Library seeks vendor for Midtown branch

The Springfield-Greene Coun-ty Library is still looking for a vendor to provide food service at the Midtown-Carnegie Branch, 397 E. Central.

According to Annie Busch, library executive director, library officials thought at one point that Church-ill's, which has a location at the Li-brary Center, 4653 S. Campbell Ave., would add a location at Midtown, but it doesn't look like that will happen.

Churchill's Vice President Jay Larson said the Midtown location was considered by Churchill's. How-ever, "We won't go in there right now ... there's cost issues, how old the building is and what we'd have to spend capital wise to get plumbing in there, electricity in there to run the equipment," Larson said.

"We're still doing some analyzing on that, but as of right now, we have no immediate plans of doing it."

Busch said the library previously issued a request for proposal for a food vendor at Midtown, and recently she's visited some of the companies that received the RFP packets. She's also hoping that other interested parties will come forward.

"We are trying to find food service. We know that it's been popular (at the Li-brary Center), that our users really enjoy having the extra benefit or the value-added service," she said.

Also, she said, library officials are aware that many people who live and work near the Midtown branch are looking forward to another food service option in that area.

Busch noted that a food vendor could contract with a coffee vendor, or vice versa, to offer food and drink at Midtown, so it wouldn't necessarily have to be a single operator.

"We really would like to move ahead. I'd like to have had food service in there by now," she said.

Putting food service in library locations is one way the library is addressing community desires, Busch said. Before the Library Center was built, Busch said, several surveys, focus groups and discussions took place so the library could get a feel for what people wanted.

The resulting services, which include the food service, an automated teller machine and a mail drop at the Library Center, are there for the convenience of library patrons; they're not designed to be major sources of revenue for the library.

"It's kind of the one-stop shopping phenomenon. We're all busy, we're just really all busy, and if we can do a lot of things with one stop, it just saves us time and aggravation," she said.

The library system does receive some money from Churchill's and from Commerce Bank, which has an ATM at the Library Center, Busch said, but those amounts are small portions of the library's $7 million annual budget.

For instance, Churchill's pays the library a base fee for its space, plus an additional amount that fluctuates based on the eatery's gross receipts.

"So the more successful the caf services are, the more we make and the more the owner makes ... if they're successful, we're successful," she said, noting that right now Churchill's provides the library with about $1,000 a month.

Busch said nearly 90 percent of the library system's budget comes from property taxes.

The budget includes upkeep of the system's eight physical locations, outreach and bookmobile services, salaries for the library's approximately 175 employees and materials.

Busch said she's proud of the fact that the Springfield-Greene County Library spends 20 percent of its annual operating budget on materials, something she said many other libraries aspire to do but few accomplish.

"And as prices continue to go up, it becomes more and more of a challenge, but we have continued to be able to do that, so our focus is still on materials," she said.

Busch said the library system does receive about $20,000 each year from the gift shop at the Library Center, which is operated by the Friends of the Library organization, and that money also helps the budget.

She reiterated, though, that the motivation behind adding things like food service isn't revenue, but service to library patrons.

"What we've found is it draws people in that weren't normal library users, and it brings them in just as a social gathering place," she said.

Busch added, "Libraries are changing. Libraries are not staid, quiet, boring little places. We really are community gathering places, and as people get concerned about the isolation ... in an Internet age where ... we're sitting and staring at computer screens, we have seen the absolute opposite happen, which is people wanting to gather in meetings and coming to public places like libraries to interact."

Busch said meeting rooms at the Library Center are one of the facility's most popular aspects.

But because those are available at no charge, they have no effect on the library's budget beyond what the users spend in the gift shop or at Churchill's.

Busch said as much meeting space as there is at the Library Center, it isn't enough, and she knows "there's clearly a need for free meeting space for a variety of groups in the community."

Whether it's meeting space, food service, automated teller machines or other services, Busch said the Library Center and Midtown won't be the only facilities in the library system to offer what she calls "value added" services.

"As we see the success of some of these things, we would like to, as space allows, provide the services that people want everywhere," she said.

Information about the Springfield-Greene County Library is available at thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org.