Opinion: Alarmed by proposal to privatize library, calls for feasibility study

Dear Council Members:

I am both alarmed and dismayed at the current proposal to privatize the Oak Ridge Public Library beginning January 2016. I understand the City Council’s need to create a workable budget for the upcoming year, but we must beware of making sudden major changes to a valuable city resource on the vague promise of saving money. It is unconscionable that the city would make such a change without a full feasibility study of particulars, both positive and negative, along with full documentation of public comment and thoughtful analysis and response to those comments. Such a study is crucial because it would reveal the extent to which privatization would affect the city’s long-term ability to meet its citizens’ needs as well as its finances. More importantly, the study is necessary in order for our Council and citizens to exercise informed consent or dissent on the matter.

The feasibility study should be conducted in stages:

1. a widely publicized plan of how the study is to be conducted, including a schedule (publicized through the library, newspapers, Internet news, city website);
2. a thorough analysis of the particulars of the Oak Ridge Library holdings and history, our library’s financials connected with specific services, financial and service outcomes of libraries with similar holdings and history before and after privatization, a thorough examination of the proposed private companies’ history (both positive and negative), especially, but not limited to, financials connected with services, continuity of library holdings, overall customer satisfaction, and outcomes of interactions with other cities that considered similar contracts (whether or not the contracts undertaken);
3. wide public dissemination of the information from Stage 2;
4. a publicized response period of 4-6 weeks for public comment in writing (not telephone surveys);
5. a final analysis incorporating the public comments, thoughtful responses to the comments, and additional supporting facts (positive and negative); and
6. public dissemination of the final analysis (publicized through the library, newspapers, Internet news, city website).

Oak Ridge has a number of citizens, including current Council members, who are familiar with feasibility studies as part of their employment and who can provide more guidance in how a feasibility study should be undertaken. Let us build on these valuable skills to strengthen our community and not rush to make changes that we might later regret.

Gay Marie Logsdon

Oak Ridge

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