Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries
Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries
From the New York Times
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A private company in Maryland has taken over public libraries in ailing cities in California, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas, growing into the country’s fifth-largest library system.
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J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
Jane Hanson, at a Santa Clarita library, is opposed to an outsourcing plan.
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J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
The basic pitch that the company Library Systems & Services makes to cities is that it fixes broken libraries — often by cleaning house.
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Now the company, Library Systems & Services, has been hired for the first time to run a system in a relatively healthy city, setting off an intense and often acrimonious debate about the role of outsourcing in a ravaged economy.
A $4 million deal to run the three libraries here is a chance for the company to demonstrate that a dose of private management can be good for communities, whatever their financial situation. But in an era when outsourcing is most often an act of budget desperation — with janitors, police forces and even entire city halls farmed out in one town or another — the contract in Santa Clarita has touched a deep nerve and begun a round of second-guessing.
Read On
From the New York Times
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A private company in Maryland has taken over public libraries in ailing cities in California, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas, growing into the country’s fifth-largest library system.
Enlarge This Image
J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
Jane Hanson, at a Santa Clarita library, is opposed to an outsourcing plan.
Enlarge This Image
J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
The basic pitch that the company Library Systems & Services makes to cities is that it fixes broken libraries — often by cleaning house.
Readers' Comments
Share your thoughts.
Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (368) »
Now the company, Library Systems & Services, has been hired for the first time to run a system in a relatively healthy city, setting off an intense and often acrimonious debate about the role of outsourcing in a ravaged economy.
A $4 million deal to run the three libraries here is a chance for the company to demonstrate that a dose of private management can be good for communities, whatever their financial situation. But in an era when outsourcing is most often an act of budget desperation — with janitors, police forces and even entire city halls farmed out in one town or another — the contract in Santa Clarita has touched a deep nerve and begun a round of second-guessing.
Read On
Thursday, September 23, 2010
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