Item | Notes |
|---|
When you look at your invoices from Marmot, is there anything on it you find confusing? | eResources in random times and multiple invoices. could eresources take place once at the beginning of the year and all in one invoice memo descriptions don’t load well into finance report. bills in January are difficult, because tax revenue doesn’t come in until March. a once-per-year invoice in January would be difficult to pay. having an all-in-one bill saves the time of her staff, particularly since they have to spend a lot of time navigating city finance. city staff question every invoice smaller invoices like NYT and WSJ. having these sorts of one-offs in the first installment payment of the year. the fewer invoices to keep track of the better.
|
Think back to a budget meeting. Were there any items from Marmot that stood out as problematic in discussing your library’s budget? | every year Englewood has to do a purchase order for the full amount of what they will pay for the year, with some sort of documentation that shows the overall amount. having some kind of document that shows a picture of a grand total will help with PO generation. having eResources reflected in member confirmation documents would be helpful, even if they aren’t included in a comprehensive bill
|
Are there Marmot fees that draw the (negative) attention of your Board or school/university administrators? Which ones, and what are the concerns expressed? | |
Have you had any new projects or expansions of existing services that have been held back by a Marmot fee that was prohibitive? Please describe, and identify the prohibitive fee. | new buildings are expensive, but Marmot staff participated in building planning meetings to help generate reasonable costs for network equipment, so that the building budget included those costs. even when some items are reasonably priced (like eresources or camera systems) the city simply won’t provide the funds
|
Are there components of Marmot’s existing fees that you feel are “just right” and should be left as they are? | sees this exercise is a form of “right sizing” to ensure staff are sufficient for services. doing a good change management process so that libraries can prepare for changes having information as far in advance as possible. example is budget detail for January due to city in previous May. no anxieties because Marmot staff are always open about cost and finding alternatives.
|
When you think of the services your library receives from Marmot, are there any that you notice are not reflected on your invoice? | Help Desk support. Is there a fee that is included in general membership, or should this be something that is billed for separately? don’t necessarily need to know or see it visible, but wants to make sure that the level of support is financially planned for return on investment statement in conjunction with the first invoice of the year. something to take to their board to show benefit of being involved. what are libraries are saving on ILS costs? or other system costs comparison? cost avoidance isn’t as important to boards or city councils as direct comparison data. IT model is another example: internal, outsourced, cooperative. Board’s don’t understand the difficulties, and seeing the direct comparison data of having internal or outsourced options vs. the cooperative model.
|
Do you understand the categories of all the services Marmot provides your library? | |
As we talk about restructuring Marmot’s fees, are there any anxieties you feel about the outcome? What are they, and what would help alleviate those anxieties? | having enough heads up to be able to implement the changes in their budget. letting people know as soon as possible. recognize that everyone’s different budget cycles makes it difficult to provide everyone enough information early enough, but still prioritize that.
|
Marmot staff have outlined specific problems they have observed with Marmot’s current fees. Do you have anything to add to these that this project should address? | keeping options open. providing libraries options for when/how they are billed communicating issues that Marmot staff are seeing as a reminder on why this project is underway and to keep focus on those items as the driver of this project.
|