HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-08-09 PLB MINUTES•
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Englewood Public Library
3400 S . Elati St ., Englewood , CO 8011 0 (303-761 -4376)
MINUTES
Englewood Public Library Advisory Board
August 9, 1988
The regular meeting of the Englewood Public Library Advisory
Board was called to order at 7:29 p.m. by Chairman Al Quaintance.
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PRESENT: Al Quaintance, John Peterson, Larilyn Ashlock, Virginia
Johnson, Bev Simon
REGRETS: Joe Rathburn, Dorothy Tatton, Bruce Hogue
ALSO
PRESENT: Sharon Winkle, Library Director, Donna Gottberg,
Recording Secretary.
Roll call was taken and a quorum declared present.
There were no scheduled or unscheduled visitors.
Chairman Quaintance turned the meeting over to Sharon Winkle for
the Director's Report.
Ms. Winkle gave an update of the 1989 Budget Request. A
comparison chart of book costs was shown and discussed.
The 1989 Budget Review has been discussed with Acting City
Manager, Peter Vargas. There were no changes in the Board
Request, but there were several changes in the remainder of the
1988 expenditures for the Library.
City Council will have its Retreat the last of September and the
beginning of October. More will be known regarding the budget
after the Retreat.
Ms. Winkle brought forth for discussion the Memorandum addressed
to Peter Vargas regarding Income Tax Distribution by the Library.
The Board discussed the pros and cons of handling the Income Tax
forms in future years.
88-23 MOTION: That the Library Board concurs with the staff
recommendations stated in the memo to Mr. Vargas, dated July 19,
1988 to continue referrals to agencies where tax forms could be
obtained, as was the procedure in 1988.
Moved by: Bev Simon
Seconded by: Virginia Johnson
Motion carried, one negative vote.
Ms. Winkle brought forth for discussion a Memorandum addressed to
Peter Vargas regarding 1989 Library Department Expenditures and
Service Reductions. Background was given by Ms. Winkle as to
reasoning behind such cuts.
Mr. Quaintance asked Bev Simon and John Peterson to act as a
sub-committee to prepare a resolution for the Board's next
meeting regarding expenditure and service reductions.
Director's Choice
Ms. Winkle updated the status of the two Library Services and
Construction Act (LSCA) grant proposals submitted earlier. The
first grant, Planning for Englewood Public Library Services
1991-1995, requested $4,957 and funding was granted at $4,264.
This Planning Grant will begin Oct. 1. Council needs to approve
the grant.
The larger grant involves 3 other libraries. This is an IRVING
Network Automation Grant. Grant requested $97,000 and funding
was approved at $65,000. Ms. Winkle displayed a chart for use of
the funded monies. Council will need to approve the grant. Hank
Long, Library Services Administrator, will address the Board at a
later date and explain the Network in detail.
In July, Barbara Sproat resigned her position as Program
Librarian to take a full-time position in Orange County
California. Interviews to fill that vacancy will be on August
10.
Landscaping outside the Library is being done by Parks and
Recreation.
The ramp to the Main Entrance will be replaced yet this year.
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All Board members are invited to the City picnic on Auqust 20.
Invitations to the dedication of Little Ory Creek have been sent
out to Board members. This will be held Auqust 26.
Copies of the Englewood Legacy, edited by Ms. Bunker, were
distributed to the Board. All members of the Contributors Club
Local History Associate group receive the Legacy, but it can be
sent to anyone interested for a fee of $5/year.
Chairman's Report
Mr. Quaintance read a letter of resignation from Betty Oounay.
She is moving out of the city. Mr. Quaintance asked Board
members to solicit citizens interested in applying for the
position.
The 1989 Board Budget is in line with the wishes of the Acting
City Manager.
Mr. Quaintance suggested a combination Open House and picnic for
early Fall. After discussion it was decided to cancel the picnic
this year and concentrate on the Open House. A tentative date is
set for September 29.
Chairman's Choice
Mr. Quaintance read an article from a newspaper regarding a list
of names of persons checking out "cult" material in a Colorado
library. He was concerned about violation of the Privacy of
Library Records Act.
Members' Choice
John Peterson noted that there were 130 applicants for the City
Manager position.
Ms. Johnson will be in Seattle and unable to attend the September
meeting.
