Troubled Chesco library sees study as valuable, but...

The beleaguered Kennett Public Library should hold off on its plan to move and its president should quit, according to a library-commissioned study.

But library leaders say that while the report was valuable and changes are in the works, the $6 million campaign to relocate and expand is still on, and the president says she's not quitting.

The study, in which 41 stakeholders, donors, and potential donors participated, was aimed at gauging interest in the capital campaign. The results were released last week, and not all of them were flattering.

The library, which serves eight communities in an 11-mile swath of southern Chester County, has battled a catalog of issues, including the move, a controversial name change, board turnover, and a public perception of board discord and lack of transparency.

One respondent called the board a "train wreck"; another said the library is a "loser."

The low numbers of positive responses to questions - and the low number of people saying giving toward a new library was a high priority - was a "cause for concern," said the report on the study, which was conducted over the summer and finished in July.

But many respondents praised the library's services.

It's a "place for self-discovery and community engagement," said one.

The predominant sentiment, the study showed, was "Yes, but -."

Most of those asked expressed appreciation and admiration for the library's services and programs, but complaints about the board came up repeatedly in answers regardless of the question asked.

"It's always good to know. These are some strong comments that we needed to know about," said board Vice President Karen Ammon, who took over during the summer after her predecessor resigned.

But she and other leaders said that things have changed since the study was conducted, and that the library is on its way to the "new day" the study said needed to dawn.

Since the study began, the library has given a seat on the board to each of the eight municipalities it serves; has begun publishing financial reports on its website; and has been working with Kennett Square to keep the library in the borough, leaders said. It has abandoned its controversial plan to move to Kennett Township.

Library leaders say the board plans to improve communication with the community. It also might survey residents about the library's name change. If a majority want to change the name back to Bayard Taylor Memorial Library, the board will do it, said president Susan Mackey-Kallis, whose term expires in December.

Leaders believe these steps will remedy many of the problems perceived by community members and reported in the study.

The library, which has a collection of over 55,000 titles, has an annual budget of $871,000. About 43,000 people live in the eight towns it serves.

The study was conducted by MacIntyre Associates, a nonprofit consulting firm with offices in Kennett Square and Wilmington.

It recommended that the library put the relocation plan on hold, and said the money needed from community donors is not there.

On Thursday, Mackey-Kallis said that recommendation is "less relevant because of all the momentum we now have with the borough" and that she believes the $6 million can be raised.

The library plan to move, therefore, will not change as a result of the survey report, she said. But "how we go about raising [the money], even the timeline for raising it ... could change," Mackey-Kallis said.

The study presented reservations about the campaign largely because of discontent among respondents about turmoil within the library board. "If there was no more arguing, I might consider a larger campaign gift, especially if the board repaired the past damage," said one person. All names of participants were edited out.

Mackey-Kallis said the recent board upheaval was partly natural and partly the result of exhaustion. She said she would step down if the board asked her to, but that the capital campaign would not start until after her term has expired.

The problems tainting the board predate most of its current members, said Mackey-Kallis, who took over in January, and the board still suffers from the frustration created by prior board "missteps" about relocating the library.

As the library starts working on a communications strategy and developing the future capital campaign, she hopes to do a second survey with a broader section of the community.

Said Mackey-Kallis, "It's hard sometimes for us to get the message out about, yes, maybe those decisions were made in the past, but here's where we're going now."

jmcdaniel@philly.com610-313-8205

@McDanielJustine