Library of virginia

When the Board of Supervisors originally voted to leave PRL on July 8th, 2024, their original intent was to operate their own county library and planned to use King & Queen as their model. KQ have county employees operate their own library. They promised this would lead to improved services at a lower cost.

However, when King William County contacted Library of Virginia staff to provide an estimate of what it would cost the county just to replicate what KW residents currently receive for an annual cost of $602,907, the state library it would cost at least double.

Though the Board maintained that LVA was mistaken in their estimate, they then decided to have a private contractor, Library Systems and Services, operate the library on behalf of King William. There has been no confirmation as to which services this company will improve on or what it will cost.

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

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Save King William’s Libraries!

Library of virginia

CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE OF INDEPENDENT LIBRARY: $1.1 MILLION

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