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Library director warns of short staffing, lays out hiring plan and program numbers
Summary
Library Director Suzanne reported reduced hours, a short-staffed front desk, 105 applications for two open positions (23 with library experience), a hiring timeline through early-to-late September, and program and makerspace usage figures.
Library Director Suzanne gave a detailed operations report describing reduced public hours (Wednesdays and Thursdays closed), staff furloughs and a recruiting push to fill two open frontline positions. "We are short staffed," Suzanne said, adding that as of July 9 there were 105 applicants for the openings, 23 of whom have library experience and 7'08 with related experience who could move in quickly.
She outlined a hiring process: first interviews scheduled for Wednesday, follow-up second interviews the following week, and a hoped-for reopening of Wednesday service in early September with full six-day service by late September or early October if training progresses quickly. Suzanne said training will include desk and content-management-system orientation while the library is closed on select days.
Suzanne also reviewed programming and makerspace metrics: a makerspace open session drew 26 users in three hours (7 were newcomers), supported by six volunteers; summer events included a petting zoo attended by 187 people and youth yoga with roughly 30'35 attendees. She reported a roughly 20% decrease in overall visits and explained that programming schedules and closures likely contributed to those changes.
On facilities and partnerships, Suzanne described recent ADA-button repairs and an apparent transcriptized repair estimate followed by a small parts cost: "that motor could be shot in that thing, and that'll be $4,444,100 dollars. And, fortunately, the part was a $120." She also said Columbia County Public Health offered a weatherproof Narcan box for exterior placement so patrons can access Narcan without asking at the desk; Suzanne recounted a patron reporting she had "used it and saved someone's life," underscoring community need.
Suzanne closed by noting ongoing budget constraints (4 full-time staff with 10% furloughs and a 20'5% reduction in materials and services), and thanked staff and volunteers for maintaining services under the current constraints.
