Newspaper Page Text
6-A
— The Summerville News, Thursday, February 3, 2000
Fewer Hours, Staft Cutbacks
Possible At County Libraries
from front page
been told there are other f)riori
ties before fundir;ggublic ibrarf'
initiatives and needs. When will
libraries have ‘a year' of progres
sive funding?” she asked the gov
ernor in her letter dated Jan. 26.
In an even more blunt letter,
she wrote Dr. Kenneth H.
Breeden, commissioner of the
DTAE.
“The lack of financial sup
port for public libraries proposed
in Governor Barnes’ budget for
FY2OOI is aPl?alling," she wrote
on Jan. 28. “Further, the priori
ties selected for funding are not
in our best interest . . . . Our de
mands increase for more books,
more services, more programs
and more operating hours and we
are expected to do this with less
money.
FAILING
“Obviously, those who are
consulting with the Fovemor and
with you on public library needs
are failing in the process or they
simply do not understand the
important role our libraries
should play in Georgia,” Ms.
Stewart wrote Breeden. “Poor
decisions are made on our behalf,
and it is evident that DTAE lead
ership does not seriously con
sider the recommendations from
57 library directors in Georgia . .
Ms. Hutsell said all public
libraries in Georgia receive four
categories of line-item funding
from the state: personnel, M&O,
materials and travel. Ever{thing
els.tell must be paid for locally, she
said.
The 1998-1999 fiscal year
state allocation for the Summer
ville and Trion libraries was
$134,640, records showed. That
paid for two professional staff
positions, her and Susan
Ste({)hens. plus materials, M&O
and travel.
REP. REECE
Ms. Hutsell said she and
Nettie Pepe-Parham, chairman
of the library system’s Board of
Trustees, visited with state Rep.
Barbara Massey Reece, D-Menlo,
on Jan. 20. They expressed their
concerns about the cuts and Ms.
Hutsell reported that Rep. Reece
indicated support for the librar
ies’ position.
The local libraries received
more money in 1998-1999 from
governments in the county than
they did from the state, records
showed. That $149,640 came
from Chattooga County $55,600,
Town of Trion $44,304, City of
Summerville $41,049, Chattooga
County Board of Education,
$5,000, City of Menlo $1,760;
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ACCEPTED
CALL
(706) 857-2700
OR
(706) 857-3326
—~HOURS —
Monday - Fridla 8:3.0 - 5:3.0 Or Until ?
Saturday 8:30 - 1:30
JOSEPH JACKSON
AUTO SALES
10621 COMMERCE STREET
SUMMERVILLE, GA 30747
and Town of Lyerly $1,300.
They also received $6,805
in donations and $10,745 in
other income for total revenue of
$301,204, records showed.
EXPENSES :
Expenditures in 1998-99
included: salaries $174,445,
benefits $45,250, utilities
$33,688, books and materials
$14,842, repair and mainte
nance $9,127 and other costs
$18,953, for a total of $296,306.
That doesn’t mean the li
brary recorded a surplus in
1998-1999, Ms. Hutsell g‘ointed
out. The libra?' started the year
with a deficit from the grevious
fiscal year, she said, and the ap
parent “surplus” helped even out
the deficit.
Libraries Loan 55,000 Items
42,000 Visits Made To Facilities During One Year
More than 55,000 items
were loaned to patrons of the
Chattooga County Library Sys
tem durinfi fiscal year 1998-
1999, records show.
Of the total, 47,340 were
loaned by the Summerville Li
brary and 7,685 by the Trion
Branch Library.
Summerville has 38,464
volumes while Trion has 10,024
books, according to a report by
Barbara Hutsell, director of the
county’s library system.
PERIODICALS
Summerville subscribes to
69 Eeriodicals and Trion sub
scribes to 17.
The Summerville Library
has 1,428 videos for loan while
Trion has 44. All 902 audio ma
terials are located at the Sum
merville facility.
Trion has 3,617 registered
borrowers and Summerville has
9,485, Ms. Hutsell reported.
