Outrage erupts as word spreads Merced County is mulling library privatization; Merced County Times, March 19, 2025

Jonathan Whitaker, Merced County Times; Outrage erupts as word spreads Merced County is mulling library privatization

"UPDATE TO STORY: On Thursday morning, March 20, Merced County released the following statement:

“Setting The Record Straight: No decisions have been made regarding privatization of the Merced County Library system. County Executive Office (CEO) staff is in the very early stages of exploring potential efficiencies as we routinely do with all of our departments, but no changes to library operations are currently underway. Merced County is always seeking ways to optimize services that benefit taxpayers and the community, but there are no plans or discussions to close libraries or to reduce services in any way, shape or form. Libraries are essential as they provide access to knowledge, foster lifelong learning, and offer a space for individuals to connect, grow and thrive.”...

Having worked in the librarian field for decades, Walsh said she knows of only one private enterprise that works in California with a county government — Riverside County — to provide library services. That firm is called Library Systems and Services or LS&S. According to the company’s website: “As the nation’s only company focused on operating public libraries, LS&S is trusted by community leaders to provide long-term library vitality, growth and service excellence. Through extensive experience partnering with communities, LS&S powers strong libraries by balancing cost and service.”...

On behalf of the League of Women Voters of Merced County, Walsh sent the following statement to the Times: “Reflecting on our commitment to fair, open, transparent, and democratic local government as well as our commitment to public libraries, the League has many concerns about the proposal to privatize the Merced County Public Library system. Here are two:

“Since the purported goal of the privatization of the Merced County Library is saving money, the LWV Merced County questions how money can be saved from such a thinly staffed, poorly supported system (in the bottom 10 percent of California county public library per capita funding)? How will efficiencies be made without drastic cuts to staff, services, materials, and perhaps even branches? What rubric is being used to measure such cuts against the damage that might be done to branch library holdings, databases, and services? What attention has been given to the loss of thousands of dollars that are raised in communities to support a public library system that will no longer be given to a privatized one?

“The LWV Merced County also questions how the planning of a proposal to privatize a fundamental county service serving thousands of county residents has come this far without once being mentioned in a Board of Supervisors meeting either on the agenda or in Board comments or without being agendized and discussed before the Merced County Library Commission? The fundamental question is how exactly did this situation develop given the specific restrictions of the Ralph M. Brown California open meetings law?”"