Escondido considering outsourced library management

For the San Diego Union Tribune, reporter J. Harry Jones relates that the Escondido Library Board of Trustees unanimously decided to recommend that the City Council not outsource library operations to Library Systems and Services.

I recently left a community where the public library system was operated by LS&S — one among more than 80 public libraries around the United States.

In Jackson County, Oregon, the library board was exploring how to get out of its contract with LS&S. News coverage at the time addressed library officials’ estimation that a third of the money given to LS&S, went to overhead and profits. They believed library salaries and services were curtailed as a result.

In the case of Escondido, as reported by Jones, LS&S would replace roughly three dozen employees of the Escondido Public Library, “although some of the longest-serving workers would be eligible for other city jobs. The rest would be given the option of working for the company, but without the many benefits that come with working for the city such as an attractive pension plan.

“Opponents of the plan worry that the quality of library employees would suffer as more-experienced librarians leave for jobs at other public-operated libraries.”