Changes ahead for Island library – King County libraries on the Eastside and MI, reorganize staffing
Published 4:32 pm Monday, November 24, 2008
By Katherine Sather
A plan to restructure management in King County libraries, including the Mercer Island branch, has troubled some library employees and patrons.
On Dec. 1, Mercer Island became part of a “cluster” of four regional libraries that share one managing librarian. Employees from the cluster, which includes libraries at Newport, Lake Hills and the Crossroads Mall, are training to take on new job descriptions that require them to rotate among the sites.
Some staff members and patrons fear that long-time librarians will lose the connections they’ve built in their communities.
“It’s a huge shakeup,” said Cindy Richardson, president of the Local 1857 of the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, a union which represents 560 library workers. “It’s a very unnerving time for staff as they anticipate these changes.”
The King County Library System started the practice of “clustering” libraries under one managing librarian in 2001 to cope with a budget that can’t keep up with the library growth, said Bill Ptacek, director of the King County Library systems. This month, six clusters were added to a mix of 10 existing clusters formed in 2001.
“Use of the library is going up ever year,” he said. “People are continuing to use the library in unprecedented numbers.”Voters passed a bond last year that will fund an anticipated 30 percent increase in square footage of libraries in the next 10 years. The library at Lakehills, part of the Mercer Island cluster, is scheduled to be expanded and the Crossroads library is already being renovated.
But the library system’s financial model limits it from keeping up, Ptacek said. Ninety-nine percent of library funding comes from property taxes, and Initiative 747 limits property tax growth to one percent a year.
“All of these things are putting a lot of pressure on us to find ways to use what we have now in a better way,” he said. “We see it as necessary to position the library well to handle this increase in business with approximately the same resources in our operating budget.”
The new clustering system won’t save money, he said. Hours and amount of staff members won’t change. Instead, it will provide a pool of library employees who can work interchangeably within the libraries.
“We can assign staff to where they’re most needed when they’re most needed,” he said. “If it’s busy at Mercer Island right after school, we can schedule staff accordingly.”
But Richardson said that employees have had a hard time understanding the benefits of the new plan.
“We have yet to hear a really convincing argument about why this is either necessary or beneficial in the long-term, or even the short term,” she said. “For most of the staff, it’s not perceived as a good change.”
The new managing librarian of the Mercer Island cluster of libraries, Amy Eggler, formerly worked as managing librarian at Woodmont Library. She is based in Newport and is currently working with employees at the four libraries to assign them new job roles, including supervisors of children’s services, teen programs and reference services. Their new job descriptions will require them to service these roles in all four libraries, instead of just their home libraries.
Employees worry about the scheduling and travel time required with working in different locations, Richardson said. Especially since many librarians and library assistants work in their own communities, where they have other part-time jobs.
“From experience they’ve already had with clusters, the scheduling was proving so challenging and people were asked to change their schedules on such a frequent basis that it was extremely difficult for them to plan any other aspect of their lives,” she said.
In addition, library employees fear they’ll lose the connections they’ve built with library patrons in their communities.
“It’s a difficult change for many of us,” said Sally Porter, managing librarian in Mercer Island.
She is one of 21 library employees at the Mercer Island Library. Others include lead library assistant Barb Wall, who has worked in Mercer Island for almost 20 years. The last time that the staff can remember hiring a new employee was at least five years ago.
“Being connected with the community is vital,” Porter said. “It’s one of the most essential component of providing library services.”
A survey of King County library patrons taken in July found a high rate of satisfaction with service.
“We know people are understandably nervous,” Ptacek said. “We think the benefits for the future of the library system far outweigh the negatives we’ve encountered so far.”
