Planning and Financial Development

It was at this critical point Richard Rademacher, the Director of Libraries, turned to Wichita’s business community for leadership and advice. Started in 1876 from private money, it seemed fitting for the future of the Library to lay again in private hands. Prior to 1987, the Wichita Public Library had received small bequests from time to time, but had not devoted much time or energy to fundraising. Indeed, as budget shortfalls negatively impacted Library collections, public usage and demands were steadily increasing. The City Hall directive to “do more with less” was now accompanied by the more ominous qualification to avoid “Statue of Liberty cuts ” (i.e., highly visible cuts) so as not to make the public unhappy.

As the governmental budget avenues failed, the Director of Libraries recruited former Library Board members and community leaders to develop a strategic ten year plan. The Library’s original computer system needed replacing; annual funds for all book collections needed augmentation, juvenile resources needed upgrading, multicultural resources in the basic Humanities were almost nonexistent, programming had virtually ceased due to staff cutbacks - the list seemed endless.

As business leaders began work on creating a development organization, Library staff and administrators began a two year planning process, ultimately redefining the Library’s mission in the scope of available financial resources, restructuring personnel and operating hours, and developing a long range budget purchasing plan for materials that would address a wide variety of needs.

In 1993, the Library completed the Public Library Association’s Planning and Role Setting process, redefining the primary roles of the Central Library as a reference library, a popular materials library and an independent learning center. In its secondary roles, it would function as a preschoolers’ door to learning, a formal education support center and a community information center. The larger Rockwell and Westlink district libraries would share the majority of these roles, while the nine smaller branch libraries would become primarily popular materials libraries. The committee defining these roles decided that budget allocations for branch libraries in particular should not be made across the board, but should instead be based on performance measures.

After considerable research, the Dallas Public Library budget allocation model became the basis for distribution of materials funds. Circulation of library materials, collection turnover, reference transactions completed and in-house use of materials became the standard for budget share. The committee strongly endorsed quality Humanities collections as essential to satisfaction of five of the six identified roles as cited above. Further, Humanities collections were prioritized for general fund moneys and special funds requests. For example, the 1996-1997 available MURLS (Major Urban Regional Library Systems) funds has been directed to Humanities enhancement, specifically 50% to enhancement of the picture book, reader and early juvenile fiction collections to support anticipated increase in Summer Reading Club activities. The remaining 50% will enhance and replace missing copies of fiction and literature, utilizing standard sources such as Fiction Catalog, Genreflecting, Sequels, and Reader’s Advisor to identify collection gaps.

In consideration of the Library’s other available resources, the following objectives were established:

• Develop a comprehensive automation plan for the entire Library system which could extend the parameters of online service to include full text periodicals, reference information and Internet access, thereby facilitating access and reducing the duplicate purchase of standard materials throughout the branch system;

• Develop collaborations with area non-profits and service agencies such as the Wichita Children’s Home, Catholic Charities’ Harbor House, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, to serve populations not receiving Library service, specifically, Sedgwick County detention facilities’ inmates (adult and juvenile), homeless children and adults, nursing and retirement homes, and the homebound elderly. Thereby making the entire Library system more responsive to these populations. Age and literacy appropriate fiction collections are loaned in bulk to these care providers, thereby giving readers easy access to a wide range of human experiences and increasing their comprehension of the human condition;

• Develop outreach measures to the eleven small rural libraries outside the Wichita Public Library system for the purpose of sharing electronic resources, thus including the 100,000 residents of Sedgwick County in the Library’s direct service area. This predominantly rural population is growing due to urban flight from the City of Wichita and its libraries are small, have limited financial and professional resources and are generally open on a limited basis. Through funding provided by the Leonard & Celia Levand Trust, Wichita Public Library has opened negotiations with the Haysville, Derby and Valley Center libraries to discuss sharing the Library’s online Dynix system, specifically targeting access to interlibrary loan, and future access by modem or Internet to periodical databases (VISTA) and expanded Humanities databases such as Humanities Index & Abstracts, Arts & Humanities Search, MLA Bibliography, etc. through the Wichita Public Library.

• Develop culturally diverse programming and book collections appropriate to the Asian, Hispanic, Native American and African-American communities of Wichita through the existing branch library system. As detailed fully in the Programming section, the Wichita Public Library has featured a number of scholars and artists representing various ethnic disciplines and cultures for the past decade. The majority of these programs are underwritten by community groups and draw capacity crowds. In 1995 and 1996, general endowment interest was directed to the purchase of Hispanic and Asian materials to directly serve populations through the Marina, Minisa and Planeview libraries. Specifically, juvenile fiction in Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish and French were added at the Seneca and Westlink sites.

• Develop materials and programming through private funding to focus on underserved juvenile populations, including at risk youth both at the elementary and high school level, and home-schooled children. Sedgwick County currently has a 68% high school graduation rate. The Wichita Public Library is actively promoting juvenile literacy through partnerships with Literacy Resources through bulk loan Hi- Lo literacy materials, in cooperation with the school system in promoting summer reading clubs across the city, and in holding year round library education classes in cooperation with the Parents as Teachers Association.

These measures, enormously popular with the general public, are creating positive change for the Library’s image in the community. How could a system strapped for operating cash embrace so much creativity in its planning? - only through the careful cultivation of private sector support.

Hedging its bets against inevitable budget shortfalls, the task force of business persons and community leaders recruited by the Director of Libraries recommended the formation of the Wichita Public Library Foundation, Inc. Its purpose is to be the fundraising arm of the Library, developing a blend of public/private sector support that could see the Library through its present difficulties and serve it well into the next century. The newly formed Board, with the Director of Libraries as its guide, articulated its mission “to enhance the Library collections, to increase access to all Library collections through improved technology, and to promote literacy.”

