2023-08-22 Focus Group Meeting notes

When you look at your invoices from Marmot, is there anything on it you find confusing?

• having a “glossary” of what line items mean or include

Think back to a budget meeting. Were there any items from Marmot that stood out as problematic in discussing your library’s budget?

• resources provided at Council are useful in conversations with finance committee

• putting on hold the fee increases during the pandemic

• if mountain community sees a downturn in property taxes, everything becomes problematic

Are there Marmot fees that draw the (negative) attention of your Board or school/university administrators? Which ones, and what are the concerns expressed?

• unnecessary transits and random times libraries pull holds

• nothing is so glaring that the Board questions. the biggest question from the Boards are about the courier fees.

• having workers who could afford to live in mountain communities is heavily diminished, so having a shared team becomes more important

• Boards value participation in Marmot for cybersecurity

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.

• all of the staff sessions being in use; did some internal reshuffling of staff sessions

• questions about how membership fee is determined

Are there components of Marmot’s existing fees that you feel are “just right” and should be left as they are?

• overall costs are clear

• keeping everything as transparent as possible

When you think of the services your library receives from Marmot, are there any that you notice are not reflected on your invoice?

• cybersecurity

• E-Rate consultant

• Pika

• Training and continuing education

• MUG and Council costs

Do you understand the categories of all the services Marmot provides your library?

• clickable invoices that describe categories and what is included

• can a link to a glossary of line items be included in the electronic invoices?

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?

• nothing other than raising fees really high

• formulas are difficult to understand objectively if they are fair. the formula is invisible.

• trying to explain a category they don’t understand

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?