Faces changing at local library

Published 10:30 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

For Valley library visitors, there are now some new faces to get to know along with familiar ones.

Beginning Feb. 26, the King County Library System (KCLS) added Carnation and Fall City libraries to its service “cluster,” which also includes the North Bend and Snoqualmie libraries.

Clustering means that staff members are rotated amongst select libraries, explained King County library community relations manager Julie Wallace.

“The concept is to give better service to the patrons,” said Frank Schepis, the senior managing librarian for the four libraries. “A lot of people we serve go to all four libraries.”

Since 2001, North Bend and Snoqualmie libraries, located about three miles apart, have been sharing staff.

At least one-third of King County libraries have been clustering since 2001, Wallace noted, adding that the Carnation and Fall City additions made sense to include with the North Bend and Snoqualmie cluster.

In circulated documents from the KCLS, five main reasons exist for clustering: Attending to growth and service demands, equalizing workloads, consistency of operations and communications, meeting patron expectations and developing future skill-building and leadership opportunities for staff.

The KCLS estimated that it will grow by 30 percent in the next decade through funding provided by the passage of its 2004 capital bond measure.

This, combined with a continually increasing staff workload (4-7 percent annually) and restricted personnel growth due to the 1 percent limitation on increases to the operating budget imposed by Initiative 747, suggest that there is an increased demand for service that requires “better” utilization of staff.

“We want to continue to give good service to patrons and this is a manner in which we can do that,” Schepis said.

In an e-mail Schepis sent to staff at the four libraries at the end of December 2005, he noted that working in the different libraries provides staff with a wider experience and opportunity for skill development, more coverage options and equalized staff treatment and options, more varied staff interaction and job variety.

He said that for patrons, the clustering will provide consistency in the library experience, with more familiar faces in more places so that staff is seen as “system resources.” It will also provide them with staff who have more wide-spread knowledge about each library, resources, programs and the area.

For the less than 30 Valley librarians and library assistants, the change is something that has come with mixed feelings.

While some view the changes positively, such as Linda Green, who works as a supervising library assistant and will be in charge of scheduling staff, others have concerns.

Though no employee who spoke to the Valley Record about their concerns wanted to release their names, the general consensus of those with misgivings is that they feel they were not able to voice their opinions about the changes and that the additional travel time, variances in scheduling and work load and the impact the rotations will have on patrons and on staff morale was not taken into enough account.

“Anytime you have change, it is one of the most stressful things,” Schepis said, noting that the North Bend and Snoqualmie clustering also took a period of time for staff to adjust.

Children’s librarian Kate Patrick said that she looks forward to sharing planning and activities between the locations, though she will spend a majority of her time at the North Bend location.

“I enjoy seeing people at the different branches,” she said. “It’s new, but I’m sure willing to give it a try… I think we’ll all adjust to it.”

Rotations may occur between two and four times a week and schedules are set on a eight-week rotation. Staff is not compensated for the travel time unless they travel between branches.

The response from patrons is mixed, as well.

“I’m a big local library fan,” said Leslie Martin, a North Bend resident. “I do like seeing the same familiar faces.”

Snoqualmie resident Eric Lindh said that he relies on the familiarity of staff for his business, online book selling, because he is in the libraries most every day doing research.

“I think people underestimate the amount of influence the library has on this community,” he said. “I have nothing against the librarians at other locations, but it is not helpful to me.”

However, Snoqualmie resident Lisa Holden said that she already goes to each of the four libraries and thinks that the clustering is a good idea since a patron is likely to get to know everyone’s face over time anyway by visiting each location.

Even though the library is publicly funded, scheduling is not a public issue, Schepis said.

For the time being, at least, clustering is not at issue, either, as there are no KCLS plans to discontinue the practice although it will be reviewed at the end of the year according to Bill Ptacek, Director of KCLS.

“We’re well aware of the fact that there are concerns. Ultimately decisions have to be made,” added Ptacek.

“It’s going to take sometime to get used to it,” said Schepis. “I think it will be just fine.”