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Freemium (or should libraries charge for services?)
Karen Klapperstuck at Library Garden addresses the question of whether libraries should start charging for their services in her recent post titled Freemium.
“How does the freemium model apply to libraries? I’m not entirely certain of the long-term implications but it does seem to me that libraries that are implementing additional fees for services that go beyond the normal scope are taking advantage of this freemium business model (free for some services, pay for value-added services). Libraries are facing tightening budgets and I understand the need to generate revenue other than fines and regular fees. People talk about the public library as being “free” and in a way, it is free because library users pay for those services through their tax dollars.But as Nancy Dowd of The ‘M’ Word – Marketing for Libraries blog stated back in February, why not create a line of premium services for which to charge?”
June 6th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
I would recommend that patrons be charged for interlibrary loans. It would prevent interlibrary loans of materials that are not really important for a person’s research.
June 7th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I’m somewhat new to the profession and work in a library, so I’m looking at it mostly from that vantage point. I think all libraries now need to envision and created added value for all patron interactions. Charging for more in-depth research is certainly a possibility, but it would have to be done by a librarian (much desk reference & even VR is now frequently handled by LAs) and I think there needs to be a clear understanding of what is appropriate and what is out of the scope of a public library. For example, competitive intelligence. This is a very specific area of information work and has its own professional organization with its own guidelines, yet I have seen this service offered by libraries and I’m not sure if they even know what it really is. It’s more than just research.
There is also the time component. Most libraries are cutting back staff as a result of budget shortfalls, so who will be available to take on these extra projects and won’t they expect to be paid more for it?
There seem to be many questions related to this. To really add value, libraries will need to be clear on what that is and how best to provide it.
That’s my $.02. Keep in mind I’m a newbie, so I welcome anyone else’s insight!
June 8th, 2009 at 9:27 am
All libraries charge fees either in the form of taxes or fees to students, so they are already definitely not “free.” On top of that, the only product of a library is information (or information about information).
The only thing that could really be upgraded is the speed at which you access it(pay more to get it first), which seems antithetical to the concept of a library. If libraries ever adopt a model of “you can have it whenever your betters, our paying customers, are done with it,” they must admit to an abandonment of their mission to be a forum for ideas and information for all people and to becoming another tool by which one class may exert superiority over another.