Ms. Winkle noted that there is now a monthly staff meeting, at
which time any Board members could attend and become further
acquainted with staff members. These meetings are at 8:15 a.m.
on the Thursday morning following the Board meeting.
The Statistical Report for July was briefly discussed.
88-24 MOTION: That the Minutes from the meeting of July 12, 1988
be approved as presented.
Moved by: John Peterson
Seconded by: Virginia Johnson
Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 9:35 p.m.
8/11/88 dg
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Englewood Public Library
3400 S . Elati St ., Englewood, CO 80110 (303-761-4376)
CIRCULATION
Central Library
Bookmobile
DAYS OF SERVICE
AVERAGE DAILY CIRCULATION
TRAFFIC COUNT (Main)
AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC COUNT
CIRCULATED TO ENGLEWOOD PATRONS
ALD Reciprocal Borrowing
Central Library
Bookmobile
OTHER Intra-County Borrowing:**
Central Library
Bookmobile
CCLS Reciprocal Borrowing
Central Library
Bookmobile
TOTALS:
Selected Statistics
July 1988
(18' 111) * 18,620-
5,985 ( 8, 054) TOTAL: . 24, 605 · (26, 165)
25 ( 26)
984 ( 1,006)
20 ,450 (20, 632)
818 ( 794)
1,438
366
( 1,230)
( 436)
829)
TOTAL:
TOTAL:
608 (
88 ( 120) TOTAL:
2,732 ( 2,516)
299 ( 115) TOTAL:
19,074 (20,919)
1, 804 ( 1, 666)
696 ( 949)
3,031 ( 2.631)
5 '531 ( 5 , 246)
Alice Terry: Adult: 5/14 Juv.: 22/94 TOTAL: 27patrons 108 items
REFERENCE QUESTIONS ADULT JUVENILE TOTALS
Answered at Central Library***
Answered at Bo .okmobile
2267 (2288)
278 ( 168)
228 (181) 2495 (2469)
TOTALS:
LIBRARY SPONSORED PROGRAMS AT CENTRAL LIBRARY
Children's Dept.
Class visits to Library
Special programs
587
7
8
(45 7)
NUMBER
( 0)
( 11)
*Parenthesis indicate activity for same month previous year
**Aurora, Littleton
865 ( 625)
3360 (3094)
ATTENDANCE
95 ( 0)
389 (462)
***Includes 12 Healthlink questions, 11 Tax questions, 4 Local History questions.
continued .....
LIBRARY BOARD MEETINGS
MEETING ROOM USE BY OTHER GROUPS
-2-
1 ( 1)
46 ( 48)
LIBRARY SPONSORED PROGRAMS OUTSIDE CENTRAL LIBRARY NUMBER
Children's Department
Bookmobile story times
Children's Lib. storytine @ BKM
24 ( 33)
7 ( 10)
CURRENT ACTIVE REGISTRATIONS
VOLUMES IN COLLECTION
15,501 ( 22,523)
102,980 (102,044)
LIBRARY MATERIALS
Books
Records
Cassettes
Microfilm
Videocassettes
Compact Discs
DISBURSEMENTS
Deposited with City Treasurer's Office
REVENUES
Fines
Copyvend
Donor's Fund
Acct. #81411 (lost and damaged materials)
Acct. #64661 (microcomputer)
Colo. Loan (ILL)
Volunteer Hours: 18
7/88 dg
VOLUMES ADDED
434 (432)
( 3)
16 ( 9)
5 ( 8)
1 ( 16)
16 ( 23)
$1,984.99
$ 983.35
16.35
541. 00
309.19
126.10
9.00
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11 ( 10)
454 (412) .•
ATTENDANCE
682 (868)
310 (305)
VOLUMES WITHDRAWN
869 ( 12)
9 ( 1)
41 ( 2)
( )
2 ( 1)
( l )
($2,030.75)
($ 880.59) • ( 340.38)
( 342.75)
( 330.03)
( 116. 00)
( 21. 00)
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DATE
August 31, 1988
INITIATED BY
ACTION PROPOSED
C 0 U N C I L
AGENDA ITEM
8 F
C 0 M M U N I C A T I 0 N
SUBJECT Lib. Advisory Bd.
