Today, the New York Senate passed a bill which would remove the burden from individual libraries, who are, I remind you, obligated to stay under the 2% tax cap from their burden of billing for electronic databases. This bill would authorize the State Library to coordinate (can you say negotiate?) the purchase of licenses for all libraries in the state.
This legislation, proposed by Senator DeFran, my favorite “money guy,” has no companion bill over in the Assembly…seems it died over there on January 4th…right out of the gate!
Look at it this way…..for the New York Library system, electronic databases are a self-inflicted “unfunded mandate.” When looking where to slash to make get in under that 2% tax cap, this is part of the services they refuse to cut. Now, come on, I am a pretty fierce library user, I spend much time in the State Library, I am a member of the New York City Library and I spend countless hours at the Albany Public Library….confession time…I “rent” a lot of movies…another “self-inflicted” mandate.
I was very pleased to see S3297A pass the Senate but soon discovered the Assembly homicide of the bill. Do we really want “mandate” relief is our government or in our institutions? I think not. I remember years ago, I was the Chair of the Board of Literacy Volunteers and I introduced a proposal which would better serve the community by merging with several larger Literacy Volunteer groups. I was “voted” down…now that’s an understatement. The rest of the board told me that with a merge…they would lose their “power.” I think of this often as solutions are proposed to consolidate and merge…and permit shared purchasing (as in this legislation.) It seems that “power,” regardless of its nature, is a pretty darn important thing in New York…especially to the “progs” who publicly disregard “power” as one of their needs or wants.
So, Senator DeFran claims his bill will the 4000 libraries across the State several MILLIONS of dollars….so why isn’t the Assembly killing a bill which would save the libraries and the taxpayers money? Call your Assemblyman and ask him! (Or her, of course.)
Here’s the details of the bill:
BILL NUMBER: S3297A
SPONSOR: DEFRANCISCO
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to authorizing the state library to coordinate the purchase of electronic databases or other information resources for state agencies, libraries and other governmental entities
PURPOSE:
State agencies and the libraries of New York individually license and purchase electronic databases and other information resources. Access to information is not only vital to the functioning of our democracy, but also to creating an environment conducive to learning, research and innovation. The coordination of the selection and purchase of these resources by the state library would result in greater efficiencies and cost savings for the public and foster improved access to information across the state. Therefore, it is in the best interests of the state and its libraries to enact the New York State Comprehensive Information System (NYSCIS) Act.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Amends Section 286 of the Education Law to:
1) Create the New York State Comprehensive Information system (NYSCIS).
2) Participants – entities permitted to participate in NYSCIS are state agencies, library systems and their member libraries, authorities and other local governmental entities but not limited to the State University of New York and the City University of New York.
3) State contracts – state agencies are required to coordinate their procurement for information resources through the state library or its designee.
4) Resource selection – the state library shall create an advisory committee representative of participants who will be tasked with the selection of information resources to be included in NYSCIS.
5) Administration – the state library or its designee shall administer NYSCIS and be permitted to recoup expenses for coordinating these collaborative purchasing agreements.
6) Rules and Regulations. The commissioner shall adopt rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out the purposes and provisions of this section.
Section 4: Effective date – six months after it shall become law.
JUSTIFICATION:
The State of New York and its 4,000 libraries (public, school and college) spend millions of dollars nnually purchasing subscriptions to online databases and other types of electronic resources from private vendors. Pricing varies widely depending on the purchaser and size of subscriptions. By authorizing the State Library to coordinate and negotiate the purchase of these subscriptions on behalf of eligible participating entities, and State Library can obtain lower prices and greater access to these online research tools. Initial savings would range from several hundred thousand to millions of dollars over a few years, depending on the number entities participating.