42,000 VISITS
Atotal of 35,501 visits were
made to the Summerville Li
brary in 1998-1999 and 6,548 to
the Trion building, for a total of
42,049.
Circulation of materials to
children totaled 14,553 in Sum
merville that same year, and
3,474 in Trion. Program atten
dance for children totaled 2,620
at Summerville and 612 at the
Trion branch, Ms. Hutsell said.
Peoi)le made 7,305 refer
ence calls to the Summerville
facility and 1,038 to the Trion Li
The Chattoog}z: library sys
tem had to close the Menlo and
Lyerly branches several years ago
because of a lack of support from
the councils in those towns, Ms.
Stewart said at that time.
The Summerville library is
open about 51 hours weekly V\%ile
the Trion library is oren 39 hours
a week, Ms. Hutsell said in her
regort to the Chattooga County
Library Board of Trustees Tues
day afternoon.
HOURS
The Summerville library is
open the following hours, accord
ing to a sign on tghe door: Mon
day 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday,
10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 10
a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday, 10 am.
to 8 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 6
brary.
Summerville borrowed 58
items from other libraries for lo
cal people and loaned 16 items to
libraries outside Chattooga
County.
INTERNET
The Summerville Library
has 14 computers, 13 of which
have Internet access available to
the public. Trion has four com
puters. Two of them have Inter
net access.
The Summerville building is
located at 360 Farrar Drive and
the Trion Library is at 15 Bulldog
Boulevard.
TRUSTEES
Officers of the library board
are Nettie Pepe-Parham, chair
man; Pam Echols, vice chairman;
Dorothy Kennedy, secretary; and
Jimmie Vaughn, treasurer.
Trustees appointed by
County Commissioner Jim
Parker are Ms. Echols, Ms.
Kennedy, Archibald Farrar Jr.,
Tim Perry and Ken Tribble.
Town of Trion appointees
Software Glitch No
Problem: Hutsell
The Public Information Net
work for Electronic Services
(PINES) is working well for inter
nal purposes in the Chattooga
County Library System but a so%t
ware glitch in an Atlanta com
puter server has prevented local
gatrons from using its inter-li
rary loan feature.
PINES debuted on Dec. 9
and the system was touted as the
latest technology for allowing li
brary patrons to order and bor
rowrgooks from 25 other systems
in the state themselves. As of
noon on Monday - almost two
months later — that feature was
not working. ,
WORKS NOW?
It might be working by late
this week or before, library offi
cials added.
PINES is used internally
now by the library staff and pro
vides such services as cataloging
materials and sending overdue
notices to patrons, officials said.
If the PINES computers and
network had not been installed,
the Trion and Summerville li
braries would have had serious
problems, said Barbara Hutsell,
director of the Chattooga library
system. Those two libraries’ older
computer system was not Y2K
compliant and refused to work as
of Jan. 1, she said, However, the
PINES system had been installed
in earlg' December.
She said that isn’t a problem
for registered users because they
can still order books that those
two libraries might not have on
the shelves.
LOANS AVAILABLE
It would be done through the
inter-library loan system, she
said. A patron can now order a
{)articular book through the local
ibraries’ staff, which then con
tacts a library that has the book
and obtains it for the person, Ms.
Hutsell said.
“It’s not something I have
been overly concerned with,” she
said of the server software glitch
involving the ordering of books
via the PINES computer system.
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‘p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m.to 5
p.m.
If the governor’s proposed
M&O cuts remain in his budget,
Ms. Hutsell speculated Monday,
it could become necessary to re
duce the hours they are open on
Fridays and Saturday to half
days, and eliminate one or more
staff positions.
EXPANSION
Instead of cutbacks, the lo
cal library system needs to ex
pand its hours of operation, she
said. It needs to be open on Sun
day afternoon and open until 8
p.m. on Monday, Wednesday
and Friday, instead of just to 6
p.m., Ms. Hutsell said.
are June Grose, Dale McCollum,
Debbie Turner and Sue Hayes.
The City of Summerville
named Allen “Butch” Eleam,
Milford Morgan, Montyne Payne
and Ms. Vaughn.