Acceptance of Staff
re: Lib. Dept. Income Tax Forms
Library Advisory Board
Council receive the Library Advisory Board action and
related staff report.
At its meeting of August 9, 1988, the Library Advisory Board, voted to concur with
the staff recommendation regarding distribution of income tax forms by the Library
Department as presented in the attached report of July 19, 1988. Therefore the
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Library does not plan to resume forms distribution, but will continue to address
requests for forms via informed referral. The staff will work to maintain its
ability to provide accurate and complete referrals upon request. Other services to
be provided are:
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1. Refer requests for forms to appropriate state/federal offices and to the
IRS forms "hotline."
2. Continue to provide the looseleaf service which includes all IRS
publications.
3. Continue to provide published information regarding Colorado and federal
tax laws.
4 . Continue to provide the VITA volunteer tax preparation service at approp r i -
ate times of year .
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MEMORANDUM
. -. TO: Peter Vargas, Acting City Manager
FROM: Sharon Winkle, Library Director
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DATE: July 19, 1988
SUBJECT: Library Dept. Distribution of Income Tax Forms
INTRODUCTION
In 1988 the Library Department totally phased out distribution of
income tax forms {State & Federal) as one of its programs of
service. All inquiries were referred to area agencies
responsible for forms distribution and tax collection. These
referrals seem to have satisfied persons with inquiries because
to my knowledge no member of the public has submitted either an
oral or written complaint to Library staff about the elimination
of this service.
The Library Board was informed of the phase-down of service
effective 1987 {only major State ~ Federal forms were
distributed) and the phase-out of service effective 1988. The
Board concurred in both instances. However I understand that
City Council may wish to review this decision of the Library
Board and staff. The presentation below is provided at your
request for Council's information.
BACKGROUND
In 1983-1984 the Library staff realized that one of the tax
services which the Library provided for public use received a lot
of attention during "tax time" --approximately January-April.
This particular publication is the one which provides income tax
forms from each of the states which levies income taxes. These
forms were needed by people who are partial-year residents of
Colorado or who must pay income tax to a state other than
Colorado for other reasons.
The staff reasoned that in addition to providing examples · of
out-of-state income tax forms it might be helpful to Englewood
residents if the Library provided income tax forms for Colorado
and the U.S. The thought here was that provision of these forms
at the Library would be a convenience for members of the
Englewood community and would be provided as an adjunct service
to forms distribution by Colorado and Federal agencies. Staff
anticipated that forms distribution would require few local
resources •
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EXPERIENCE
In 1985, which is the first year during which staff kept separate
figures for income tax queries, Reference staff recorded 365
questions related to income tax forms, publications, etc. In
1986, Reference staff recorded 2179 income tax queries --an
increase of 497%. What happened to cause such an increase? We
don't know all the reasons, but we do know some:
1. Other area libraries which received income tax-related
queries referred customers to the Englewood Public
Library.
2. The U.S. Post Office stopped its distribution of income
tax forms and began ref erring inquiries to local
libraries and banks.
3. The IRS emphasized its BPOL (Bank/Post Office/Library)
Distribution program· and began ref erring inquiries to
area libraries. In effect it subsumed libraries into
its distribution network with no prior discussion or
notice.
During the months of January-April the Library staff received
numerous queries by phone and in person regarding state and
federal income tax forms. The 2179 recorded queries represent
just a portion of the actual inquiries received --staff at the
Circulation Desk, in the Technical Services Office, and the
Library Department Secretary all received hundreds of queries
which were not recorded by Reference staff. Forms had to be
re-ordered and forms displays re-stocked throughout "tax time."
In mid-April just prior to the April 15 deadline we hired
additional staff in order to help distribute reproducible forms,
make change for use in photocopiers, and control queues at
photocopiers. It seemed to staff that the Library could no
longer function as a public library for Englewood residents, but
had instead become a tax forms distribution center for the Denver
area.
Staff observation indicated that the majority of persons
inquiring about tax forms were not Englewood residents and did
not use the Library for any other purpose. Instead of serving as
a convenience for members of the Englewood community to pick up
tax forms while in the Library, the forms distribution service
had developed a clientele of its own --and a primarily
non-resident clientele at that.
