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Outagamie County Library Services Plan: 2000-2004

On October 10, 2000 the Outagamie County Board of Supervisors adopted the Outagamie County Library Services Plan: 2000-2004, in accordance with Section 43.11, Wisconsin Statutes. The full text of the plan is available in pdf format.

Executive Summary

Outagamie County is required to develop a library service plan that addresses how public library service will be provided to residents of those municipalities in the county not maintaining a public library and the method and level of funding to be provided by the county for this service. In October 1999, the Outagamie County designated the Outagamie Waupaca Library System (OWLS) Board to develop a county library services plan and present it to the Outagamie County Board of Supervisors for approval.

The OWLS Board believes that municipal libraries provide adequate services to county residents and that the county need not provide any additional library services. As a result, compensation to municipal libraries has emerged as the most significant issue to be addressed by the plan.

Beginning in 2001, Wisconsin counties must meet minimum statutory requirements for compensating municipal libraries for providing services to the county. This requirement also includes a methodology for determining municipal libraries' costs for providing this service. The OWLS Board recommends that future library appropriations be based on the statutory methodology:

1. A library's total operating expenditure in a given year, less capital expenditures and expenditures from federal sources, is divided by the total number of items loaned (i.e., circulation) during the same year to determine the library's cost per loan.
2. A library's cost per loan is multiplied by its number of loans to county residents living in jurisdictions that do not maintain libraries to determine the library's bill to the county.

In order to make a transition from the current funding methodology to the statutory methodology, the OWLS Board recommends the following: that the county target funding at 87% of the statutory formula in 2001, that the target funding level be increased by 1% each succeeding year, that no library receive more than 100% of the statutory formula, that any library already above the target funding level receive an increase of 1.5%, and that funding for the Oneida Community Library be limited to the 70% statutory minimum due to the library's high costs. These recommendations result in a county library budget request of $887,406 for the year 2001.

Furthermore, it is recommended that Outagamie County continue its current relationship with OWLS, that Outagamie County decrease its representation on the OWLS Board to 10 members, and that the County enter into a new agreement with OWLS. OWLS would continue to coordinate the annual budget process and monitor the plan.

Finally, the OWLS Board recommends that a new committee be appointed in 2004 to develop the next five-year library service plan.

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