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Union and staff push DCPL career ladder, specialized EAP, and staffing restorations
Summary
Union leaders and frontline staff urged restoration of staffing and new investments: $500,000 for a career ladder, $250,000 to enhance a library‑specific employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement, and targeted FTEs for teen services, mental health, and jail libraries.
Yonah Braumberg, representing library workers, told the committee the union’s top priorities include maintaining staffing levels, a $500,000 investment to create a career ladder, a $250,000 library‑specific enhancement to the EAP, $36,000 for tuition reimbursement, and 16 additional FTEs for programs that support teens, jail library services, and mental health supports.
Omari Kerrigan, a public‑facing library staff member, described repeated traumatic incidents at some branches—citing that between 2022 and 2023 gunfire struck the Anacostia Library approximately eight times—and said staff often return to work without adequate debriefing or time off. Kerrigan argued that a focused trauma support program funded through an enhanced EAP is “essential” to staff well‑being and retention.
DCPL director Richard Reyes Gavilan said the mayor’s proposed FY27 operating budget preserves FTEs and hours but acknowledged recruitment and retention remain challenges; he noted DCPL has hired 52 new staff and promoted 10 internally so far this fiscal year and continues work on career ladder development.