RESOLUTION
After much discussion and review of the 1986 forms distribution
experience the Library staff determined that it would phase-down
the program in 1987 and phase-out all forms distribution in 1988.
This would prevent the Library from becoming a de facto tax forms
distribution center and would allow the Library staff to once
again provide reference service to Englewood residents while
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ref erring tax forms queries to agencies which are funded to
provide such public service. This fits in with the Library's
practice of ref erring inquiries to more appropriate agencies
rather than trying to address all queries with items owned or
programs provided by the Englewood Public Library.
Naturally the Library did not totally wash its hands of
tax-related queries. Inquiries for forms are referred to
Colorado/Federal agencies as appropriate. The staff provides
phone numbers to persons who need this information. The Library
collection continues to include loose-leaf services which provide
up-to-date information about tax laws and the IRS publications
series. The Library continues to offer the VITA tax preparation
service on selected Saturdays during "tax time." This is a
service sponsored by the IRS which provides volunteer tax
assistance on a first-come-first-served basis.
The elimination of the forms distribution service allows Library
staff to continue to provide the service they do best --answer
the information needs of individuals both directly and through
informed referral.
WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?
I think that the most important question in any review of income
tax forms distribution should be: Whose responsibility is it to
order, stock, and provide forms and to answer the inevita.ble
questions that come along with forms distribution? Is it the
responsibility of local governments (whether in Arizona, New
York, or Colorado) or is it the responsibility of the State and
federal governments? When the responsibility was shared as it
was in 1984 and 1985 the Englewood Public Library was not
adversely impacted. However, greatly increased IRS emphasis on
its BPOL Distribution Program has changed the environment in
which the Library operates. It appears that the federal
government no longer wants to share responsibility with local
government, but wants to shift the burden of responsibility from
federal to local shoulders without providing any funding to local
governments to support this added responsibility.
When inquirers call IRS off ices in the Denver area the first
answer they often hear in response to forms queries is "try the
libraries." We hear news reports about the IRS staff's poor
accuracy in response to taxpayer queries. Immediate (and
uninformed) referral to libraries is one way of escaping
responsibility andpressure to perform. The Library received a
call just last week from a woman who needed a 1986 federal tax
form. The IRS office had referred her to "the libraries." This
default through referral is what the Englewood library staff and
Board find objectionable and deem unacceptable. (See attached
photocopies regarding others which share that judgement.)
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Another question which Council may wish to review is: How has the
tax forms distribution service affected public relations at the
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Englewood Public Library? This is a question which the Library
staff and Board have examined as well.
The tax forms distribution service was started as a convenience
for Englewood community members and was thus intended to promote
a positive view of the City and its Library. When the service
became so overused in 1986 the public relations implications
became evident and most of them were negative:
1. Persons wanting income tax forms were competing for
Library resources with persons wanting library services
at the Reference Desk, the Circulation Desk, on the
telephone and in the parking lot. Since nothing is
certain but death and taxes, seekers of tax forms were
usually more persistent, e.g. could stand to wait
longer, could endure more busy telephone signals, etc.
This resulted in disgruntled and frustrated library
customers. And interestingly enough the nature of
income tax calculation and payment is such that persons
involved with the process are not pleased with any of
its aspects, including acquisition of the required
forms.
2. It was observed that persons who used the Englewood
Public Library's forms distribution service seemed to
connect the Library with state and federal government
and believed that the Library and City benefited in
some direct way from the collection of state/federal
income taxes .
3. Persons who wanted a particular income tax form became
quite angry and frustrated when they discovered (either
in person or by phone) .that the Library did not have
that particular form in stock. This problem was not
unusual. The Library did not have space to store and
display all tax forms in multiple copy and both state
and federal deliveries of re-ordered forms proved
unreliable.
4. Persons who decided to photocopy the reproducible forms
supplied by the federal government became frustrated
and upset when 1) the forms they needed were missing
and 2) they discovered they had to pay 10 cents a copy ~_
(This latter reaction must be common. The IRS provides
special signs which apologize for the photocopy charge
for libraries to post by public photocopiers.)
In short, the tax forms distribution service was unsuccessful as
a means to enhance public relations.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The Library staff continues to believe that local libraries
should not assume primary responsibility for the distribution of
state/federal income tax forms. The staff recommendation is to
continue as the Library did in 1988:
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Refer requests for forms to appropriate state/federal
offices and to the IRS forms "hotline."
