Benicia library signals possible reduced hours after staff position eliminated

City Librarian Jennifer Baker told the Benicia City Board of Library Trustees on April 14 that the library is facing a staff reduction after a longtime employee left and the role will be eliminated under recent city staffing direction. Baker said the library is exploring a reorganization to redistribute duties among three remaining library technicians and a reclassification study to address compensation.

“Our bottom line expenses is at about 70%, a little less than 71%. And we’re 75% through the, the fiscal year,” Baker said, noting the library has adjusted line items to avoid shortfalls. She announced that Gina Schimmel, who had worked at the library for more than 20 years as the copy cataloger, accepted a full-time position at Napa Valley College and will continue part time to help with cataloging.

Baker said the staffing change leaves the library short of the bodies needed to sustain current coverage, including a requirement to have two full-time staff on weekends and one in the evenings. To address that shortfall, she outlined three options the board will consider and that she will bring back as a formal recommendation in May: close either Saturday or Sunday; remain open seven days with one reduced evening; or adopt a compressed weekly schedule that reduces total public hours. “We are looking at 3 different options,” she said.

If trustees approve a recommendation, the board will forward it to the Benicia City Council; Baker said the council would need to approve any change because altered hours are an operational change that the council would treat as a separate agenda item. The trustees did not vote on any hours change at the April meeting.