It’s been said that there’s no amount of money government bureaucrats can’t find a way to spend.  Anybody who has paid close attention to government – especially government here in the not-so-great State of Illinois – sees proof of that almost daily (and often from Daley). 

So it was no surprise to read about how the North Suburban Library System (“NSLS”) might be shutting down because it hasn’t received the state grant that constitutes 80% of its annual funding.  With Illinois state government trailing only California’s as the nation’s most fiscally endangered (a/k/a inept), anybody expecting cash from Springfield should have a back-up plan in place, even if it involves the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy, or Powerball. 

NSLS is now anticipating its next influx of state cash no earlier than November, with future payments expected to be chronically delayed.  (City of Park Ridge, School Districts 207 and 64, and the Park District, take note).  

One casualty of that cash crisis is NSLS’s “van service” – which provides interlibrary delivery service of materials throughout its 49-library system.  This service allows patrons of the Park Ridge Library, for example, to check out books and materials from other NSLS members and have those books and materials delivered to our Library without cost to the patron.  

Without state funding of NSLS, member libraries (with the exception of Des Plaines and Evanston) will individually contribute to fund that service for the next three months.  The Park Ridge Library will spend $3,400 a month on that delivery service, which reportedly will come out of the Library’s book budget.  Meanwhile, library administrations throughout the system are scrambling to find some way to maintain the service, including the possibility of “privatizing” it.  

Did any of these well-paid bureaucrats consider actually charging a fee for the convenience of this delivery service? 

We can imagine Park Ridge Librarian Janet Van De Carr and her fellow librarians wailing and gnashing their teeth at such a suggestion, after having built their current fiefdoms through a variety of free programs and free (or nominally-priced) services, many of which straddle and even cross the line between information and entertainment – with a little bit of babysitting thrown in for good measure.  

A review of the Library’s May/June Library guide reveals 18 “adult” programs, 10 “computer classes,” 21 “young adult” programs, 8 “children’s” programs, 5 programs for “all ages,” 8 programs for “school age” children, and one program “just for parents & teachers.”  All free.  That’s a great way to draw people into the building and inflate the “user” numbers that are touted at budget time to justify more funding and personnel.

So we can imagine the librarians already drawing up their lists of all the problems and inequities, real and imagined, of imposing any kind of service charge for interlibrary deliveries. 

Don’t get us wrong.  We’re big fans of the Library and believe it to be a significant community asset, well-deserving of continued taxpayer support to cover the basic cost of maintenance and operation.  We also like the idea of interlibrary borrowing, which creates synergies that should breed money-saving efficiencies – but only if that savings isn’t frittered away on the costs of the program. 

Which is why there should be a “convenience” charge that covers the actual, fully-loaded cost of the deliveries.  And while the librarians are at it, they should start looking at ways to cover the fully-loaded costs of all those “free” programs, too: if those programs truly have any value, residents should be willing to pay for it.

But we also are mindful that the age-old truism “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” has never been truer – especially in a society where, when government provides one, it seems like it’s always the shameless gluttons who eat the most.