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Riverside County (Calif.) supervisors voted 5–0 June 30 to continue the public library's contract with the management firm Library Systems and Services, Inc. (LSSI) for one more year. According to the July 1 Riverside Press-Enterprise, the new $5-million contract calls for a 30% increase in book purchases, to $240,000. Other plans include expanded hours at the Glen Avon Regional Library and the opening of a newly remodeled library in Lake Elsinore.
Over the past year, LSSI claims to have increased library hours by 34%, nearly doubled book purchases, maintained salaries, and increased staffing.
However, the county will have to get by with two fewer branches, Moreno Valley and Murrieta, which pulled out of the county system July 1 to manage their libraries independently by raising taxes within their own borders. This will result in a $1-million loss to the county's library revenue, although County Librarian Gary Christmas told the Press-Enterprise that some of the loss can be recovered.
Posted July 20, 1998.
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