Does the spending never end?
There was a “feel good” story in this weekend’s Ottawa Citizen, Vending machine library hits the spot by Joanne Chianello. I don’t know if it’s only me but when I read this, there was one paragraph that jumped out at me:
“The capital expenditure for the two machines, which included installation and set-up costs, was $100,000. Another $50,000 in operating costs are associated with handling returns and re-stocking the machines, plus a new service where staff hold “library hours” twice a week at the community centre. (This is in addition to weekly bookmobile service in the area.)”
$100,000 for two machines? And another $50,000 in operating costs?
I took the liberty of writing to my councillor, Maria McRae, on this matter. I anxiously await the explanation of these costs.
E-mail to Maria McRae:
Dear Councillor McRae,
I read in the Ottawa Citizen of the new library kiosks in the Hunt Club Community Centre. The story said they cost $100,000 to buy the machines and then it will be another $50,000 in operating costs. And that is in addition to new on-site “library hours” and the weekly bookmobile costs. Would kindly let me know the cost breakdown and the justification of the added expenditures? $50,000 in operating costs seems rather high. Is this per annum?
I look forward to hearing from you very soon on this. Library budgets are already over budget so these additional costs only add to the pressures which are always covered by property taxes.
Regards,
Blake Batson
I am praying the operating costs are for at least 5 years!!
This had better NOT impact the Bookmobile and its services to our community one bit. Why do we need a kiosk, at any price!
Also I don’t recall two being installed but only one.
The bookmobile makes multiple stops including in the evening.
These kiosks are ‘outlets’ and should never have any staff to hold library hours.
The library budget is already strapped and if the costs were ever told before installation of these kiosks then the community would have said, NO!
Then again this is a typical McRae move…full speed ahead
and it’s her way or the highway!!
This is her golden legacy and it will come back and haunt the community and the taxpayers long after she’s gone back north!
Newspaper reading is dropping fast, everything can be obtained on line, but we keep on talking of building new libraries instead of renovating the existing excellent located buildings. Now we have portable machines at the Hunt Club community centre (home of Maria McRae’s empire), at a cost which would make the sale of one those books a disaster deficit. But the story we saw in the newspaper included the photo of Maria McRae who as usual squeezes in another opportunity to make her image look good for the next election,there’s no guessing as to her running in the next election. She also appeared
with her entourage at the Denbury BBQ on the weekend, free beer and burgers for the residents, compliments of Maria(Enbridge a very loyal sponsor) along with her newsletter with her photo and Ottawa City councillor credentials, the other 2 candidates were not permitted to come to this private party that was turned into a campaign party. Some of her tactics remind of old time politics played by Maurice Duplessis premier of Quebec in the 40′s and 50′s, he paved the roads and gave gifts to his loyal constituents, also known as buying votes.
Blake stop crying as some councillor think that kind of money its only CHUMP POCKET CHANGE including Maria Mc Rae is that an updated picture .All councillors should have to use updated pictures not their high school year book pictures thats deceitful Money our money means very little to any councillors around the table most have to go A.S.A.P OCT 25TH is to far away Keep up the good work Blake
This is just another example of councillors who simply don’t understand, or perhaps worse forgotten, where the money comes from. They also have no idea how truly heavy the burden they lay on the shoulders of residents through ever increasing tax rates is. If Councillor McRae thinks this book kiosk is such a good idea, then she should go buy one at her own expense. I have a feeling her interest in the project would drop rapidly, to put it mildly.
“…The trouble with socialism, is that sooner or later you run out of other peoples money…”
Margret Thatcher.
I really should spell check “before” I post.. sigh..
Half the time they are out of order. I’ve returned books there when I’ve missed the book mobile. Also would be very easy to steal someones dropped off books all you have to do is stick your hand in. Its a wooden box. I noticed that last time I was there, as I made a point of making sure mine were pushed well in.
We missed out on a new library all those years ago but I would rather see all of this money spent on the Bookmobiles and increased programs for the preteens in our area….at ALta Vista and Greenboro.
It’s a pilot project that has already spun out of control and crashed and burned!!
100k for installation and setup is probably reasonable for a new location. 50k/yr seems a bit excessive to refill a book vending machine, though the “library hours” at the site might account for that.
One thing worth noting is that the project was originally budgeted at $250,000, but according to http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/library/2009/10-19/091019_3.htm the technology chosen was significantly less expensive than planned. The capital budget item was reduced from $250k to $78,000. Perhaps the Citizen is rounding up to the nearest $100k? Or maybe the costs went up since then?
At any rate, nobody balked when it was to cost $250k, but now there’s a complaint?
