the region and nation. We can live within our means.

But we are also proposing dipping into our reserves for a strategic investment. While a combination of factors (primarily failed 2007 and 2008 elections and the recession) means that we do not have the resources to build a new physical branch, we are now ready to build a virtual or digital branch.

Last year we proposed to develop "prototype display technologies to browse electronic content," and to leverage "cloud technologies to free up staff time and expense." Those experiments were successful. At this writing, we have developed perhaps the first modern, integrated system available in the nation for public libraries for the management (acquisition, cataloging, and circulation) of digital media. This is the virtual infrastructure necessary to open a new 24/7 branch, enabling the instantaneous delivery over the Internet of digital content we own.

Our request for reserve money is to accomplish three things: first, to complete the interface fit-and-polish of our new system ($200,000 of programming costs); second, to purchase and install a baker's dozen of big screen touch panels for the display of digital content ($101,000); and finally, to purchase an "opening-day collection" of that content ($500,000).

At this moment in history, there is great uncertainty about pricing models for eBooks, eMovies, and eMusic. The old paradigm seems broken; a new one has not yet emerged. While the number of commercially published works is relatively stable, self-published works – most of them now published electronically – have rocketed from 29,000 in 2004 to over 2.7 million in 2010. Meanwhile, the big six commercial publishers have unilaterally withdrawn their eBooks from the public library market. Four of the six won't sell to us on any terms. Two of them will only lease books through a third-party distributor, which no longer offers us our traditional 40-45% discount.

For the near future, we will continue to provide some of that content on the only terms we can: through various leasing agreements with such distributers as Overdrive and 3M. Over the long term, we are actively pursuing the purchase, with discounts, of materials from publishers. Such a strategy is essential if we are to fulfill our role as an effective cooperative purchasing agent for the residents and citizens of Douglas County.

Our new system is more than simply a replication of the traditional model of library lending, however. It also represents the establishment of a publishing platform. By the end of next year, Douglas County Libraries will be the publisher, distributor, and perhaps even the bookseller (or pass-through to a bookseller) for new, locally-produced works. This step from content distributor to content creator is significant. I believe we are blazing a trail that many libraries will follow.

This strategic initiative is not our only effort. In 2011, Douglas County Libraries was once again ranked number one in the nation for communities of 250,000 to 500,000. Our well-honed procedures for getting more books, magazines, movies and music in people's homes – the promotion of literacy – will continue. So will our astonishing outreach to preschoolers through storytimes both in the library and in community day cares. So will our direct response to patron inquiries through reference librarians. So will our vital role as public meeting space for hundreds of civic, not-for-profit, and other groups, and as a resource for tackling countywide issues.

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, Douglas County Libraries continues our tradition of innovation, of advocacy for literacy and lifelong learning, and of building stronger communities.

James LaRue
Library Director
November 15, 2011