At the Brooke County Public Libraries last scheduled board meeting of 2022, a decision had been made for modifying hours at the branch.
Before COVID made an appearance, it was still evident that by stats and attendance of programs, that more people attended the library during the week at the Branch. It was reevaluated during the middle of this year to compare pre-COVID stats to current stats. It was also apparent that the trend of attracting staff members for positions at the library was made more difficult with the limited hours of operation on Fridays and Saturday’s at the branch.
Current trends of worker shortage as well as a highly competitive job market for entities that offer more hours, higher wages, and sign-on bonuses, greatly reduced the pool of viable candidates who wanted more hours or higher pay than we could offer. Over the past 8 years, the Director has been streamlining schedules to better align with what the Director calls, “meatier schedules,” thereby creating better part-time schedules that a staff member can work at just the library or could easily join it with a second job as hours do not fluctuate and/or change. The goal has been to also increase wages when budget allows for it, which is hard at a “non-profit” level. It also allowed access to additional benefits to be opened up to part-time staffers (retirement and health care) if they so choose. The board also took in to consideration other libraries in WV and their hours for smaller locations.
As a result, the Board decided to change hours at the Branch location by closing on Saturdays but opening up earlier on certain days and staying later on Fridays.
The current schedule until the start of Christmas Break is: 11-6 Monday through Thursday, and 10-1 on Fridays and Saturdays; which equates to 34 hours open.
The new schedule will start when we reopen on January 3, 2023 and the hours will be: 10-6 Monday through Thursday and 9:30-4 on Fridays. The total hours open will increase to 38.5 hours open to the public. The Friday hours also gives a slight advantage over the main location as being open earlier than even it.
On top of that, we were able to create one more full-time library clerk position (totaling 3 full time library clerks and 2 part-time scheduled library clerks) which now allows that staff member to access better health care coverage, pay, and add more in to retirement.
Any further information can be obtained by contacting the library director.
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