Live Homework Help @ the library and from home

I am very excited to announce that Des Moines Public Library in partnership with Tutor.com launched Live Homework Help (LHH) as a Proof of Concept last week. What is LHH? What is the Proof of Concept? How does LHH work?

Live Homework Help (LHH) is an online tutoring service that was launched in the mid 1990’s. The Proof of Concept makes LHH available at no cost twenty-eight hours per week and allows customers to purchase additional time if they so choose. If they buy additional hours the library will receive funds from Tutor.com. that offset the library’s investment in the product.

Between the hours of 3:00 and 7:00 P.M. every day of the week any student in grades 4 to early college who needs assistance with math, science, social studies, or English can visit our web site and be connected with a live tutor at no cost. Tutors are available on a 24/7 basis but time must be purchased by the individual outside of the 3:00 to 7:00 timeframe. The tutors have been thoroughly vetted by Tutor.com for expertise in their field and appropriate online behavior.

A typical session might look something like this:

An eighth grade student is stymied by the concept of quadratic equations. The student visits the library web site (either in the library or from home) and selects LHH. The student is asked for grade level and subject. The student selects math and the subset of algebra. The student is then, usually in less than two minutes, connected to a tutor. Once connected the tutoring session begins. The tutoring session can be equated to a one on one chat with special tools available for teaching assistance. The average length of most sessions is between fifteen and twenty minutes.
These are literally on-demand tutoring sessions.

The goal is not to provide the students with answers. Rather, the goal is to increase the student’s ability to understand concepts and increase their level of success in the classroom. I have worked with this product in two other libraries and can assure you that parent, teacher, and especially student response to LHH is consistently enthusiastic.

We will be publicizing LHH broadly in the next several weeks. This is a product that helps students learn and boosts classroom confidence. Well over 90% of students who access the service say they would recommend it to their friends.

As a reader of this blog I ask you to visit LHH and test it for yourself. If you agree that it is a boon for students help us spread the word. The very best advertising is word of mouth. So, the more of us talking the better.

Budgets

Des Moines Public Library, like the vast majority of its peers across the United States, is always participating in an awkward budget dance. Each year we set priorities, review past performance, and hope sufficient revenues will be available to deliver a quality product to the community.

The vast majority of library revenues are provided by the City of Des Moines. The stronger the City’s financial health the more likely the library’s budget will be secure. The opposite is also true. If taxable property in the city loses value or if the Franchise Fee is eliminated the library’s budget will shrink.

The library’s budget is supplemented by fines, fees, state aid, grants, and gifts. Fines, which I have addressed in an earlier blog, help offset the City’s overall tax support. Fee revenue is generated primarily from the rental of movies on DVD. State aid is used primarily to support the materials collection and underwrite Des Moines Public Library’s participation in open access. Grants are usually one time funds used to initiate a new program. Most library gifts are generated by the Library Foundation and are primarily used to underwrite programs like Summer Reading and AViD and supplement library investments in collection development and technology. Supplemental funds constitute approximately 10% of library revenue.

Total library revenue is between 7.5 and 8 million dollars. The question is what does it buy?

First, it buys open hours at all six library outlets. Currently the library is open for sixty-five unduplicated hours over a seven day period. Second, revenue is used to build a collection. Every library survey reassures us that most people still use their library to borrow material. Third, money is used to support a variety of programming for children, teens, and adults. Pre-school storytimes, an Anime Club, and author visits are all a part of the mix. Fourth, we spend money on technology. Des Moines Public Library is probably the premier public computing site in our area. In addition Des Moines is still a community where the digital divide is alive and well. The common thread and our biggest investment is staff. Without them nothing moves forward.

When we establish budgets our initial goal is to maintain current service levels. Our hope is to improve and expand service. Too often, shrinking revenue from one or several sources causes us to determine what services can be reduced without an overly negative impact on the public.
The library has an established budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. City revenue can be anticipated but the remaining revenue sources are less predictable. Odds are there will be no major shifts in library service in the coming year but…

Here at the library we are already beginning the budget dance for 2009-2010. Personally, I prefer the waltz.