Letter to Otto Township

December 5, 2022

Otto Township library patrons,

Unfortunately, as of January 1, 2023, Otto Township residents are required to pay an annual fee of $15 to access the S.W. Smith Memorial Public Library’s services that are open to guest patrons from an area that is unserved by a state-aided public library. Otto Township residents who pay the annual fee are welcome to borrow library materials, attend programs, use the computers and WiFi, and access business services. However, Otto Township residents will not have access to district library services including e-books on OverDrive or Libby, district funded programs, or InterLibrary Loan options. If Otto Township residents choose to access another library in McKean County or anywhere else in Pennsylvania, they will also have to pay that library their annual fee for guest patron access. 

This decision was not made lightly. Since November 9, 2021, the library has contacted the Otto Township Supervisors multiple times by letter, email, and phone to discuss the township’s financial responsibility to the library. On February 11, 1986 Otto Township passed a Resolution confirming the addition of Otto Township to the direct state-aided library service area of the S.W. Smith Memorial Public Library. It was understood by the Otto Township Supervisors that Otto Township would “be expected to contribute a reasonable amount of financial support annually” to the S.W. Smith Memorial Public Library to retain public library service for Otto Township residents. According to the library’s records, the last time Otto Township contributed a Local Financial Effort (LFE) to the S.W. Smith Memorial Public Library was in 2015 in the amount of $600. It is not only a hardship on the library to retain a service area that is not financially contributing, it is also unjust to the contributing municipalities that are also in the library’s service area to grant a non-contributing municipality the same state-aided library services. 

​

The S.W. Smith Memorial Public Library Board of Trustees was open to discussion on this matter and would have liked to come to an agreement with Otto Township to retain state-aided library service. State-Aided library service is a boon to any community, but most especially to economically depressed rural communities. The library asked the Otto Township Supervisors to contact the library for a cooperative conversation on this matter. The Otto Township Supervisors did not respond to any of the library’s attempts at communication.  Drafts of the original Resolutions, November 9, 2021 letter, the May 5, 2022 email, and the November 30, 2022 final letter to the Otto Township Supervisors are available to view upon request. 

It is the hope of the S.W. Smith Memorial Library Board of Trustees that $1.25 per month is not too large of a financial burden for Otto Township residents who wish to continue to use the library. Thank you for your understanding. 

Sincerely,

Mary Grace Collier-Kisler, S. W. Smith Memorial Public Library Director  

Leslie LaBarte, Seneca District Libraries, District Consultant