Escondido Library :: Private Equity Firm Acquires Rita’s Italian Ice, Now Eying California Public Library

Private Equity Firm Acquires Rita’s Italian Ice, Now Eying California Public Library

Huffington Post: 9.14.2017 by Donald Cohen

January. The outskirts of Philadelphia. 23 degrees. It’s hard to imagine anyone buying Rita’s Italian ice.

But Argosy did just that earlier this year.

Specializing in acquiring companies, cutting costs, and selling them for a profit, the Pennsylvania-based private equity firm added the frozen dessert chain Rita’s to its portfolio of investments, which includes a prison phone company and a handful of Pizza Hut franchises, among others.

And now they’re eyeing the library in Escondido, California. That’s right, a public library.

Well, not exactly. Argosy owns Library Systems & Services (LS&S), the country’s largest library management company, which is trying to sell its services to the small city north of San Diego. LS&S is using the same rap—that privatization saves taxpayer money by bringing “optimization” and “efficiency”—that it’s used to gobble up 83 libraries across the country.

While the Escondido City Council seems to have bought in—they voted last month to outsource to LS&S but have yet to sign the contract—taxpayers aren’t having it. The library’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously against privatization and thousands of residents have signed a petition to keep the library public.

Even the American Library Association has weighed in, writing that after privatization the “community will not know how its taxpayer dollars are being spent.”  READ MORE >>

Library Outsourcing Vote Is An Outrage :: Escondido Public Library

Upland Library - Contract with LSSI Begins August 1

Upland City Council Approves Contract with LSSI

New Public-Private Partnership Will Deliver Improved Library Services While Saving Taxpayer Funds

PRNewswire: 7.10.2014

On Monday evening, June 23, the Upland City Council voted to approve a contract with Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI) to operate the Upland Public Library commencing August 1.  Previously, the Upland City Council had approved a proposal offered by LSSI and directed the city manager to negotiate a formal contract.

"We're very excited about the new partnership our city shares with LSSI," said Stephen Dunn, City Manager.  "After a lengthy dialogue with our community and input from a citizens' task force, the City Council was confident moving forward with a solution which provides more opportunities for library patrons, staff and volunteers while conserving taxpayer dollars."

The approved LSSI contract will increase the hours of operation by 24%, enabling the library to serve the public 7 days per week; more than double the current book and materials budget; re-establish vital literacy programming; reduce overall costs of operations, thus saving taxpayers more than $1 million over the 5-year contract; and provide more professional growth opportunities for the existing staff.

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LSSI is no stranger to operating public libraries in the Southern California region.  For the past 17 years, it has successfully managed the Riverside County Public Library System comprised of 35 branch libraries and two bookmobiles serving a population of more than 2 million residents.  LSSI also operates libraries for the Cities of Moreno Valley, Palmdale, Camarillo, Moorpark, Simi Valley and Santa Clarita.  READ MORE !

Public libraries must be public, not profit machines

Public libraries must be public, not profit machines
Record: July 24, 2010 by Colleen Foster

What is a public library?

One "maintained for/used by the people of a community" or an entity "capitalized in shares of stock that can be traded on the open market?" A fair question since the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors recently released a Request for Proposals from private companies to manage operations of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library.

The goal of a public library is to improve quality of life by advancing literacy and a lifelong love of learning. The goal of a private company is to create profit for its owners or shareholders. In my opinion, these goals are fundamentally incompatible.

The board appears to be searching for a way to maintain quality service in our library system while saving money in these difficult times. The premise behind library privatization seems to be that the library is so inefficient in its operations that a company with a profit motive will be able to do more with less.

As the former director of the library, I know the many cost saving measures long in place at the library: cooperative cataloging of popular material, preprocessing of such material, major discounts from book jobbers, and shared cost of delivery with a multicounty library cooperative. There is not much room for increasing library efficiency without sacrificing quality of service.

The most substantial cost associated with running our library is staff salaries and benefits. Privatization is therefore almost certain to reduce the quality and quantity of our library staff. Librarians and library staff are the key to the high quality service upon which San Joaquin County residents have come to rely.

Libraries are not profitable, and they're not supposed to be. That's why we support them with our tax dollars - to ensure that they continue to make the betterment of all their main priority. America's public libraries are a cornerstone of our democracy and play an important part in our nation's commitment to public education.

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And why should any of our public monies, let alone 8 percent of the library's budget, go to the profits of a private company with a home office in Maryland? READ MORE !

Colleen Foster was the director of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library from 1994-2000.