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Emmet O'Neal Library assessed as exemplary

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Photo courtesy of Emmet O’Neal Library.

The Emmet O'Neal Library performed well in a recent assessment done by the Mercer Group.

Ninety-eight percent of survey respondents said they were very satisfied or satisfied with the quality of library services. The average rate in other communities is 52 percent.

The library compared more closely to national libraries it was compared to than local libraries in regard to circulation per capita, budget, staffing and other matters, Steve Egan of The Mercer Group said during a presentation at the Feb. 23 city council meeting.

“It’s good to know we are exemplary. We try to do the best we can with the city’s resources,” Library Director Sue Debrecht said. “I think it should be encouraging to you that our comparatives are in Connecticut.”

The assessment lists the strengths of the library as:

The group also looked for future opportunities and believes that the library should try to keep up with technology and expand outreach and communications to better inform the community. Egan suggested the library look into self-checkout stations and emphasized the most that they need some sort of personnel board or human resources staff person to be up to a standard for the public sector.

Some major threats for the library could be the loss of funding and support from the city and the recession affecting the local economy.

“A lot of the weaknesses are really procedural or operational,” Egan said.

The most notable place of concern Egan said he saw was a funding loss from the Jefferson County Library Cooperative.

However, Debrecht said she has been working on new alternatives for funding and resources to replace the cooperative's if it goes “belly up.” She has been in negotiations with Innovative, which runs the library system’s database, so the library can contract with them independently if needed.

From here, Egan will work with the library on its implementation plan based on the results.

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