Continue to provide the looseleaf service which
includes all IRS publications.
Continue to provide published information regarding
Colorado and federal tax laws.
Continue to provide the VI TA volunteer tax preparation
service at appropriate times of year.
our experience of "tax time" in 1988 indicates that this
combination of services related to state/federal income tax
payment should continue to work well. The Englewood Public
Library was one of the first in the Denver-metro area to off er an
income tax forms distribution service. It is, therefore, not
surprising that we should be one of the first to discover that
such service interferes with provision of local library service
and drains scarce local resources due to the IRS stance on burden
of responsibility for forms distribution •
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I sV.·ear this is a true story: It is
?'-!arch 1987. I get a call from an
old friend. By that I do not mean that
Lhis ma~ had been my friend for a
long time; I mean that the m:an is
old-too old to go around chasing
down the income tax forms that he
needs in his dying days. So making
the natural connection between pub-
lic libraries and income ta.x forms, he
calls me, his friendly neighborhood .
librar!an. ·
WI · ne-ed a retirement income
form," he says and then gi\•es rne a
four-digit number that I no longer
remember. I tell him that we don't
carry income t2.X forms anymo:e, but
that I'll stop by the I.R.S. center in
P'-•• and pick up a copy. I exp!ain
. at I also need a form.
-, m my car, dri\'e . the fifteen
.nUes to the center, :and ask for the
forms. The I.R.S. clerk in her cheeri-
est \•oicc, says, "Oh, t...1-iose forms-we
don't carry forms that specfalized
here." ·
I get a little ticked w~n people
gi\•e me bad news in ~ polite ,\·ay. I'd
rather ha\·e them growl it at me. So
I say, "But isn't this the t2.X distribu-
tion center for a metropolitan area of
t.hre-e million people?"
"!\o, that's across the street." she
says •. "You can get copies of your
forms O\'Cr there." .
· ~ow I'm apologctjc for snapping
back at her. "I'm sorrv," I sav, "I
didn't realize the dlstribution c~ntcr
wasn't in this building. Which build-
ing across the street is it?"
"It's the Phoenix Public Libn.rv,"
s~e says smiling. '
This story confirmed C\'Cf')-thing I
have suspe-cted about the I.R.S.-
they're smart. It also confirmed ev-
~T")-· g 1 ha\'C suspected about pub-
, ians-we're stupid.
. -been outfoxe-d by the I.R.S.
j
Will Manley is director of :he Tempe
(.fr:.:'e>n!i) P'.l!:J/ic L:'br:;ry.
No doubt about it. By allowing our li-
braries to scT\·e as tax distribution
centers we ha\'C Sa\'ed the I.R.S. mil-
lions and cost ourseh·es e,·en more.
Actually it's hard to fathom this busi-
ness of the poor staning American
public library doing pro bono work
for one of the world's most powerful
go\•ernmcnt conglomerates. It's like
the Sah·ation Army taking Chdstmas
prescnt.s to the Rock cf ell er family.
· The tendency is naturally to b?arne
the Rockcfellers, but I can't say that's
fair. Turning down a Christmas pres-
ent is worse than accepting one, e\•en
·when you don't need it. That's one
thing you an say for the rich-they
know ·a little something about eti-
quette. Chalk one up for the l.)l.S.
They're not the kind of rude people
who arc in the habit of:-ejecting pres-
ents. In fact, when is the last time
that someone "·as audited on suspi-
cion of paying too much u.x? Can you
see the headlines: I.R.S. RETt:R~S
S2 MILLION TO LlBER.~CE'S ES-
TA TE.; Sl~GE.R FORGOT TO DE-
trons. I can think of about 999 other
ways in which \\'e might meet their
needs. Just becau!>e we are scn·icing
. the needs of our patrons does not
mean that we are pro,·iding legiti-
mate library sen·ices. We ha\'e no
more business distributing l2.X forms
than "·e ha\·e dismouting application
forms for the Publisher's Clearing-
house Sweepstal:.es.
