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Grandtown’s New Public Library

In a 6-4 vote the city council of Grandtown has decided to renovate and relocate its library. The library is currently located in a rural area near the edge of town. The facility is over sixty years old and has been in need of renovation for years, but as in many cities, fiscal constraints have stood in the way of any improvements. The planned location is a commercial property adjacent to a frequently visited strip mall. Walmart is planning to build a store on the same lot. The library and Walmart will share one large parking lot. Residents of Grandtown will be able to combine their trip to the grocery store with a trip to the library.

The plans have not been finalized, but the city and Walmart have entered into an “Agreement of Intent to Co-locate.” The city has been negotiating the details with Walmart executives for about a year. Grandtown’s goal is to obtain a contract similar to an agreement between the City of Dallas and Kroeger, which has received a lot of press lately. By all accounts the relationship between Dallas and Kroeger has been a big hit. The building design there is so impressive that it won an award from the Texas Society of Architects, and usage of the library has increased every year since the city and Kroeger began their working relationship. Grandtown’s list of objectives for the partnership is consistent with the contract executed in Dallas. The important details are as follows:

• Replace the old 6,500 square foot facility with a new, more modern 9,000 square foot facility. The library will occupy one corner of the building, which will be connected to a new Walmart store.
• The property will be owned jointly by the city and Walmart.
• Walmart will design and construct the library. The corporation will complete the site planning, conduct environmental testing, install lighting, and landscape the property.
• The city will approve Walmart’s zoning applications, which are currently the subject of much controversy. As is the case with many Walmart stores, the local residents are not all convinced that having a Walmart is in their best interest.
• A committee appointed by the city council will work with library staff and Walmart’s architects on designs for the modern facility. The design will meet or exceed city requirements for approved building materials, disability access, and other specifications required by various ordinance and codes.
• Walmart will hire the construction crew and oversee the workmanship. Once the library and store are constructed, Walmart will designate a small area within its store to issue library cards.
• The library will designate a children’s area and maintain qualified staff to watch children while their parents shop. From Walmart’s perspective, the plan will draw more customers. From the city’s perspective, more children will be exposed to reading.

Answer each in 120 +reference each!

Discussion Questions

1. What do you think of the city’s plan? What are the advantages and disadvantages to the co-location?
2. After the co-location, will the library still be a “public organization”? Explain how you arrived at your answer. Will it lose any of its “publicness”?
3. In what ways might the objectives of Grandtown and Walmart conflict? Is the plan in the best interest of the citizens of Grandtown?
4. With respect to operations in the library, in what ways might the lines of authority be compromised?
5. Where do you think the impetus for the plan came from?
6. What forces do you think have influenced the city council debate and in what way?
7. According to accounts in Dallas, the agreement between the library and Kroeger “saved the library”? Do you think this is true?
8. Are any aspects of the plan more or less acceptable? Discuss your reasoning.
9. How will the city council know if the plan is a success?

What do you think of the city’s plan? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the colocation?

I agree fully with the plan formulated by the city because of numerous factors, including the colocation of Walmart and Grandtown library, which would create a contradictory relationship because of the location being perceived as the grocery and library store. Also, the historical perception of the library must be the top consideration in creating the town’s proposed plan, though, similarly, the library’s age, history, and renovation play a central significance in if or not the plan should be executed. There are also advantages and disadvantages attached to the relocation. The advantage is that the close proximity of the library to Walmart would allow the clients to shop for groceries to check out the library (Hall, 2021). Further, the partnership between the library and Walmart is mostly similar to the partnership of Kroeger Inc and Dallas. However, the disadvantage of the plan includes chaos that can happen in the affordable grocery sales could lead to issues like noise and parking. Further, the library patrons and Walmart clients could not enjoy the extreme closeness of the colocation.

After the colocation, will the library still be a “public organization”? Explain how you arrived at your answer. Will it lose any of its “publicness”?

I believe that Grandtown library can still be perceived as a public organization since it is part of the public sector; hence, Walmart will not own the library due to the town being in complete control of the library though the property of the location would be jointly owned. For instance, some principles categorize a public organization, encompassing that a business entity, like a library, which is government-owned, applies the common goods, and funding comes from tax-payers (Rainey, 2014). Therefore, the library would not lose any of its publicness because all businesses have a certain level of political influence and are perceived as subject to a certain degree of external government control. Thus, the town of colocation’s proposed plan would allow the library to be under the management of the government and merely share location with Walmart.

In what ways might the objectives of Grandtown and Walmart conflict? Is the plan in the best interest of the citizens of Grandtown?

The goals of Walmart and Grandtown could conflict in unpredictable ways. With the introduction of a large corporation like Walmart, it could interfere with the local businesses, which would not compete fairly with the superstore conglomerate. The town requires this colocation to bring positive transformations to the town’s ecosystem by promoting education and literature via exposing reading to a larger audience, primarily targeting the children. Also, the Walmart clients could perceive that it is incompatible for the library and the superstore to share the location. Further, the questionable nature of childcare services because neither Walmart nor the library has offered any explanation could possibly create adverse influence for the city resident’s children concerned about their safety (De Backer & Rinaudo, 2019). Overall, the colocation could affect the town’s budget because the financial constraints have been considered a major factor for improvement to the library’s former location.