Some thoughts about money

By Jeff Cann, ACLS Finance Director

When I moved to Gettysburg in 2005, the Gettysburg branch of the Adams County Library System was an unexpected treat. My neighborhood library branch in my prior city was a dismal place, dark, cramped and understaffed. Like most of my neighbors, I used the airy Barnes & Noble located nearby as my destination for all-things-books. Imagine my excitement walking into the Gettysburg library, located just one mile from home. I found it to be a welcoming place, similar in size and vibe to the big bookstore I previously called home.

I’m sorry to say I never made it to other branches until I started working for the library system in 2018, but when I did, I was equally impressed by what we offer the various communities around the county. Certainly, our five satellite branches are smaller than our headquarters building in Gettysburg, but each is a welcoming place with cheerful and helpful staff. And thanks to our daily delivery runs, all patrons have two-day access to any available book or DVD within the library system.

As part of this on-going series of “ACLS 101” articles, I was asked to write a bit about the costs to run our library system. The library system as a whole is a $2.8 million annual operation, with about $500,000 dedicated directly to running the Gettysburg library and another $640,000 to our five satellite branches. The branches vary in size from a single room tucked within a municipal building to multi-floor buildings with public meeting spaces and even (in one case) a bookstore.

Something interesting about the library is that the only building we own besides our main building in Gettysburg is our branch in East Berlin. The other facilities are provided free of charge through various agreements: two branches are owned by their borough (Littlestown and New Oxford); one is rented to us, and the full cost of rent is reimbursed by the four townships in that branch district (Carroll Valley), and one branch building is owned by a private foundation for the benefit of a community library (Harbaugh-Thomas Library in Biglerville).

If you’re doing the math, you know we’re far short of that $2.8 million budget. What’s missing?

Well, obviously, the books—and audiobooks and DVDs. And the various electronic materials available to all patrons, regardless of branch, like digital magazines from Newsstand, and free streaming music from Freegal, job hunting assistance from Brainfuse, genealogy resources from HeritageQuest, and language tutoring from Mango. And all the behind-the-scenes functions that get our materials on the shelves—ordering, cataloging, preparing books and DVDs for public use, repairing damaged items and moving materials between branches. Our software, Spark Integrate Library System, is leased annually.

And of course, don’t forget all those normal expenses that all businesses face including medical insurance, retirement benefits, liability insurance, printers and copiers, office supplies, janitorial services, mandatory compliance expenses like an annual audit, and the ongoing care and maintenance of the two library buildings we own—especially the one-hundred-year-old Federal Building in downtown Gettysburg with its temperamental HVAC and plumbing systems.

It all adds up, but through generous grants and contributions from the state, Adams County, our local municipalities, foundations, and individual donors like you, we’re able to spread our services throughout the county leaving no residents without a close by library branch.