Questions Remain About Jackson County Library's Reopening
RSSJoan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 08/29/2007
The Jackson County Library Services in Oregon may reopen as early as October—but big questions still remain.
Those questions arise from the fact that the library’s management is expected to be handed over to the private company Library Systems & Services LLC (LSSI) of Germantown, MD, which plans to slash the library system's budget for numbers of employees, and hours of operation.
Jackson County closed all of its 15 branches in April in what is believed to be to be the largest library closure to date.
The Jackson County Budget Committee on August 21 unanimously approved a proposed $4.3 million annual budget plan from LSSI to run the library system. By approving LSSI, the budget committee rejected a proposal from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to run the library system on a $7.5 million budget. The annual operating budget of the county system had been $8.75 million.
Final approval for the LSSI contract must now come from the county commissioners, with a vote slated for Oct. 1. That approval is probable, since the budget committee, which unanimously approved LSSI's proposal, is composed of county commissioners.
"Of course they're disappointed to lose that many union positions, but there was no way they could compete," Jackson County Library Business Manager Judith Baalman says of the SEIU's defeat. Baalman, who is paid by the county, will stay on to administer the new contract. That will make her the one and only county employee working in the library system. The layoff of five other remaining county library employees is imminent. The larger layoff, of 110 library employees, took place on April 13.
Baalman doesn’t know the number of employees to be hired should the LSSI contract prevail. But she confirms that the proposed new library hours represent deep cuts.
The central library in Medford, for example, had been open 46 hours a week, and the second largest library, in Ashland, had been open 40 hours. Under the new contract, both would be cut to 24 hours. Six of the branches that had been open 28 to 30 hours a week will be cut to 16 hours.
LSSI personnel could not be reached for details, but Baalman says that the company has agreed to re-interview all former library county employees for possible future positions.
