More Hours, Extra Days, Open Sage Announced by Library Officials
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Library board chair Don Carlyon and Kevin Ayala, right, talk about books with Brooke Garcia, library assistant who will return to the Sage Branch when it reopens in a week.
The Sage Library - Wenona at Midland Street on Bay City's West Side
The voters have spoken and the Bay County Library System is funded at a higher level so services are being restored as promised.
Sage Library will reopen Jan. 14 after being closed for a year.
Beginning today, Monday, Jan. 7, open hours of the Auburn and Pinconning branches will be increased by about 65 percent, from 16 hours per week to 46 hours per week.
Hours of the Wirt Main Branch Library will be increased by about 27 percent from 41 hours per week to 56 hours per week. Wirt will be open six days a week instead of five during the year of austerity.
And about $600,000 in new books and materials will be purchased in an attempt to restore at least part of the shortage caused during a year of austerity because of millage defeats.
The Bookmobile will be back on the road at least two days a week and a drive-up window at the Wirt Main Library will be reopened as quickly as possible, library officials said at a news conference.
Voters approved a 1 mill levy last November by 740 votes, replacing most of the 1.2 mill tax that was rejected twice.
"Before the millage election we tried to be sure we didn't over promise," said Don Carlyon, retired Delta College president and chairman of the Bay County Library Board.
"But we will be open more hours than we anticipated and will have more people working than anticipated when we get up to full steam," he added.
The library system has 44 full-time employees and is advertising to fill vacancies, said Kevin Ayala, deputy director of the system.
Thirty-one part-time jobs are filled. The system has 10 high school pages who help to re-shelve books and will hire another 19 to get up to full staffing levels, he said.
The library has budgeted for 20 on-call substitutes and currently has 10 on board.
At full staffing levels the system has a total of 124 employees, including full-time professionals, part-time, pages and on-call substitutes.
With a full budget the library employed 151 persons so the level of staffing at 124 will be about 18 percent lower under present funding.
The system is advertising for a new director and managing librarian is planning to hire people who will be long-term employees.
"We will be very careful in selecting a director of the library and we will re-advertise if need be to find the right person," said Mr. Carlyon.###
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