COUNTY RECORDS: WEIGH OPITONS CAREFULLY

A suggestion by the board and director of Riverside Regional Library that it team up with Cape Girardeau County government and possibly others to provide a building to be used for storage of county records and offer certain library services demands careful consideration by county officials.

Riverside Regional Library, a public library headquartered in Jackson, was established to serve people who live in mostly rural areas not served by city public libraries such as those in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Riverside is funded with revenue from a special tax levied on property within Riverside Regional Library District. It gets no money from county government.

Residents of Cape Girardeau and Jackson pay taxes to support the public libraries in their respective cities and don't pay the Riverside tax. For the county, which derives its revenue from sales taxes collected countywide, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson, to put money into Riverside's operation would be establishing questionable precedence.

For years county records that can't be put on computer disks have been filed wherever space can be found in the County Courthouse and Administrative Building in Jackson. The County Commission is considering inclusion of space for record storage in an addition planned for the county jail.

Aware of the county's plight, Riverside directors brought their suggestion to the County Commission last week. They said the plan would help solve the library's need for a bigger building and the county's need for archive and storage space. They envisioned a resource center that would offer archives and access to genealogical records in one spot, with a research assistant on staff. They also suggested the center could offer teleconferencing, distance learning and a bank of online computers available to the public -- all of which goes well beyond storage for county records.

Riverside directors said they are talking with Jackson Public Library about possible affiliation with Riverside, and the Jackson School District has expressed an interest in additional storage space. Those would be among other groups that could join in the arrangement, they said.

The fact remains: Riverside doesn't have the money for a new facility and won't have unless it can pass a tax increase or arrange some other financing, and no efforts toward that end have been initiated.

That is why it is important that the county give such an arrangement thorough consideration to ensure that, should it come about, everyone who participates would pay its fair share.