LOCATION KEY ISSUE IN LIBRARY MERGER

JACKSON -- With seven weeks left before voters decide on the Jackson library tax rate and merger, one issue is at the forefront.

Location.

According to officials with the Jackson Public Library and Riverside Regional Library, some voters think the proposed new building will be in the middle of Jackson City Park, forcing builders to tear up grass, trees and ball fields.

Others think the park location will be too far outside Jackson's downtown for students and adults to go.

And still others believe a building anywhere in the city park will ruin the park's beauty.

The debate arose after an early August announcement by both library boards and the Jackson Board of Aldermen that a library merger and tax rate issue would be on the Cape Girardeau County Nov. 7 ballot.

The libraries are only blocks away from each other, duplicating services and supplies, board members say. A library levy of 18 cents per $100 assessed valuation would allow for construction of a bigger, better-equipped building for all library patrons.

The current library levies are 13 cents for people in the Jackson Public Library District and 8 cents in the Riverside Regional Library District.

The public library's tax base is limited to people in the 1965 Jackson city limits thanks to a state law designed to help draw district lines in larger cities. Riverside gets everything outside Jackson and Cape Girardeau's public library district, so its tax base broadened, while the other libraries' bases stagnated.

Still, each lets people living in the other's district get library cards and use either library. Many Jackson residents commonly patronize both, Riverside director Jeff Roth said.

Everyone in Cape Girardeau County will be eligible to vote except people living within the Cape Girardeau Public Library District. The tax and merger is the only issue on the November ballot.

While members of the merger planning committee have fielded questions about the merger one at a time over the phone or on the street, they want to make it easier for voters to be informed. A question-and-answer brochure should be in people's hands soon.

First, Jackson Public Library Board President Terri Tomlin said, the brochure sets the record straight on location. The lot selection isn't carved in stone, and people are welcome to offer other suggestions.

But the proposed site for Riverside Regional Library-Jackson Center has its selling points. It's free, donated by the city's park board. It's just off State Highway D on the western edge of the park, so nothing will have to be torn down to make way for the library.

And the lot is 1-1/2 miles or less from Orchard Elementary, West Lane Elementary, Jackson Junior High and Jackson Middle School.

While a few people no longer will be able to walk to the library, many others will be closer.

"People drive to Cape to get a 49-cent taco," Tomlin said. "They will drive to the park to get a free book. People drive to that area anyway to use the park and watch ball games."

The issue goes deeper than who has to drive and who can walk to the library, Mayor Paul Sander said. It has to do with keeping up with the city's schools and with ever-changing technology.

"People need to gather all the facts and think about what will be best for their kids and their grandkids for the next 50 years," Sander said. "Will we provide a state-of-the-art library to keep up with our schools or not? It's the public's decision."

Tomlin, Sander and city administrative services director Larry Koenig, a member of the merger committee, all said the Jackson Board of Aldermen would have to look long and hard at the possibility of closing the city library should the tax issue fail.

Jackson Public Library already struggles financially because of declining patronage and a stagnant tax base. For example, a video-cassette recorder, something many libraries routinely buy or replace, is considered a major investment the Jackson library.

The board sometimes isn't able to get reference materials or periodicals patrons request due to budget restraints.

Money isn't the only problem. The library shares a building with Jackson City Hall, which will move to a new building before Thanksgiving. The library isn't able to expand into the city administration portion of the building because of restrictions on remodeling in the old building.

Also, the budget won't allow for staff on both floors, necessary to keep watch over books and equipment.

"Certainly there's no room for expansion and no tax base to support it," Koenig said.