To: Chair Eugene Matsusaka and Members of the Board of Trustees

Date: September 1, 2009

From: Neel Parikh, Executive Director

Subject: Tacoma Public Library Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement

Since July 1, 2008, Tacoma and Pierce County Library residents have had the ability to use their neighboring library at no cost. This was designated as a trial period in order to assess the impact of reciprocal borrowing on each library. We have had numerous positive verbal and written comments from Tacoma and Pierce County Library residents, indicating that they appreciate that the two libraries are working collaboration and the ability to use each other’s libraries. It is not uncommon for me to hear people in the community comment about how good it is that we have ‘joined’ together with Tacoma Public Library.

Evaluation: Pierce County Library serve 534,000 residents. Tacoma population is 203,400. We agreed to evaluate the pilot project based on the following data:

· Number of cards issued

· Circulation by users

· Snapshot of holds by Tacoma residents

· Items returned to the wrong library

· Use of online resources

Unfortunately, Tacoma Public Library has not been able to provide us data regarding these categories. Susan Odencrantz indicated last month there was a possibility this data might be retrievable. If I have more information available during the Board meeting, I will report to you.

Attached is a chart for Pierce County Library System use during the entire evaluation period showing new cards issued, circulation by Tacoma residents and current holds by Tacoma residents from July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2009. The cardholder numbers are shown by branch.

Cardholders: We have 3,862 City of Tacoma cardholders. This is an increase of 105% in the last 6 months. We anticipated that the majority of the use by Tacoma residents would come from the regions closer to our libraries. The data confirms that expectation, but also shows some interesting patterns. The top five libraries used in order are:

1. University Place

2. Lakewood

3. Parkland/Spanaway

4. Outreach Services

5. Summit

University Place, Parkland/Spanaway and Summit clearly fall into the categories of libraries in close proximity of the city limits of Tacoma. The high use of Lakewood library probably shows the use by Tacoma residents who work in or have business in Lakewood. The high number of Outreach cardholders is directly related to outreach by the department at community events throughout the county and is probably a testimony to, in particular, our services for speakers of other languages.

Usage: Tacoma residents usage of the Pierce County Library System increased by 57% in the last half of the pilot period. The per capita use by cardholders during the pilot project was 36 items. Tacoma residents use represented 1.6% of our circulation in 2008 and 2.3% in 2009. Tacoma residents represented 7.8% of our new cardholder registration during this the last six months and 6.5% of our new cardholder registration during the last half of 2008.

Holds Use: It is also interesting to note the number of holds by cardholders has increased by 163%. Apparently Tacoma cardholders are using the holds process.

Use of Online Resources: Unfortunately, we were not able to retrieve information regarding Tacoma use of our databases. The methodology used for tracking database use, does not allow us to retrieve the residents (even the zip codes) of users. This is also true for Tacoma Public Library.

Revenue Impact: Purchase of non-resident cards is the only evident revenue impact from this agreement. Since the beginning of the program, we have received no non-resident card revenue. As of June 29, 2009, we showed a loss of $1,343 revenue total.

Items Returned to the Wrong Library: In 2009, 454 TPL items were returned to PCLS and approximately 700 PCLS items were returned to TPL. This is a significant increase from 2008. We continue to exchange at Swazy Branch weekly. TPL sends us approximately one crate a week.

Other Service Requests: We continue to receive other service requests from Tacoma residents misunderstanding the meaning of reciprocal borrowing. However, as people become more familiar with the reciprocal borrowing, we are receiving less inappropriate requests for service.

Agreement:

Susan Odencrantz and I discussed the pilot project last month. We both agreed that it had been a success. Although Susan cannot provide us information, she says that it has not had a major impact on her library system and recommends that we continue. Therefore, I have attached a revised Inter-Local Agreement that reflects the change of status from project to program and I would recommend the Board approve this agreement. Susan has reviewed this draft. The Tacoma Public Library Board will review the agreement on September 16, 2009.

Note: At the last meeting it was suggested that we add “online databases” to the third Whereas. I have decided not to do this because our real focus was borrowing, not databases, and I felt it weakened the document.

Neel Parikh, Executive Director § 3005 112th St East § Tacoma, Washington 98446-2215 § 253.536.6500 § FAX 253.537.4600