Dave0 the problem is, that no one believes these estimates. We have seen it time and time again where the estimates bear no resemblance to the cost of the project or aquisition once the dust settles. Just a couple recent examples. The bus barn and LRT. So at least for my part, I am having a hard time drumming up support for any project, not because I think it may or may not be a good idea, but because I am tired of being lied to over and over again about how much it will cost.
Ok, so thumbnail calculations on that;
* 1700 books since April, so lets say 5000 books per year
* Capital expenditure of $200K for the machines but lets depreciate them over 10 years, so ~$20K/year
* It’s not clear if $50K operating expenses are yearly but lets assume they are. “Another $50,000 in operating costs are associated with handling returns and re-stocking the machines, plus a new service where staff hold “library hours” twice a week at the community centre.”. The expenses aren’t solely associated with the machines, but providing additional library support in the absence of a local library.
* so ~70K/year to provide ~5000 book checkouts and returns. That’s about $12 per lend if we assign all costs to book lending
* It’s been calculated elsewhere (http://www.piepalace.ca/blog/2010/07/1440.html#comment-82046) that the average library lend costs (total budget divided by lends) is about $4.
$12 per lend is a bit high, but this is intended as a stopgap measure in the absence of a local library. Actual lend costs are probably a bit higher than that because we’re not taking into account the book acquisition and management costs, etc. Doubt it’s higher than $15 though.
Overall I’d say this isn’t crazy spending; it’s a pilot project and it’s intended to improve services in the absence of a local library. Price per lend will go down as this is streamlined and better understood. It’s well within the mandate of the Library to do this.
Doesn’t looks *so* bad to me.
Argh, my math was bad. Make that $14 per lend.
But you get the point…
@gwap. Are you saying that taxpayers are paying $14 everytime someone borrows a book via one of these vending machines? And if that is what you are suggesting, are you okay with that?
I think $4 per book is too high…but I appreciate the discussion. I am learning a lot about our libraries.
@Nick, let’s try and stay on topic here… this isn’t about the bus garage (poor planning) or the LRT (doesn’t actually have a budget or a shovel in the ground yet, so claiming overruns is quite premature), it’s about a library project that was budgeted and has been completed. From what I can tell, the library’s track record of keeping things on-budget is better than other branches of the city (OC Transpo, the police service, etc).
@gawp, using your calculations, $12/lend is probably more appropriate given that the machines seem to have a capital cost of about $100k, not $200k. And, it’s not really appropriate to compare this to the Pie Palace calculation of $4/book, given that your $12 number is addressing direct costs through the vending machine program, while the $4 number divides the total cost of all library programs by total circulation.
@Blake, $4/book is based on dividing the library’s entire operating budget (approx $40M) by the number of items lent (approx 10M). That’s not the actual cost of circulating a book, for a number of reasons. First, that $40M includes all non-circulation programs the library runs (in-branch reference materials, computer access, all the “community centre” stuff that has you so bent out of shape, etc) as well as those costs directly related to circulating the 10M checkouts. And second, as library use increases, the $4/book number will go down, not up, as the incremental cost of circulating additional items is quite marginal — I’d say it’s probably more on the order of pennies per item until the library hits the capacity of the existing staff and infrastructure.
Personally, I think it would make more sense to provide increased bookmobile service to underserviced areas, perhaps with library-connected computers in the community centre so that residents without computers or internet access can reserve items for pick-up at the next bookmobile visit. Unfortunately, the existing two bookmobiles are already stretched to their limits, and the cost of an additional one (both capital and operating) is likely to be far, far more than the kiosk pilot program.
The pilot program itself may be a good intermediate step between a bookmobile stop and a “full” library branch, but I don’t see it ever being more than a stopgap measure. If it’s a success, demand will outstrip the ability of two vending machines to serve the area, so something larger and more permanent will be required. If it’s a failure, then they won’t be needed. Either way, within a couple of years the vending machines won’t be there, having been either replaced by a branch library, or moved to a different location.
@Blake: I’ll go with what Dave0 said.
We do not need a kiosk at the Hunt Club Riverside Community Centre. The bookmobile is located opposite the Centre in the Metro Shopping Plaza, a two-minute walk from the Centre! Do we honestly need to spend $150,000 at a time when we are in an economic downturn and the City is facing tremendous fiscal challenges? This decision to install a ‘kiosk’ at that cost can only be deemed as totally irresponsible.
It would have been money well spent to provide access for individuals with physicial disabilities within the building at much lower costs.
Thanks, Blake, for bringing this valuable information to our attention.
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