Committee approves changes to central services budget proposal: $5,000 print‑collection pilot, tutor.com discontinued

Library staff on Sept. 3 reviewed the Central Library Services aid budget and presented a set of service changes designed to rebalance digital and print offerings across the 46‑library consortium.

Library Director Ben Gocker said the budget adds a $5,000 pilot line for a central print core collection to be held at Central and loaned across the consortium, reversing a prior heavy emphasis on purely digital collections. He told the committee the pilot will allow member libraries that lack funds to request titles through interlibrary loan workflows.

Gocker also said the library will drop tutor.com because usage was low. “We just weren't seeing engagement … We have in house live, human tutors, and we get a lot more kids through those tutors than we were seeing on tutor.com,” he said. The committee discussed the district’s role in promoting tutoring and family‑engagement programs but did not restore tutor.com funding during the meeting.

On technology subscriptions, staff confirmed the consortium’s SpringShare LibGuides subscription remains included in the three‑year budget at roughly $17,500 for all 46 member libraries (the committee confirmed that figure represents a three‑year total, not an annual cost). Gocker explained LibGuides are staff‑curated resource pages used for topic discovery and public information.

The budget review will go to the district’s general board for approval; staff characterized the meeting discussion as a committee review and first step in the approval process. Committee members asked clarifying questions about vendor costs, student access to services, and whether eliminating tutor.com would reduce overall support for student learning. A district official said the decision to discontinue underused licensed services is based on observed usage and a preference to deploy limited funds where patrons engage.

Discussion vs. decision: the committee reviewed and commented on the central services budget and directed staff to forward the budget and related policies to the full board for approval. No binding budget adoption occurred at the committee meeting.

Background and context: staff said summer reading registrations increased (child registrations up ~50% and adult registrations up ~40%) after earlier outreach efforts and that the library is shifting some emphasis back to physical materials to support literacy and local demand. The three‑year SpringShare subscription covers LibGuides used by both staff and the public, and staff said the price quoted covers all consortium members.

Next steps: staff will forward the Central Library Services aid budget and the proposed policies to the full board for approval and will monitor usage of the print core pilot and alternatives to tutor.com.