Update: Sumter County, Florida To Outsource Library Operations to LSSI

Updating a Report from May 18, 2013.
From The Daily Commercial (Leesburg, FL):

Despite almost two hours of residents coming to the podium one-by-one to announce their opposition to outsourcing the county’s library system to a private company, Sumter County commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to move ahead with the effort.
County leaders said handing the system over to Library Systems and Services of Germantown, Md. would lead to improvements such as adding ebooks readers and downloadable music, books through the mail, improved services for the deaf and blind and longer hours.
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Initially the county wanted to privatize the library system with the same company. But in an attempt to placate the growing support of a “keep public libraries public,” campaign, they instead proposed at a workshop on the subject last week to outsource the system.
County Administrator Bradley Arnold said outsourcing would allow the county to maintain some control over the system.
Residents said they were against both options.

Read the Complete Article
See Also:  Sumter County Considering Privatizing Library Services With LSSI (May 18, 2013)

Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries