Rick Haffey, in his opening remarks prior to his report to the Nevada County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, October 13th, mentioned that it might well happen that a non-profit could respond to the RFP for Library Services, or a for-profit. All possibilities would be entertained.

But when the town of Dartmouth, Massachusettes, researched the possibility of privatizing/outsourcing public library services, their December 2008 report concluded that “LSSI is currently the only company that outsources the management of public libraries.”

Moreover, Section 5.6.6 of Nevada County’s RFP for Library Services states that “Contractor will provide the County with annual audited financial statements of the Company to demonstrate fiscal soundness.”

But the Dartmouth report also determined that “LSSI is a privately-held company and does not disclose earnings. We have no way of knowing how solvent they are, how much profit they make or how long they will be in business.”

For this reason, among others, the town of Dartmouth decided against privatizing/outsourcing the management of their public library system.

It will be interesting to see how all of these apparently irreconcilable statements — if true — get reconciled in the Nevada County Libraries RFP process.