I have revised my proposal to include some of the items that agreements have been reached.
My proposal is to maintain the Circulation department as a separate entity inside of the library. Primarily, the Circulation Librarian position would be retained, while the Assistant Circulation Librarian position would be eliminated. These positions could be merged, delegating some of the tasks of the Assistant to circulation staff. 34 hours would be added to the circulation department weekly scheduling budget.
The Adult shelving and Children’s shelving positions would merge, becoming a 20 hour a week position. This position would be responsible for shelving all areas of the library. Also, the shelver would be responsible for the overall appearance of the collection including displays. The estimated savings for the library per year would be approximately $9385.
The reference and children’s assistant positions would be reassigned. A Programming Librarian position for 30 hours a week would be created. This position would be responsible for developing all programming in the library. The Programming Librarian would supervise the Older Adult Librarian; the YA Librarian; and the Outreach Coordinator. This position would assume responsibility for volunteers and community service workers so would supervise the Americorps member. 40 hours a week would be available to hire programming assistants. Reassigning the children’s and reference assistant position hours, while creating a 30 hour a week programming position, 40 hours a week for programming assistants and an increase of 5 hours a week for the Children’s Librarian position would result in an estimated savings of approximately $5278.00 per year for the library. There just are not enough in depth research questions to justify these positions. Circulation staff would be trained to handle day to day reference questions, such as genealogy and other readily accessible reference material...
...Any questions requiring in depth amounts of research would be directed to the Adult Services Librarian or the Children’s Librarian. Programming Assistants could be trained to help answer some reference questions, but their primary duties would revolve around programs. Reassigning the reference hours to a programming position eliminates any confusion with the staff as to the reason for pay differential. Also, with one person responsible for programming, a more consistent, focused agenda could be developed. There would be more connection between programs.
TSS would assume control of ILL. While the Adult Services Librarian and Children’s Librarian would continue selecting suitable donated books as candidates for the collection, TSS would be responsible for checking those books against the current collection.
The Adult Services Librarian would become the Collection Librarian. This position would supervise the Childrens LibrarianThey would be responsible for the development and maintenance of the collections. They would also supervise the modified shelving position. Aside from shelving this position would assist with shifting books, weeding the collection, and maintaining displays. Eric would be supervised by the Adult Services Librarian, as he does not work the minimum 20 hour a week requirement for circulation. His job duties would remain the same as before.
Currently the circulation department is budgeted for 243 hours. Removing 40 for ILL, 15 for Eric, 15 for the shelving position, and 30 for the Assistant leaves the circulation department with 143. 177 is needed to maintain the desk, hence the need for 34 more circulation assistant hours.
Benefits to the Circulation department include greater responsibility for circulation assistants, better communication with one supervisor, and it eliminates negative feelings about the pay difference.
Overall benefits to the library would be a combined savings of approximately $14,663 per year, while maintaining the same, if not better service to our patrons. The combined savings could be used for 20 additional programming hours, or 25 hours for a custodial position.
If a custodial position was created the current contract with Quality Cleaning would no longer be necessary. The cost of the service contract with Quality Cleaning is $9600 per year. This contract could be altered to reflect the change from 6 days a week to 2 days a week, possibly saving two thirds of the contract, $6400 per year. This is an estimate.
The major drawback is that the level of training for current staff does not meet the proposed expectations.
The responsibilities of the Circulation Librarian and Assistant Circulation Librarian would merge. Tasks such as noting damaged books and overlay notification would be delegated to circulation staff. Responsibility for average reference questions would fall to the circulation staff. Training for reference questions would be shared between the Adult Services Librarian, Children’s Librarian and the Circulation Librarian.
Circulation goals for the first year include; Focus on training staff to meet proposed standards; Change the mandatory number of hours for circulation staff from 12 to 20; and Streamline certain circulation functions such as damaged items. Also, eliminate hours that circulation staff is scheduled when the library is not open while minimizing overlapping hours. There will be a rotating weekend schedule for all supervisors.
This proposal would increase the responsibility level of circulation staff. They would be required to work more hours to maintain their increased level of proficiency.
Working at the desk 20 hours a week is essential to understand the operation of the desk.
The figures for this proposal were taken from the salary information of the amended budget for the 2007 fiscal year. Also included is a proposed desk schedule that meets the criteria listed above, which was used to determine the number of hours circulation would need to maintain the desk.
Comments (4)
Anonymous said
at 1:57 pm on Jul 5, 2007
Chris, where is the proposed circ schedule and the organizatio nchart you were working on?
Anonymous said
at 2:56 pm on Jul 9, 2007
We have no guarantees about the additional hours for children's at this point.
What is included in this number, Chris (the 9385)? Are the 34 hours in addition to the 30 hours the Circ Serv. Assist is currently working?
How would the program hours be divided? How would this affect current children's programming? I think it has about 40 hours now. What is the possible effect on Adult and Children's services time of this? Do they work The Desk?Moving Nora would be a demotion since she currently reports to me.
When we had two different custodians working 30 hours or so, they got vacation, sick, and holiday pay, and the place was still grimy.
Sandy, have you read the information about the differences in responsibilities betweens children's,
reference, and circ?
Anonymous said
at 3:59 pm on Jul 9, 2007
I feel that if the assistant position is eliminated and that circ staff have no chance of promotion, the additional "assistant tasks" should NOT be delegated to circ staff. 34 hours added to the circ desk will help tremendously, but with the amount of books currently flowing through circ (and shelving, etc., of same) keeps us very busy already, with not a lot of extra time for extra tasks that currently bring more money to whoever holds the position. Would this mean a pay raise for whoever picks up these extra tasks? I am willing to be a team player and help out wherever necessary, and will do these tasks if delegated to me, but it's not fair to ask lower paid employees who are already swamped with work to pick up tasks that pay others more wages. Also, please remember: when no one is working childrens or reference it is circ staff who already pick up (sometimes) higher paying (though not to us) tasks.
Circ already covers a LOT of reference questions, mainly concerning readily accessible reference materials.Many times we don't have TIME to research answers, time that is allotted to a Reference Librarian.
I don't understand how it eliminates negative feelings about the pay difference. I would not call them "negative", rather "fair."
Thank you for your consideration,
Sandy
Anonymous said
at 4:08 pm on Jul 9, 2007
The savings of 9385 includes; elimination of assistant circ hours, with the addition of 34 circ assistant hours. The program hours would be divided on a need basis. Children's programming would not be affected negatively, as there would be as many, or possibly a few more hours. As programming is variable scheduling those assistants for desk time would not be wise, as it would be very inconsistent. It would be better to maintain a desk schedule without depending on hours that might not be available. In either proposal that includes the Children's Librarian position, both have that position reporting to someone other than the County Librarian.
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