Lancaster County's public libraries are at a crossroads.
Declining funding from the state government has libraries reducing hours and services at a time when demand for both is skyrocketing.
"With the funding situation the way it is, this is a time of crisis for libraries," Terry Kauffman, chairman of the Lancaster County Public Library Task Force, told the county commissioners Wednesday.
Assembled by the commissioners, the seven-member task force spent the past year trying to figure out how local libraries can continue to be effective into the future.
In a report delivered to the commissioners Wednesday, the task force recommends, among other strategies:
• Considering user fees for some library services.
• Seeking corporate sponsors for new infusions of cash.
• Disbanding the Lancaster County Library System's 14-member board of directors and appointing a seven-member citizens' panel.
• Contracting a consultant to develop a strategic plan for library services.
• Forming a group dedicated to lobbying state lawmakers for legislative reforms that would increase state funding for libraries and relax state operating requirements to give libraries more flexibility during tough economic times.
"I wish I could stand here today and tell you we found a magic bullet," Kauffman said. "I wish I could say, 'This is how we fix it; here's where the money comes from; this is what we'll do.'
"We don't have that."
In preparing its report, the task force studied library systems here and in Chester, Dauphin, Berks and York counties.
"What we have learned is that there is no one model which could be held out as a clear example for replication," Kauffman said.
So the task force recommended no changes to Lancaster County's federated system, consisting of a central operation that supports 14 member libraries, three branches and a bookmobile.
Locally, the task force heard from directors of individual libraries that:
• It's confusing who's in charge. The library system needs to speak with one voice.
• Stable, predictable funding is necessary.
• Communication between the library system and the county commissioners needs to be improved.
• Some directors believe the system is not managing resources wisely.
• Some directors do not believe reductions in system operations have equitably matched staff and operational cutbacks at local libraries.
• Municipalities, school districts and residents should be resources for additional financial support.
The county needs a strategic plan to guide local libraries into the future, the task force found.
That plan would provide a detailed roadmap for the operation and delivery of library services.
And the task force recommended the commissioners begin the planning process by Oct. 1 by hiring a consultant to "evaluate all aspects of library services in Lancaster County," the report states.
By Dec. 1, the commissioners should disband the library system's current board, which is composed of members affiliated with different libraries.
As such, task force vice chairman John McGrann said, board members often cannot separate themselves from their respective libraries and make decisions for the benefit of all libraries.
The panel concluded a new board of seven citizens with no library affiliations should be appointed by the commissioners.
Once appointed, those new board members, along with the directors of the local libraries, should take the outcomes of the new strategic plan and develop a funding formula for individual libraries that provides financial incentives to programs aimed at the plan's goals.
By Jan. 1, the new board and the library directors should define the system services that are essential to every member library.
A menu of additional services then should be created and a fee structure for those services developed.
Kauffman said he knows charging user fees is a controversial subject, especially "because we believe in a free library system."
He declined to offer any examples of the services for which fees might be charged, saying that's something the new system board should determine.
Prioritizing library services, while finding new funding sources, are seen as keys to the survival of Lancaster County's libraries.
"There is a critical role for libraries in the future, but it's different than the role libraries have played up to this point," McGrann said. "The system's funding formula to local libraries needs to recognize these changes."
The commissioners received the task force's report on Tuesday, and they said they plan to take some time to digest it.
Commissioner Craig Lehman said he fully supports the idea of commissioning a strategic plan.
"Now is the time to do it, because state resources going forward are certainly in question," he said. "Figuring out how all these pieces fit together in the current fiscal climate is necessary."
Susan Hauer, the library system's administrator, declined to comment on the findings of the report, saying, "We don't know yet how the commissioners are going to proceed.
"Anything that moves library services forward is something I support," she added.