Privatize the Library!!!
The Indianapolis Star reports today the expansion of the Central Library is overdue and over budget. Brendan O’Shaughnessy writes the library is more than two years behind schedule and now the board wants $45 million in additional money to finish it. The library project has been plagued with cost overruns and project delays. My solution, privatize it. The entire system. Do for libraries what we’ve done with trash pick up and some prisons. Contract with a private company and let them run the system.
Sound awkward, not necessarily. In 2000, the American Library Association did a study on the impact of outsourcing and privatizing library services and management. The study found there was no evidence that outsourcing had an overall negative impact on library services and management. In fact, when used carefully the study found that outsourcing had been an effective management tool that resulted in enhanced services and improved management.
Any problems that came from outsourcing were usually the result of inadequate planning, poor contracting processes and ineffective management of contracts. These are issues that could easily be resolved with due diligence and officials not falling asleep at the wheel.
Marion County leaders should definitely look at privatizing the library system. Call Barnes and Noble or Borders and have them run the whole operation. They can contract with Starbucks for coffee while they are at it. It can’t possibly any be any worse.
