Washington State Library Axes 14 Jobs

Gov. Gary Locke must not be a fan of libraries. Just when it seemed like Washington State Library's woes had subsided, the governor has lobbed another huge blow. The library was forced to lay off 14 workers, or 10 percent of its staff, on June 30 as a result of Locke's decision to withhold over $1 million in funding from next year's operating budget. In a letter to Secretary of State Sam Reed, Locke said the library would get $4 million of its allocated $5.3 million, but the remainder would stay in an emergency fund under the governor's control. Locke has already cut $885,000 from this year's operating budget.

Three reference librarians and others in the administration, information technology, and human resources departments were given pink slips, says Acting State Librarian Jan Walsh. An additional four jobs will also be left vacant, bringing the total number of cuts to 18.

"This staff has been extremely stressed since December 7. They don't know what their fate is," says Walsh. Right now, the library is trying to find alternate sources of funding so that it won't be forced to slash an additional 21 jobs. Walsh declined to reveal the other possible funding sources for fear it might scuttle any negotiations.

The good news, says Walsh, is that all but two of the 14 canned employees were able to find other jobs inside or outside the library. The bad news, however, is that an additional three jobs in acquisitions and IT will soon have to go.

Faced with a $1.2 billion budget shortfall over the next two years, Locke announced on December 6, 2001, plans to shut down the State Library to save $5.8 million. The move, which would have put 145 people out of work, would have made Washington the only state in the country without a state library. Luckily, the state legislature nixed the plan and proposed merging the library into a separate department of the Secretary of State's office on July 1. Following that announcement, Nancy Zussy, the state librarian for 16 years, stepped down.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of State's office says that despite the recent budget crisis, Secretary of State Reed is "excited about partnering with the library."