According to CADL Director Sue Hill, “We’ve seen our circulation [the number of items checked out] more than double,” as well as an increase in traffic (people coming and going). While the portion of those increases attributable to business is not known, Hill said that when it comes to working with area businesses, “We focus on people who are starting new businesses.  [We] work with agencies on classes for operating new businesses.” Lansing even has a business librarian who does one-on-one counseling and assists in the development of business plans entrepreneurs can take to the bank.

With that in mind, meet Marsha Madle, president of Madle Marketing, LLC, who served on the CADL advisory committee, is a founding member of the Meridian Area Business Association (MABA), chairperson of the Meridian Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Meridian Township Entrepreneurial Asset Movement (MTEAM), the latter of which counts as its primary accomplishment the formation of the Meridian Assets Resource Center (MARC).

Madle’s groups make use of the Hope Borbas Okemos library extensively and she said that head librarian Joan Smith is “very proactive with business.” The Okemos library is purchasing books to enhance their business collection for small business, and Madle said, “That has been driven because of the MARC, but Joan has always been very business-oriented long before the MARC.”

Therefore, it’s not surprising that Okemos is one of two branches focusing on business resources. One of its goals is the development of a business resource center, something the CADL Capital Improvement Program (CIP) would speed up. The center would be located inside the Okemos library and be available to organizations and individual businesses, focusing on small and start-up businesses.

Through the MTEAM, the MARC provides resources for people, not only books and databases, but mentoring and counseling, for up-and-coming businesses in Meridian Township. It aims to make the process as easy as possible, by providing permits and licenses on site. And Madle said that she’s “very excited about our collaboration with CADL to help bring this about.”

Currently, the Okemos library hosts two business seminars per year that are open to the public. The turnout is great. “We’re running out of space,” Madle said. “A new library [in Okemos] could offer larger meeting rooms [which] would be wonderful for Meridian Township.”

She continued, “Meridian Township is very focused on education. [The libraries in Okemos and Haslett are] heavily used by children and teenagers doing homework. Haslett is small, but in the plan, they’ll be getting improvements. Haslett community very much wants to maintain its own. Both will serve their communities… like a community center. [They] really are the hub of the community.”

Hill explained that public libraries are a destination location, and help to increase business for nearby retail and convenience stores. But libraries are also a great deal in and of themselves. She said a study done in Florida showed that every $1 invested in libraries yields $6.54 worth of service for the community.

“Many businesses,” she added, “are surprised by the level of entrepreneurial support we can offer for start-ups. Some of the databases... can help businesses find new customers, or where they should locate [by determining] if one location has better demographics than another.”

Speaking of location, the Williamston Community Library Foundation (WCLF) has found a location on which to build the new library, as it so sorely needed to serve the businesses and individuals to the east of Meridian Township. According to WCLF’s Marlene Epley, if the CADL CIP millage passes, they hope to be turning dirt by 2011. Through WCLF’s ongoing fundraising efforts, including a $20,000 matching grant from Friends of the Library (FOTL) will be able to erect an environmentally-friendly library that stimulates economic growth in the quiet little town by providing many of the same services, albeit on a smaller scale, that the Okemos, Haslett and Lansing branches offer.

Asked why the MARC is so important, Madle explained that “finding entrepreneurs is an ongoing process [because] it’s a lifestyle change.” It requires 20-30 years to create a culture of entrepreneurship. The reward for all this hard work: a sustainable, entrepreneurial community less susceptible to recession during a one-sector economic slowdown (e.g., the auto industry). In entrepreneurial communities, young people grow up not searching for ways to get out, but ways to develop ideas into successful businesses. And “libraries play a big role in providing resources outside of what they get at home,” Madle said.

The MARC consists of business owners, township supervisor, a trustee, Meridian Township executive director, and library committee members.  “The entire MTEAM is very exciting—we have great collaboration from the business community, the township board, and EDC. When you get all three sectors working together, it’s very exciting,” Maddle said. “Over the last year... our driving force [has been] finding out what we needed for the MARC and work on explaining MARC to everyone. Now our focus is on educating our community on what entrepreneurship is. We’re doing more PR within the community.”

While MTEAM and the MARC are not dependant on the CIP for survival, a yes on the millage vote would certainly help them thrive. “The big benefit,” Madle explained, is that “we could have a designated area [inside the library].  [We could be open] without the library being open.”

In all, a yes vote on the millage means five new buildings, six expansions and two renovations. More than adding up to 11 projects, this would also equal hundreds of construction-related jobs for the area over the life of the CIP. Good for business? You bet!