So why do we do i~ The answer
.has something to do with what the
more pretentious people in our pro-
f ession would call "making connec-
tions" ("-·asn 't there a "'·hole .'i.L'.
conference oriented around "making
connections"?). 1 can think of about
999 other agencies or organizztions
that I'd rather make connections
with thin the I.R.S. Do we really
"-ant the public to connect us v.ith
taXes? If we want a bad image .,,,·by
don't v.·e just hire the Ayatollah µ
·our profession's celebrity spokesman?
Can you see his .'i.Lf. poster-RE..&..D
OR DIE.
. DUCT CA~DE.LABRA AS Bt:SI-
~ESS EXPE..;~SE. That headline,
howc,·cr, is probably more possible
than this one: I.R.S. DO~A TES
$900 MILLION TO AMERICAN
PUBLIC LIBRARIES; I.R.S. CHIEF
PRAISES LIBRARIA~S AS TRUE
PATRIOTS; RE.AGAN OFFE.RS ..
HIS THA~KS.
Actually at first we didn't mind
the ~Great Tax Form Fleece• too
m\lch. We rather enjoyed it. Remem-
ber those carlv, halcvon da\'S of tu
form d:stribudon, ba~k "·hen Ronald
Reagan still hated Communists. Our
regular patrons would accidcnt.ly
happen upon our demure little rn~tal
and black plastic spinner rack of
Schedule . .\ 's and Form l 040s. "Hovi
convenient," they would say. :m,w
thoughtful," they would gush. The twisted truth
How did things get so twisted? How
did the rich get richer and the poor ·
get poorer? Why did public libraries
decide it was their ch·ic duty to dis-
. tribute tax forms? Corne on now, I
. "·ant the truth. I don't want to hear
any more of those platitudes about
. t2.X forms being a part of the national
information network. Tax forms are
no more a part of the national infor-
mation network than Band-aidstm or
ba$eball cards. And plea'se don't pon-
tific::ne 2 bout the needs of our p2-
After a while, howc"cr, we began
to realize that the smiles were turn-
ing to frowns and. the frowns to gri:n-
maces. People, ungrateful as they
are, began to get more demanding.
They began to a!k for forms that we
didn't C\'cn know existed, and 1J1ey
were · angry "'·hen "''e didn't h"e
thc:n. They became e"en angrier
v.·hcn the supply of the forms that v.·e
did stock ran out. It v.·as clear th:<t we
had a decision to me.kc-either get
into ~2X forms whole hog, or get out
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, e a serious commitment to the . sion. But others cautioned against · about it, "·hat ux ·dodges can you
l.R .S., or tell the jerks to get lost. such drastic action. "Think of our de-p_ossibly find on a $15,000·a·year sal-
Most of us opted for the long-term pendents; they said. "We ha,·e to ary~ The I.R.S. would no more do
relationship. . stay together for the sake of our pa-mass audits of the library profession
_:. Why? Because for once in our life trons," they added. "lf we divorce the than your city's ,·ice squad would in·
-.~ _we finally felt wanted. We were like I.R.S., who will gl"e them their taX .. vestigate the local con\'ent for a pros-
. '~ ·_the pro,·erbial wallflo";er at the soph· . forms? !'\o one else distributes thein .. titution ring.
·;,~ ;_omore ho? who finally gets io,·ited anymore; they said. <1 ·onto the dance floor. It didn't matter . "That's up to Big Daddy I.R.S. to
·'.-~_; >" hthadt the guy "·h
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odinb,•itded us tf:o dance t.al:.e care of," is how we answered.
· a acne, sme e a , was at, and · And so last year some of us walked
· ·· . \..·anted us only because we could help out of the marriage. As a declaration
-him with his homework. Marian the of our newly single status we posted
librarian had finally caught a man. a blowup of a 1040 form on our front
Problem was the man was a11 I.R.S. · doors and put an angry red slash
agent. through it.
And so the rnci.rriage was consum-. That's "·hat I wrote about last
matc-d and the American public li-year-how the Tempe Public Li-·
brary and the Internal Re"enue brary politely unmade its connections
. Sct'l·ice became one and the ~me-· · "ith the I.R.S. The column gencrat-·
husband and wife. As is the case with ed an unusual response-not many
most marriages, this one took some
getting used to. Cnfonunately the li-
brarlans were the ones who had to
make all the adjustments. Our lives
became more and more oriented
und our husband's cireer-
"n!s t ering the tax s,·st eo-and
d • ' ~·f an less onentc-d toward our own
The year we stopped
distributing tax
forms was the year
that we went back f ·career-serving the readi n g and in-
formational needs of our patrons.
