Bedford, TX Set for Library Outsourcing Vote Tuesday

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 08/27/2007

In a controversial action, the town of Bedford, TX, which closed its library briefly in 2005 after a tax rollback, is considering a proposal to outsource library management to Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI). The proposal has generated significant concern in the community and led to the dismissal of three of seven library board members. Opponents have been collecting signatures on a petition to present to the City Council, which may vote Tuesday night, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A pro-outsourcing City Council member, Charles Orean, has pushed for a bidding process, and both LSSI and the <Bedford Public Library> http://www.bedfordlibrary.org/ (BPL) itself responded to a request for proposals (RFP). LSSI bid $652,740 (and $30,000 less if RFID  is implemented ), while the library bid $764,626, the newspaper reported. (According to the newspaper, the 2006-07 Bedford library budget was about $1 million.) The responses to the RFP have not been made public.

LSSI requires library employees to reapply for their jobs and generally offers a smaller total compensation package—notably, a 401(k) plan rather than a civil service pension. Petition proponent Diane Versocki told the newspaper, "I believe that public libraries should be run locally. The employees of the library are responsible to the citizens in Bedford." Another opponent has established a wiki regarding LSSI. (BPL, by the way, has become only the second library in the country to add LibraryThing for Libraries in its online catalog.)

The library board, which has advisory but not oversight power, last December unanimously opposed outsourcing the library, citing improvements led by new director Maria Redburn. Two weeks ago, the City Council removed three board members after they accused Orean of having a conflict of interest because he served as council liaison to the library while exploring outsourcing; in turn, Orean accused them of "character assassination." The vote was 4-3, indicating a divided council. Former board chair dona weisman (who uses lower-case for her name) told LJ she guessed "that the final vote [on outsourcing] will be 4-3, but I'm really not sure which way the four will go."