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Library seeks more security hours, invests in e-resources after renovation
Summary
Library director asked the finance committee for modest staffing-hours increases for security and for continued investments in e-resources and meeting-room revenue following renovations; members pressed for branch-level usage numbers.
Library staff told the Fairbanks North Star Borough Finance Committee on April 7 that the library system is expanding services after a recent renovation and needs modest additional staffing and recurring funding for technology and e-resources.
"We have Brandy Wehner, Administrative Services, Kristy Burke, Circulation and Bookmobile Services, Laura Salisbury, Collection Services, and Nilia Corrado, Community Services," Library Director Jimmy Alexander Ball said while introducing his management team and describing the department s the Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library System that runs the Noel Wien Library, the North Pole Branch, and the Bookmobile.
In the administration division the library proposed adding 10 hours to a current part-time security assistant (to provide overlap and coverage during busy afternoons) and cited a net personnel increase of $38,670 in administration because of that and other staffing adjustments. The director also noted smaller line shifts to pay for additional MiFi and hotspot data in circulation and for continued investment in e-materials and catalog subscriptions.
Assembly members asked for branch-level circulation and usage numbers to follow up on questions about North Pole branch service levels. Library staff provided March figures in response: "this month's March numbers for North Pole branch, they circulated 6,961 items and Noel Wien circulated 45,742," and offered to provide more detailed, written breakdowns.
Library staff also explained E‑Rate consulting work that helped secure roughly 50% reimbursement for cabling and network work during renovation and said the library will continue to manage contracts for serials and databases that have seen vendor inflationary increases.
What happens next: staff will provide a more detailed break-out of branch-level circulation and hours, and the committee will consider the library's proposed increases as part of the FY27 operating budget review.
