Basic Brainstorming and Drafting
A for-profit library. In its early life, most profit will exist to pay for maintenance and a small salary for myself. With anything left over, or any donations, going into a general fund. Whatever ends up there will be spent on construction, improvements, investments, on the collection, or however our patrons would like to see it spent. Within reason.
Nothing in this library will be free, yet it aims to be very affordable. Just as Bitcoin and the best crypto services aim to do.
The standard membership will likely be $20 a month, paid annually, giving moderate access to 90% of the library's services. Meaning, if you want to use the small space of this library as a workspace, you'll need to pay for your presence.
For example, a standard member is granted 4 hours each week (which will roll over with spending limits) to spend in the library, but a gold member ($100/month) has up to 18 hours a week.
Alternately, if one only needs access to our website and digital collections, that can be made available for $5 a month.
In time, we hope to produce income from other sources. Which would allow us to employ other people, and cover memberships of those who can't afford them.
Ultimately a lot of this is speculation. Luckily we only need about 20 members to cover the bills, and 100 for my efforts to be compensated. If we have a 500 sqft space though, 100 would be the maximum, averaging 8 people in the building at any given time. But if we're able to stretch our funds and building a second floor, for example, we could easily have enough square footage to support double that number of memberships.
A quick glance at code requirements, 50 sq ft per person in a dorm room setting. So, 8 people for a 500 sq ft area is on point. Allowing for a bit of extra space and for the librarian to be there. Especially since shelving will take up some of that.
Final Summary
A for-profit library, serving our community. Starting as a small business, with a single employee. The collections will be determined by our patrons, at the discretion of the owner.
In balancing profit and accessibility: There will be a cap to memberships (likely 100-200) and most of our profits will go back into our collections and infrastructure.
A standard membership will likely be $240 a year, or $25 a month. This will give reasonable access to 95% of the library's services. If one desires more access or special treatment, higher tier memberships will exist or can be created. On the flip side we will also maintain a $5 or $10 membership (monthly), to accommodate those who only need digital access and/or the occasional book loan.
In time we hope to create more sources of income and cultivate a nest egg; allowing us to establish some longevity and consistency while being able to pay for memberships of those who can't afford it.
It is my belief that these ideas can be worked into a reproducible model for neighborhood and community libraries, while raising the bar of what a library should be.
