RIVERSIDE LIBRARY PLANS USER FEES FOR NON-RESIDENT PATRONS

JACKSON -- Starting July 1, Riverside Regional Library will charge user fees for out-of-district patrons and fine patrons 5 cents a day for overdue materials.

Geoff Roth, director of the library system, said the decision to begin charging those fees "sort of stems indirectly" from voters' rejection in November of a proposal to merge Riverside and the Jackson Public Library. Had the measure passed, it would have meant a tax increase to help fund construction of a $1.5 million building to hose the two libraries.

"The tax money only goes so far, and the cost of the materials keeps going up, and we're stuck where we were 40 years ago," said Roth. "In fact, with the (Proposition C) rollback, we're at 8 cents instead of 10," Roth said.

User fees and overdue fines are expected to generate about $13,000 a year, he said.

Riverside Regional had been allowing people residing outside of its service area to use and check out materials for free. That ends July 1, Roth said.

"If they want to use anything in the library, they may use it in the library," he said. "But if they want to check it out, we're going to charge them $24 a year for a card."

The library will use family cards, he said.

The library district's service region includes Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties. The $24 user fee will apply to people who live within the 1965 city limits of Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Chaffee and Sikeston. The user fee also will apply to people who live outside of or do not pay property taxes in the three counties.

Teachers will be exempt from the user fee, he said.

Roth said he expects the user fee will mean some people will stop using Riverside Regional, "and while that's regrettable, there's only so much you can do with the money you've got. We've reached a point where we don't have a lot more room in the facility we've got," he said.

Space is so tight in the Jackson facility that staff may wind up moving materials into the meeting room, he said.

"We don't really want to, but we've got to put the stuff somewhere," he said. "There have been groups that have been meeting in that room for 20 years."

Roth doesn't believe the user fee will go over well with patrons. "I think we will probably have a hue and cry," he said.

The 5-cent overdue fine will apply to books and magazines. The current $1-per-day-per-item fine will remain in effect on videos and audio cassettes.

Roth presented the library district's annual report to the Cape Girardeau County Commission Thursday.

He said a usage study showed many of the people using the Jackson facility live in Bollinger County. The study also showed the average user checks out three videos a week. "If they did that in a video store, it would cost them $3, $5," Roth said.

The average user also utilizes about 10 volumes of printed materials a year, he said, and usage is increasing.

The library district recently received a $49,000 grant from the Missouri State Library to perform as a test site for a project to tie into the state's computer system, he said.

In addition, the district will spend $30,000 to $40,000 to computerize card catalogs. Patrons at any branch will be able to check on computer what materials are available throughout the district, Roth said.

Riverside Regional's main facility is in Jackson. It has branch libraries at Scott City, Benton, Perryville, Altenburg, Morley and Oran.