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Liberty Lake library board reviews budget, launches new service-request system and outlines technology upgrades
Summary
Library staff described a priority-based budget view, a new resident request system launching next week, an InlandShare migration and proposed capital purchases including Chromebooks and a laptop cart to expand public computing access.
The Liberty Lake Library Board heard an overview of the library’s budget, service changes and planned technology purchases at its October meeting.
Mark, city administrator, told the board the city is “getting ready to launch a new resident request system,” similar to a 3-1-1 service, that will include at least three library-related request categories and automated messaging to confirm receipt and completion. "Probably mid next week, this will hit the airwaves," Mark said.
Jenny, a library staff member, walked the board through the library’s priority-based budgeting view (ResourceX) and a detailed line-item budget. The visual budget splits library work into three programs—circulation, library programs and meeting space—and ties portions of the budget to citywide strategic priorities. Jenny and Mark cited illustrative alignment numbers shown in the tool, saying roughly $636,000 of the library budget is aligned with planned growth and infrastructure and about $658,000 is “strongly aligned” with quality-of-life priorities in the city view.
On services, Jenny said the library completed a software migration to the Koha system and on Oct. 1 formally launched the InlandShare library group. "As of October 1, we have officially launched the Inland Share library group," she said, and staff are completing work on subscriptions and card-number authentication. The change expands shared catalog and lending across participating libraries and allows patrons to add multiple libraries to their Libby accounts to search more digital collections, Jenny said.
Staff noted rising digital-materials costs. Jenny told the board the library’s Washington Anytime subscription increased by about $1,500 and that the library’s materials budget was increased last year by roughly $12,000.
The board discussed planned capital expenditures for next year. Jenny said the library has four public desktop computers now and is proposing to buy a small laptop charging cart with five Chromebooks so patrons can take a device to sit elsewhere in the building. "We only have 4 computers in the library right now," Jenny said. To reduce wait times, the staff proposes cutting the default public-computer session from two hours to one hour, with the option to extend. The board also discussed converting one catalog kiosk into a 30-minute print station for patrons with quick printing or brief email needs.
On staff development, Jenny said the library plans to increase training funds and continue purchasing on-demand library-specific training content (the Ryan Dowd package) for quarterly staff training and mental-health and customer-service topics.
The board did not take formal votes on capital purchases at this meeting; Jenny said budget discussions with the city begin in November.
The meeting closed with routine items; board members were asked to consider timing and next steps for budget follow-up and technology planning.
