The King William County Board of Supervisors has voted to leave the Pamunkey Regional Library system to start an independent library. This means all King William patrons will lose access to the millions of resources available with PRL. Stay informed on what this will mean and how you can make your voice heard!
SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE OUR LIBRARIES!
Please click the link below to sign a petition asking the Board of Supervisors to reverse their decision to leave PRL.
Events
Wednesday, Dec. 4
Town Hall
6:30 PM
Upper King William Senior Center
Wednesday, Dec. 4
Town Hall
The Library of Virginia will be presenting cost analysis for an independent county library. Residents are welcome to attend and ask question...
6:30 PM
Upper King William Senior Center
Monday, December 9
Board of Supervisors Meeting
6:30 PM
County Administration Building - Board Room 180 Horse Landing Road King William, VA 23086
Monday, December 9
Board of Supervisors Meeting
Regular meeting of the KW Board of Supervisors. If you are unable to attend, you can view the livestream at this link. The feed will be avai...
6:30 PM
County Administration Building - Board Room 180 Horse Landing Road King William, VA 23086
Conservative Estimate of Independent Library: $1.1 Million
The Library of Virginia’s Library Development and Networking Division have provided King William with a *conservative* estimate of what it will cost to operate an independent library: an excess of $1.1 MILLION. These are cost to be paid *every year* not including any initial investment. Available grant funding for King William would only be around $175,120.
Per the attached copy of the cost/benefit analysis obtained by a resident though a FOIA request, the estimate is listed at $1,125,115. As a reminder, we currently pay $602,907 to be a part of Pamunkey and PRL requested $652,645 to have both branches open at full hours.
This number DOES NOT include:
- Costs for hotspots
- Databases like Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest that we currently have access to with PRL
- The true cost of entering a consortium for Libby, as well as the Hoopla and Kanopy access we have access to now because those costs are not revealed until after the companies have evaluated the library in question
- Or any initial startup costs like renovations for the new building, furniture, library cards, and other supplies.
Even with this high cost, residents would still LOSE access to:
- All of the physical materials that are available at the 7 other branch libraries
- The convenience of access to branches in other counties
- Guarantee of reciprocal agreements currently available with PRL
Frequently Asked Questions
Please reach us at Ask@savethekwlibrary.org if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Every patron of either the Upper King William or West Point branch will lose access to Pamunkey Regional Library and any of its resources and will not be able to get a PRL card in the future while they reside in King William.
This decision affects anyone living in King William, including the Town of West Point.
If King William wants to run their own library, our taxpayers will be solely responsible for paying for every resource both electronic and physical including: books, tv shows, movies, music, Launchpads, magazines, online databases, and newspapers.
They will also be responsible for paying for new computers, electronic equipment, supplies, software for records management, transportation and gas to move books between the two branches (if there are two branches), and be solely responsible for paying the salary and benefits for a new library director (at least one staff member with a Master of Library Science to be eligible to receive state funding) and administrative staff.
You can contact the Board of Supervisors and let them know you disagree with their decision to leave PRL. Here is a link to a template email you can send: Template
You can also sign an online petition requesting that the Board of Supervisors reverse their decision to leave PRL in order to create their own independent library.
You can choose to speak at the Board meetings during the Citizen Comment period, which does require you to sign up ahead of time. You can also attend and speak via Zoom or submit your written comment only, just follow this link: https://www.kwc.gov/FormCenter/Administration-6/PUBLIC-COMMENT-Register-to-Speak-or-Subm-64
Fact vs. Fiction
There is a lot of misinformation about the library and the decision to leave PRL's system. Click below to learn the facts.
Board of Supervisors
The Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to leave PRL. Click below to see contact information for each Board member so you can share your thoughts with them.
Pamunkey Regional Library
Discover the hundreds of thousands of resources currently available!
Visit PRL's website to see all of the resources King William residents will lose access to after the Board of Supervisor's decision to leave the regional system. Following King & Queen's lead, we will lose access to books, eBooks, audiobooks, movies, music, comics, magazines, databases, programs, full use of meeting/study rooms at 8 other branches, and more; All of these services are currently accessible to you, free of cost, with your PRL card.
King & Queen's SIMILAr Decision and how it cost taxpayers
This website uses cookies.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.