More than 300 staff members will be laid off or furloughed, according to a statement by the regional library system Wednesday.
Additionally, the library’s unionized workforce and managers (nearly 560 employees) will have their hours reduced by 50 percent starting May 3. Work schedules for many have already been modulated since March 14, when all of the system’s branches closed.
CCPL said it has applied for a state layoff avoidance program, SharedWork Ohio, which would allow staff to receive unemployment benefits even as they work at reduced hours.
The library projects to save nearly $2 million in salary reductions, it said. It also plans to “eliminate or postpone several planned maintenance projects, reduce its materials budget and decrease other general expenditures.”
“Like everyone else, Cuyahoga County Public Library is experiencing the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tracy Strobel, CCPL executive director, in a statement provided to the media. “We must make incredibly difficult decisions to reduce our operating costs, but these steps are essential to the long-term sustainability of our Library system. When we emerge from this phase of the pandemic response the Library needs to be here for the community to help job seekers, students seeking Internet access and residents who need accurate, reliable information.”
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This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2020.
Then there’s certainly no need to pass another ma$$ive property tax levy increase AND renewal that will undoubtedly be on the ballot again at the next election cycle!!!
Instead, how about a property tax levy refund for us taxpayers???
Anyone know why they have a shortfall? I can’t believe they have much of an income stream while open. It is mostly funded by county taxes.
Are they losing taxes? They are property taxes so too soon for that to have hot them. Or is there an income stream I don’t know about.
All public libraries in the State of Ohio get funding from the state income tax, which is down because of reduced income. This funding is why Ohio libraries are some of the best in the country
That levy $$ is needed to pad the bottom line of our top-heavy library administrators to the tune of $34 Million annually!
Those large executive bonuses and generous pay raises don’t come out of thin air!
I don’t understand how the union library workers can have their “hours” cut in half since they have been (and continue to be) paid for not working at all. Plus they will qualify for unemployment too. Nice job if you can get it. The executive director herself stated she would be applying for unemployment. Seems almost unbelievable but it’s true!
They’ll have a hard time getting me to vote for any of their tax levies.
For those wondering where the money comes in they do have meetings that are now online. They don’t allow for the public to ask questions though.
I did watch the Board Meeting online last night. It is very clear that library funding has been cut state wide. Akron Summit County Library already furloughed over 300 staff members. As the Director stated it was just $5 million in state cuts. There may be more locally due to lack of funds from local property taxes not coming in due to people being laid off and unable to pay their rent or mortgage. There will be shortfalls every where- it is a domino effect. Hopefully once the economy gets back up and running people can head back to their local libraries and use those resources.
Thank you everyone for the State funding info. I did not know that. Bummer, our county libraries are really awesome.
Son of Superman — like many of us, librarians have been working at home while their building is closed. Information professionals do a lot more than dust off books.
Libraries will get you through times of no money a lot better than money will get you through times of no libraries.
Kathy Dempsey – I’m not sure what your point is. I know several librarians personally and they are not putting in that much time if any. Only a select few are doing assistance online. They rest are not working. Plus the librarians don’t do the “dusting” or shelving for that matter. Only the pages do that.
Son of Superman, my point was: Please don’t slam librarians in a comment and gripe about their funding when you don’t have the whole picture. (The “dusting books” bit was a reference to what many people think they do all day. And sometimes, the librarians themselves do that work. Every system is different.)
It’s great that you know a few librarians personally. I know hundreds. Most of them are working their butts off, doing things like these:
+ Keeping the websites and social media accounts running
+ Researching virus info to learn whether materials will need to be sanitized, and how to do that
+ Finding, vetting, organizing, and posting the latest medical info
+ Creating content, classes, and events to share online
+ Calling their elderly “regulars” to see if they’re OK
+ Answering research questions via phone, email, and text
+ Promoting all their useful electronic content — downloadable books & magazines, streaming movies & music, research databases, job / resume help, etc.
+ Working with city / county officials on community engagement and safety tasks
+ Overseeing building maintenance and cleaning
+ Taking continuing education classes online
+ Planning processes and procedures for re-opening
Are *all* library staffers working? Of course not. But many, many are — doing what they always do, and more. Since much of their work is on software/hardware, “back-room” processing tasks, and business management, it’s invisible to the public. But it’s vital. I hope you’ll take this into account when those tax levies come up again.