Named %)y the Chattooga
County Board of Education were
Diane Humphreys and Maxine
West.
The Town of Lyerly aE
pointed Carolyn Mayo while the
City of Menlo's appomtee is Ms.
Pepe-Parham.
The board members serve
without pay.
“FRIENDS”
Officers of the Friends of the
Library, a civic organization
dedicated to supporting the li
brary, are Cheryl Farrar, presi
dent, plus Joyce Brown and
Kristy Parker.
Ms. Hutsell and Ms.
Stephens are in charge of the
Summerville Library while
Connie Mikovits is Summerville
Branch manager. Beth Simmons
is Trion Branch Library man
ager.
The PINES server is located
at the Office of Library Services,
state Department of Technical
and Adug Education, Atlanta.
State computer technicians
and the software vendor have
been working on the problem
since it was discovered, Ms.
Hutsell indicated.
As explained by Ms. Hutsell
and Connie Mikovits, Summer
ville Branch Library manager:
If a local library patron
searches the other 25 lii)rar_v Sys
tems for a certain item, the soft
ware sends the request to the
other libraries bascg on their al
phabetical order. In this case, the
request would go to the Brooks
County Library, one of the state’s
smaller facilities.
If several patrons in the
other 25 systems with PINES
order that same book, it could
have numerous “holds” placed
on it. In one actual case, a ribrary
in the system had 11 holds placed
on the same book.
One problem is that a small
library mliht have only one copy
of the book and with 11 holds, it
likely would be more than a year
before the patron in Chattooga
County coul;()i obtain access to tfie
book.
ROLL OVER
The software needs to “roll
over” the local book request to
the next library system, or more
especially to a larger system
within the network tfiat has sev
eral copies of the requested book.
That will help keep numerous
holds from being placed on only
one available book in one system.
Since the pre-existing inter
library loan system doesn’t work
that way, those problems don't
occur and local patrons can ob
tain quicker access to a particu
lar book that is not on local
shelves.
However, once the PINES
software glitch is repaired, local
patrons will be able to order re
quested books directl% via com
guter without the staff having to
ecome directly involved in the
transaction.
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Addition To Lyerly School Progressing
Lyerly Elementary School’s new 14-room
addition is pro%':essinfi nicely, said Principal
Doug Suits. The bui dirhg] will house &e
school’s administrative offices, lunchroom,
Filters Unneeded On
Library Computers
Director: Staff Monitors Patron’s Internet Use
The Chattooga County Li
brary System does not have fil
tering software on its Internet
accessible computers but its staff
monitors use of them in an ef
fort to ensure that they are not
used improperly, such as juve
niles seeking out pornographic
sites.
Barbara Hutsell, library di
rector, said filtering software has
proven to have too many glitches
Trion Police
Answer 191
Calls In Dec.
The Trion Police Depart
ment answered 191 calls in De
cember, reports stated.
Other information an
nounced by Chief Charles Latta
follows:
Officers issued 31 verbal
warnings and one written warn
ing.
Fourteen parking citations
were given and seven wrecks
were investigated.
Nineteen incident reports
were received and 40 arrests, ci
tations or cases were made dur
ing the month.
The department performed
47 escorts for funerals and
helped Chattooga County depu
ties and Georgia State Patrol
troopers and Chattooga Emer
gency Medical Agency personnel
in 28 incidents.
Thirty-six animals were
picked up in Trion.
Trion officers patrolled
6,300 miles during the month.
Clothing Drive Set
By CHS Pep Squad
The Chattooga High School
Pep Squad will sponsor its first
“Have-A-Heart” Clothing drive
in association with Papa John’s
Pizza in the Ingles Shopping
Center, Summerville.
The group asked for clean
useable clothing, which will be
donated to the Chattooga Cloth
ing Closet.
Items can be dropped off at
Chattooga High School or at
Papa John’s Pizza. Papa John's
Pizza will offer a 50-cent dis
count if customers bring clothes
items to their store for a dona
tion and then order a dpizza.