In the same year the Foundation received tax exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service and its first gift, $20,000. This amount represented the entire proceeds of the Friends of the Library book sale of the previous fall. Foundation directors voted to use these funds as the cornerstone of an endowment that they hoped would one day serve the entire Library system. By the end of 1989, the endowment totaled $116,937 and the Library Foundation launched the Campaign for Books, a multi-faceted ten year effort designed to reverse the Library’s decline, address automation concerns and establish an endowment that would see the Library safely through the next century.

In 1991, the Library Foundation addressed the institution’s most immediate need, an enhanced online automation system to replace its declining and irreparable LS/2 system. By pledging to raise $75,000 a year for the next five years, the Library Foundation successfully negotiated a deal with the City of Wichita which agreed to match these funds and frontload installation of a new Dynix library automation system. Hiring a part-time employee, the Foundation immediately instituted a grants development program, seeking donors on the national, state and local level to fulfill this long term pledge. The by-product of the effort would be the education of the general public regarding library needs.

Library staff soon discovered that the Foundation grants program could aid them in other ways. The General Reference staff petitioned for replacement of the philosophy collection, enhancement of the mythology section and for replacement of lost classics needed for college reading lists. A number of grants were submitted to local foundations resulting in basic Humanities texts by authors such as Aristotle, Tolstoy and Dickens reappearing on Library shelves. Grants from national foundations brought increased numbers of large print fiction to the library, necessitating a rotation system through the branch libraries to satisfy patron demand for additional titles. Multi-year grants from the Lattner Foundation of Delray Beach, Florida placed $50,000 worth of full length books on cassette in the public’s hands at a turnover rate of 600%. Selection quality, patron satisfaction and staff morale were once again moving in a positive direction.

As the presidential initiative identifying the need for reading among preschool children and their families increased general awareness, children’s librarians were frustrated with the lack of resources to reach out to this special population. They asked for help to purchase multiple copies of William Allen White, Caldecott and Newberry award-winning texts, juvenile fiction and young adult reading matter. Help was needed to revitalize the Summer Reading Club effort as well. Enrollment had declined steadily from 1989, leveling off in 1994 to just over 3,000 children in a city with a juvenile population of 112,000.. This trend mirrored increasing dropout rates among high school graduates, high teenage birth rates and increased juvenile violence in the city.

Lacking the resources to attract and retain the young reader, librarians turned to the Foundation’s grants program for everything from books to enlarging the Central Library’s Children’s Room, adding a storytelling theater, CD-ROM stations and Internet access. In 1996, a grant from the Travelers Foundation/Smith Barney, Inc. allowed the purchase of creative materials designed to revitalize the Summer Reading Program. Enrollment numbers jumped from 3000 to over 5000, and included homeless children through a special program at the Wichita Children’s Home. Other grants purchased multicultural literature and literature for visually impaired children. Hispanic and African American storytellers visited, performing at inner city schools and branch library venues. As the endowment grew, annual interest was disbursed for enhancement of all the core reference collections for children and parents.

By April 1997, the grants program had generated $745,667 for enhancement of Library resources at all levels. In the Local History area, a $51,000 grant from private donors supplemented the normal $300 budget allocation. Library staff cataloged and properly housed 5,000 historical photographs and 2,500 were digitized to searchable CD-ROM format and made accessible to the public. Aided by Nancy Sherbert, Curator of Photographs for the Kansas State Historical Society, and two successive grants from the Kansas Humanities Council, a master plan for the overall preservation and organization of the Local History department was drafted by Michael Kelly, curator of Special Collections at Wichita State University. Picturing Wichita, described in detail in the Programming section, offered citizens free public lectures and walking tours to 800 history enthusiasts over a four month period. In 1997, this program will be repeated at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum as its public education component.

While addressing these immediate needs, the Library Foundation directors continue their work and commitment to the creation of a $3,400,000 endowment. As delineated in the Campaign for Books, the Director of Libraries established the following endowment goals for each of the Library divisions:

Of the total amount, 58% ($2,000,000) represents endowment funding for the Humanities. Starting with the donation of $20,000 from the Friends of the Library in 1988, the fund has grown to $661,495 as of 11/99. Since 1988, earnings have been generated in the amount of $150,051. These have been utilized for the operating expenses of the Library Foundation itself and for interest disbursements to the Library to purchase books.

To effectively manage the endowment to its fullest earning potential, the Library Foundation adopted an investment policy in 1994 designed to insure its prudent yet aggressive management in the face of inflation. Currently, the Library Foundation has an Investment Committee composed of business professionals whose task it is to monitor endowment earnings. Funds are competitively managed through a variety of money managers recommended by Smith Barney, Inc.

Working closely with the Library, the ten volunteer directors of the Foundation have achieved the following since 1993:

• Launched a $56,000 public relations campaign designed to heighten awareness of Library resources, including filmed testimonials from the Governor of Kansas and prominent business and civic leaders.

• Worked in financial partnership with the City of Wichita by raising $200,000 to replace the Library’s automation system, and purchasing $35,000 worth of hardware to assist in establishing Internet service.

• Working from a list prioritized by Library administration, secured private grants in the amount of $454,811 to address Library collection needs.

• Established an endowment to enhance Library collections, and secured grants to underwrite Humanities programming at several Library branches.

Annually, the Wichita Public Library factors a percentage of the growth in its collections and programming through funds secured by the Library Foundation ($150,000 projected annually). While immediate needs have been addressed, everyone involved, from the private or public side, understands that the successful completion of the endowment fund is the key to funding quality and scope in the Library’s Humanities collections, making them useful and responsive to the community’s needs.

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