The Shorewood Public Library and other suburban libraries might take legal action against the Milwaukee Public Library for its decision to stop sending CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes in its collection to suburban patrons. As a result of the decision, which took effect January 2, Shorewood patrons have lost easy access to almost half of all Milwaukee County multi-media items.

“It will really inconvenience Shorewood people if they want something that only Milwaukee has,” said Shorewood Director of Library Services Beth Carey.

Suburban library patrons can still borrow a CD or DVD from the Milwaukee branch, but only if they go there and pick it up. In the past, patrons have been able to order multimedia items from other libraries online and pick them up at their own library.

“It’s really kind of discriminatory against people who use materials other than books for research,” said Carey. “This is something that we’ve done for years. For them to make a unilateral decision about it isn’t fair.”

Paula Kiely, Milwaukee Public Library director, said city library officials did what they did for financial reasons. Because of library budget cuts, she said, the city library lost 2.5 staff positions and officials had to “make some difficult decisions about what we could afford.” She said that the manpower and money that went into fulfilling holds for suburban libraries was too much.

“We made the best decision we could,” said Kiely.

Jim Gingery, Director of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System (MCFLS), to which the Shorewood branch belongs, said that the organization was trying to settle the dispute.

“I think it’s important that libraries reciprocate services the same way with each other, and that’s not happening,” Gingery said.

Carey agreed, and pointed out that Shorewood materials were still going to fill Milwaukee residents’ requests, while Milwaukee’s items are “sitting on shelves.”

All libraries in Milwaukee County are members of MCFLS. The purpose of the group, as stated on its website, is “to encourage cooperation and resource sharing among members, thereby making public libraries easier for Milwaukee County residents to use.” As members of MCFLS, the libraries have traditionally shared all materials.

Jeff Schmeckpepper, president of the Shorewood Library Board, said that what Milwaukee is doing is “contrary to the whole idea of a federated library system.” Schmeckpepper also pointed out that Milwaukee’s actions violated the contract that Milwaukee signed when joining MCFLS.

Because of this, the MCFLS could end up taking legal action against the central Milwaukee branch. According to Gingery, MCFLS’ lawyer said Milwaukee was breaking its contract. According to Kiely, Milwaukee’s lawyer said that the library had not broken the contract.

“It creates a dilemma for us,” said Gingery. He also said that MCFLS could not take legal action unless the MCFLS board approved it. Carey said that she would support MCFLS if the group did take action.

Kiely said she was looking into alternate options that make it possible for Milwaukee to start filling requests from suburban patrons again. She said that some suburban libraries allow patrons as many as 40 holds at a time, and reducing that limit would help.

Meanwhile, though, it is harder for Shorewood patrons to access Milwaukee’s multi-media items.

“It’s not a situation where we have extra money to go out and buy more of these items,” said Schmeckpeper. “We can’t compensate for Milwaukee taking their materials offline.”