Sponsors asked that all
clothing be on hangers.
Papa John's Pizza can be
reached at 857-1817 and Pati
Turner at 857-3477.
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computer lab, libr;ry, :(ifht classrooms and
other facilities. It is scheduled for completion
this coming summer. (Staff Photo By D. J.
Laan).
that can cause computers to
crash, as well as relatively inef
fective due to the number of new
Internet porn sites and the re
naming of old porn sites to by
pass the software.
DON’T WORK
“Filters really do not work
forthe purpose for which they are
designed,” she said.
For example, a student or
adult might want to obtain infor
mation on breast cancer but be
cause the word “breast” is listed
as forbidden in most filtering
software, that topic cannot be re
searched on the Internet.
The Chattooga Library Sys
tem is one of 37 %or 65 percent)
in Georgia that do not ffifer any
Internet content, according to a
Jan. 25-Jan. 27 email survey of
all 57 systems in the state, ac
cording to a report she received.
11 FILTERED
Eleven systems (or 19 per
cent) filter all their Internet com
uters, the data stated, while five
?9 percent) filter computers used
by children only.
Some computers are filtered
by three systems (5 percent)
while one system filters adult
computers (2 percent), the data
showed.
15 SYSTEMS
The Summerville Library
has 13 Internet-capable comput
ers while the Trion branch has
two Internet-ready computers,
she said.
People 18 and older are re
c‘;xired to sign a statement that
they will use the Internet com
puters properly, she said. The
parents of those who are 17 or
younger have to sign the same
statement that they will make
sure their children use the termi-
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nals properly.
EI tm?nk the gublic can be
confident that they are Bro
tected,” Ms. Hutsell said. Vigi
lance on part of the library staff,
which monitors use of the com
puters and the physical arranfis
ment of the terminals within the
libraries, also helps prevent mis
use, she added.
CONCERNED
“We here at the library are
very concerned about the safety
of our children, grandchildren,
nieces and nephews,” she added.
The library attempts to
make sure that communig stan
dards are u{.)held, she added.
Special interest groups on
both sides of the issue - such as
radio talk show hostess Dr. Laura
and the American Civil Liberties
Union — are making libraries
walk a “tight rope” between to
ta[‘ilicense and censorship, she
said.
We want to say THANK YOU to all our cus
tomers for your patronage the past 10 years
«.JT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
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SUMMERVILLE
o L
$10.6-Million
®
‘Raise Up’
Plan Pushed
The Georfl'a Council of Pub
lic Libraries has submitted a
$10.6-million proposal to the
state to improve and reorganize
libraries throughout the state.
The measure has been en
dorsed by the Council as well as
by the Georgia Library Associa
tion, Georgla Municipal Associa
tion and the Association County
Commissioners of Geoxgfia.
It is named “Raise Up Geor
gia Public Libraries for tfie New
Millennium.”
RETOOL
Council material indicates
that the program would retool
thelibranes’ 1950 s structure and
the 1980 s funding mechanism
for fiscal year 2000-2001. It will
begin July 1.
The cost would be $1.36 per
person in Georgia, they stated.
Goals are to expand and im
prove public library services in
every county, encourage coop
eration and collaboration amon
library systems and preserve ang
strengthen the standard of pro
fessional librarian services, the
data stated.
STATE 40TH
A primary goal would be to
raise Georgia’s public libraries
from 40th in the nation in oper
ating funds to be competitive
with other states.
Other provisions listed:
* Professional positions for
the 57 library systems would be
based “fairly on population” to
eliminate inequities to largest li
braries.
* Provide administrative
grants for each multi-county sys
tem to preserve the regional
structure and encourage shared
administrative costs.
30 HOURS
* Offer personnel grants for
each county in multi-county sys
tems to keep libraries open at
least 30 hours weekly.
* Provide incentive grants
for libraries with per capita local
support greater than their per
capita state support.
* Give a $3,600 materials
base grant for every county li
brary in Georgia.
Future of the proposal re
ma(ilns uncertain, library officials
said.