· As with most marriages, we en·
dured this se!'lse of injustice, because,
well, we knew that our husb a.-i ci's job
was more imponant than ours, and
beause we had been trained by our
mentors to sel"\·e others in a support·
ing role. But as the vears rolled on
the sl igh.t im balance in the xr.arriage
cvoh·ed mto absolute oppression.
Pretty soon tax form distribution
began to monopolize e,·ervbody's
time. It went beYond the dr eaded
January-to-April ~eason and crept
into other par.s of the calenc ar. In
· the off-season there were in "e.ntories
t? take, statistics to compute, projec-
. lio ns to be calculated, plans to be
made, e\·aluations to be done,
c?anges t o be ma de, and p ubli c r el a·
. tions campaigns to be plo tt ed. And·
there was al"·ays that little nerd "·ho
\\·ould stumble into t h e library in la t e
uly and ask for an application for
fi ling. ·
not -so-b i tter di \'O r ce
Th • h at s "' fl"......,~~ .. o r ··s Le-· -·ore·
to being a library
a_nd stopped being a
raci<ey for the f.R.S.
· letters but a seemingly endless series ·
of phone cans. Basically C\'erybody
who called agreed that they too were
ready for a dh·orce but they were
worried about the aftershocks. They
couldn 't decU:ie which would be more
painful-lh-ing with the I.R.S. or }j\:.
ing with the :aftermath of a di"orce.
They thought they needed marriage
counseling. I tried to tell them to get
a good lawyer, a real barracuda.
Specifically, e\'erybody \\"anted to
know the ans"'er s to thrc-e ouestions:
lf we drop the ta sen·ice ":ill \\'C (l)"
get audited , (2} get compla ints, and
(S} lose busi ness? The ans"'ers to
those questions a~e "no," "yes," and
"no."
I consider th e fi r st qu estion a joke.
The idea of t h e J.R .S. auditing a li-
b . . ,.., . \. r2.rl:~ ~s i1~~tt;-~ng ul.l l nut\ tr)' l i~c -
< The second question is a bad
news/good news type of situatiC?n•
. The bad news is yes, we did get com-
plaints from patrons who were dis-
gruntled about not finding thei~ tax
forms at the library. The good news
is that we had fewer o'·erall com-
plaints. By discontinuing the set'l;ce
~·e put a.n end to two sources of pa-
tron dissatisfaction. We no longer
had our regular patrons compla.ining
_ab9ut the staff being monopolized by
tax business, and we no longer had
our once-a-yea.r tax form patrons
complaining about the unfairness of
the :ax code, the unwillingness of the
ref crence staff to m:ake tu decisions,
an4 the i:r.adeqcacy of . our e\'er-
dwindling supply of tax !'orms. In
short, tax form distribution gener-
ates far more complaints th:an it re-
soh·es . End the sen;ce and you'll
ma.kc your life a lot easier. lf this
makes you feel gu ilty just remember
that libraries were made for books,
not Form l 040s. First and foremost
· we ha,·e . a respons ibility to se0·e our
readers. To underscore that point
cc:insider question three. What effect
does tax form distributiOn h:a"c on li."
bnry circulation? That, after :all, is
the bottom line. That is .,.,·hat the de-
f enders of tax form distrib ution al-
W'2.)'S latch on to as their argument of
last resort. "Tax form distribution
brings in the people. It.jacks up our
user statistics," is what they · always
say. Au contrair e. Our st atistics indi-
cate just the opposite. T ax form d is-
tribution actua lly h ad a n egc.ti"e
impact on registration an d ci r cula·
tion. When we stopped t he set'l·ice
our circubtion and registr ation :actu-
ally went up 21 percent. Why?...:..
