Buncombe County Libraries update staffing model; critics say pushes out longtime employees

Buncombe County Public Libraries unveiled a new three-year plan on Feb. 3 to reduce and eventually end the library system's dependence on temporary positions, which are payed less than the county's $17 an hour minimum for regular employees.

County officials say the plan will also give each library enough staff to operate efficiently. However, with 50 temporary positions set to be removed and only 13 regular positions set to be added, critics say the plan will push out longtime employees and make staffing issues worse, not better. County officials noted that the change will be difficult for many but stressed that new positions will only be filled internally.

“This long-term plan will help ensure the quality and consistency of our service delivery,” Assistant County Manager DK Wesley said in a news release about the plan. “Even though we know the outcome will help our patrons, these changes have a personal impact to our staff, many of whom who have served in ‘temporary’ roles for years, even decades. The selection process is thoughtful and intentional and aims to support the transition of impacted page or substitute staff into a permanent position in our organization.”

Skyland/South Buncombe Library Youth Services Specialist Ann Schapira told the Citizen Times on Feb. 23 that the idea of the plan is good, but the execution is what she takes issue with.

"I think that is a worthy goal, and they should applaud themselves for wanting to do that and not rely upon temporary labor and provide a living wage to their regular full-time employees. I'm all for that," Schapira said. "We were hopeful they were going to change the designation of the pages from temporary to regular employees and just leave them as part-time hours."

Instead, all library page positions will be ending on June 30, which represents 14 of the 50 temporary library positions, according to a county roster of temporary employees.

Past Reporting:As in-person visits lag since COVID, Buncombe libraries look to community outreach

Law Enforcement:Fatal West Asheville crash: Police execute search warrants to find DNA, data recorder

Pages are essential to library function, Schapira said, as they are the ones collecting the books and putting them back on the shelf, something librarians often do not have time to do because they are busy helping library patrons.

Library staff have criticized the plan internally, according to Schapira, and on social media. A news release from Feb. 3 about the plan on the county's Facebook page has 16 comments, nearly all of which criticize the plan for removing part-time positions in favor of a smaller number of full-time positions.

"The page positions are essential to healthy library functionality," Kate Spratt said in a comment on the post. "The actual people who hold the page positions are incredibly talented and hardworking individuals who deserve to be treated as professional staff. The library definitely needs more full time positions, but not at the cost of pages and substitutes."

Internally, Buncombe County Director of Communications Lillian Govus said the library system held meetings for library assistants, pages and library substitutes to better understand the decision-making process.

"We understand this is a big change, and it’s certainly not an easy one," she said.

Page positions are part-time and focused primarily on the care of books, Schapira said. She said at her location, two pages split a 30-hour work week that includes emptying book drops, passing materials to other library staff for processing then taking those materials out into the library for shelving.

"Shelving of books, audiobooks, and DVDs is labor intensive, physically demanding, and requires meticulous focus and attention to detail as well as speed to meet the volume of business in our busier branches," she said.

According to Govus, the new positions being created are full-time, customer-facing Assistant Librarian positions. Before June 30, seven assistant librarian positions will be created, and another six positions are requested for the next fiscal year's budget cycle, which starts on July 1.

Fiscal year 2025's budget will likely include more positions, Govus said, but the exact amount is currently unknown.

Law Enforcement:Alleged downtown Asheville bomb thrower has new court date; police: threw IED at monument

County News:Buncombe County Commissioners discuss affordable housing, cryptocurrency, finances

While Govus said pages would get the chance to apply for the newly creates positions, Schapira said many will likely not take the county up on the offer.

"Many of these people who are library pages are purposely working a park-time job for whatever reason they may have for needing to do that. Some of them are also people with disabilities or people who have other reasons for not being able or willing to have full time employment," Schapira said.

Once all the pages who wish to apply for the full-time positions have applied, the newly created positions will be offered to part-time library assistants, already permanent positions, Govus said. If any of the people in these positions move to a full-time position, the open part-time positions will once again be offered first to pages.

While the prospect of open part-time permanent positions being offered to pages, Schapira said her concerns are somewhat alleviated.

"I am a little skeptical that they are doing that in a timeline that would alleviate the pressure on the pages who are being eliminated," she said.

Once pages are gone, Schapira said, librarians will need to choose between serving those who come in and putting books back on the shelves, and one will inevitably suffer.

"I know that our libraries are such a beloved and valuable resource to Buncombe County. I'm very proud to be a library employee, and I know that we are so devoted to serving the people of Buncombe County, which is why this type of thing is so upsetting," she said.

News Industry:1/3 of newspapers gone in 2 years; what about in Asheville, WNC?

Environment:Where will Buncombe County focus conservation efforts? New maps, tool shed light

The temporary positions that are not pages are substitute librarians, who fill in when permanent employees are out. Unlike pages, the substitute librarian do not have regular hours, but Schapira said they are still an essential part of the library system.

"I'm not sure it will even be able to be open five days a week if they really do genuinely get rid of library substitutes because the number of man hours that are needed is much higher than what they are able to compensate regular employees for," she said.

According to Govus, at least two employees are required to be at work in order to safely open a library location. All temporary positions will end over the course of the three-year plan, Govus said.

According to the county roster of temporary employees, most library substitute positions are set to end on June 30, 2024.

Christian Smith is the general assignment reporter for the Asheville Citizen-Times. Questions or comments? Contact him at RCSmith@gannett.com or 828-274-2222. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Buncombe County Libraries remove page position, librarians speak out