Oconee County library relists youth services librarian; board urged to lobby county for higher pay

The Oconee County Library has relisted its youth services librarian position after a candidate who had completed vetting declined an offer in November, the library director said at the board’s Jan. 28 meeting. The director cited the offered salary and local housing costs as the decisive factors in the candidate’s decision.

A representative reading a note from a Friends of the Library member urged the board to lobby Oconee County Council to increase the salary range for the youth services librarian. The note, read into the record by the director, said the position’s pay makes recruitment difficult and emphasized the library’s role in children’s education and civic literacy.

Director Blair Henson told the board the position requires a master’s degree in library and information science (MLIS) under State Library standards and that the county’s recent salary study had already been incorporated into listings but may not have raised the pay enough to be competitive. Henson said the job has been posted on the county website, employment sites such as Indeed and through state and regional library associations; prior applicants from the past six months remain on file and were notified that the position was relisted.

Henson said staff across branches have continued youth programming despite the vacancy: branch heads and staff have provided story times, sensory activities and other events; the acquisitions manager continues to order youth materials. Summer reading performers are already booked and planning is underway.

Board members asked for a concrete percent increase to request from county council if the board pursues a salary change. Henson said budget and county HR are involved in pay-setting and that a formal request would ultimately go to county council; she said she planned to meet with the county administrator and include the request in upcoming budget discussions (the next fiscal-year budget cycle was referenced as the likeliest avenue).

Henson also said she planned to raise the issue with the South Carolina State Library at an upcoming directors’ summit to ask whether standards or flexibility exist for the MLIS requirement. She noted that other libraries in the region have vacancies for similar positions and that the county has had hiring challenges beyond the library system.

The director also discussed part-time pay and said some part-time positions are funded through a third-party staffing agency; she indicated those wages had been increased in recent cycles and that she had included further increases in her budget request.

A public commenter, Gordon Crane, introduced himself as representing the Community Advocates for Education (CAFE) and told the board CAFE endorses the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights and the freedom-to-read principles; Crane thanked the director and staff and urged continued support for diverse materials. (Crane’s remarks were separate from the Friends’ written request about librarian pay.)

No formal board motion to lobby county council was recorded at this meeting; the Friends’ desire that the board press county council for higher pay was entered into the public comment record and taken under advisement by the director.