by Ann Herron

GUEST COLUMNIST

If there is one thing I like to support it's libraries. So kudos to the effort in Stansbury Park, led by Jessica Johnson, to improve and formalize a library. And more kudos to those residents who donated old books and other materials to the library. What a great way to recycle.

However, let's make sure we are growing, library-wise, in a smart, productive way. We already have a wide variety of working libraries in our county. To add another, non-profit library with a constant need for fund-raising and no steady tax base could be difficult.

Maybe we need to form a committee and look into the creation of a countywide library system. It could include the Tooele library, which owes its $694,823 budget for 2008 to the residents of Tooele City, grants and other sources of income; and the Bookmobile, which is run by the state, paid for by Tooele County, and housed at the Grantsville City offices. Grantsville allows books to be stored there in exchange for use by city residents. To provide this service, the city pays $32,000 a year for two part-time librarians who check out books 25 hours a week.

A countywide system would allow all the libraries to be under one umbrella, with all residents benefiting. The county and city could work out an agreement about fee schedules. But part of the beauty of a county system would be that it's free for everyone and everyone gets more books, more often.

First, a countywide system would eliminate redundancies -- each library being forced to order the same reference materials, for example. Second, book buying could be done on a larger scale and at reduced costs. Third, there would be more books for everyone. If your local library didn't have a specific book you wanted, but another library did, it could probably be delivered in a few days.

Finally, libraries could benefit from shared resources, like one central Web page. Only one person would be needed to keep things up-to-date.

This doesn't mean the libraries have to turn into some "Big Brother" operation. If story time in Grantsville is at a different time and has different themes than Tooele's story time, great. A countywide library program could work in individual communities and still equal more options for everyone.

Public libraries are one of the great things about America. Let's urge our county and city representatives to look for a way to consolidate Tooele County's libraries to enable us to carry on this tradition.

Ann Herron is a journalist and former associate professor at Utah State University who lives in Tooele. She can be reached at annherron@comcast.net.