be-cause o u r staff now had ti me to
help our re3dcrs fi n d the bo ok s they
wanted and took t h e ti me to get them
registered for cards. The year we
stopped distrib ut in g t ax for:n s "·as
the year that "·e we n t back to being
2lh: .L . :··-"} ' -'-' b -·•' ·
: "'"t 1q: h2 d ma rried poorlv . ln·
C\'ttab J•· , L d d' . • ' · : ~ · .... ,_e.: 1~·0.;-• i~·o rce "·as hct.:-d . be: . . . . . . . . . . · · .· · ·:-:g \4.·.h 1$p e~ed br ~om e of
ly . I sin ~e r e l y ...-ish "e had the t~·pes
of sal anr:s, im·es t:ncnts, and dt-duc·
.tio n s th at ~·ould · p r o,·oke su~picion
a iibtary an ci stopp t ci bc:ing a i;;ci ~ty
for the l.R.S . :.\n d ou r pa tr o ns obl"i·
ously c;njo~·t'd g~tt in g th eir lib r ary ..... -
b2ck . 63
..
. ... ' . .
. ,-
···: ·,. "
, '
,_.
.
' .
.;
. . . . . . . . ... ~
f:·I~ ~R~<t' 1to7L./.4JG°; ... -·. _ .. , ~, : :·
) ~ _:
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>:'APPEAL TO IRS TO HELP FUND TAX FOR..'{ DISTRIBUTION: · Sam Simon; Library Director in .·
·..? Spring Valley, h"Y sends along a copy of a letter to his Congressman and to Bugh
·: .... ~·Kent of the IRS Publishing Bureau,· asking for help with the annual chore of dis;.
,. .tributing federal tax forms. The job, says Simon, through . 3 to 4 mo?ths ·of. every .. ·
.>:./'year "dr:ains .our ·staff fro'?l_ ~~-~-~;::.l~p~ary servic~s;.... this .. i~ a b~dgetary' item. that -· >_..<-
~.:./:,~ libr.aries are .going to be· condde'i-1.~g · for .the_ futu;e.11 . ._He_ asks . if .. the IRS can ·.\ . . . ' -
-~:/}:}'either supply personnel to . wo_rk at . th.cise libraries·· used he~vily . fo~ tax i~for:.: ·.,:-~ ... ·' .. ,, .
··<::::t'mation/distribution services or funds · to help the libraries now subsidizing ~ the .... ·. -.
:: __ ;~·~\~·~tix information program." · . .. .·-· _ _ :: ~ _ . ·:· ~ ·. ·-
·-,_> .· Re also asks that the library be allowed to place an initial order of the forms
· .. ·.,it knows it \till be used, rather than having to reorder t-wo or three ·times a week;
_Banks and post offices in his area, he says, shift much of the burden of their ·.
responsibility for distribution to libraries, and the local IRS office also does
a poor job of supplying forms. · · · . . . . .
Finally, he notes: We still take abuse for having to charge for photocopies a~d
for not being able to heip people know whic~ forms to fill out ••• our patrons do
not accept our inability to · give tax advice. It works to create some bad PR for
· · _library s .ervic·e •
••• ' . ........ ·· .
. ~ .... •:..-r .... ~·r.: ..
·---···· ---.... . ··:.:-_;.The courage to say no
: .~t year 'Will Manl~y's column. on
~ for_ms . (H:LB, April 1987) really
. hit a_ nerve with me. On April J 5 last
. year ~w:, had just under 500 people
r~questmg tax forms. People did not
bring change, did not know what
fo~s ther. needed, stole t.he ·photo-
cop1ablc extension form, and· were all
· !n _incr~dibly sour moods, as V.·as the
..i~.~'..staff~ One i~tracth·e 'young
woma.n C\'en started to en•,. sc r eam
: ?bscenities, and wadded up her cop-
!<:S and threw them on the floor.
_:-··. F~r me that was the Jc.st sti-aw. I
·_had read Manley's column and \'Owed
. to:·ne"er again do the rns's dirty
~·ork. _Now, nearly one year l~t cr; it
pril l 1 and all is well. We ha\'e a
e sign on the front door indicat-
that t2Jc form s c.re n ot 2\'ail;;ble
here and have a handout listing local
i'RS offices and toll-free numbers to
order tix forms: Altpough we arc
getting a f CW complaints, they are not .
nearly c.s numerous or as se\'ere as
the ones· we got last year when we
were knocking ourselves out to pro-
·. · vi de the service. Manley gave me the
courage to "just ~ay no."
PATRlCIA PARTOVJ ".
.Fontana Branch Library
Fontana, California
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