11/15/2009 10:28:00 PM
Prescott Valley library relies on employee
loans from other departments
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Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier
Cindy Corcoran, left, from the Town of Prescott Valley Legal Department, looks up something on the library's computer system, while Reference Librarian Connie Amenta looks on. Corcoran works at the library five hours a week as part of the town's cost-cutting measures to use employees from other departments to help staff the library. |
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PRESCOTT VALLEY - Libraries rely on loans from other libraries so that patrons can check out books from other branches.
Now, the Prescott Valley Public Library is relying on a different kind of "loan": employees from other departments. The library has taken five employees on loan for six months as well as employees - ranging from clerical workers to Town Manager Larry Tarkowski - to contribute several hours a day a week to a few days a week.
Town government officials initially planned to double the library staff after moving the library from the third floor of the Civic Center into the adjoining building that opened Oct. 10.
However, just three months before Barton Malow of Tempe began construction on the library in January 2008, Tarkowski imposed a hiring freeze because he expected revenues to decline.
His action in October 2007 nixed plans to hire 17 additional employees for the library. A rare exception to the freeze involved hiring Kathy Hellman as library manager to replace former assistant director Susan Lapis, who took a job with the same title with the Yavapai County Library District in Prescott.
A year later, the Town Council adopted a policy to create flexibility in staffing by allowing town employees to relieve workloads in other departments. The policy established transfers for six months - with the possibility of renewal - while they continued to earn their existing pay.
The library appears to be the biggest beneficiary of the policy of any town government department. And by borrowing employees from other departments, the town is saving $600,000 a year, according to Human Resources Director Danielle Gersper.
"We are just trying to spread out and trying to manage it," Gersper said. She explained staff size in other departments determined how many employees would be assigned to the library.
The policy appears to be working, said Library Director Stuart Mattson, who has been on the job for 22 years.
"The public benefits from the staffing by better services," Mattson said. "There is no way we could have operated" without help from other departments.
Mattson said Hellman created two three-hour sessions - Library 101 and 102 - to prepare employees from other departments to work in the library. Library 101 covered the history and philosophy of libraries as well as different divisions, such as teens and adult sections, and fiction and nonfiction books.
Mattson said the second class offered more details, including how to use the computer system, search for a book, and monitor and operate the public Internet computers.
The employees from other departments perform tasks that include shelving books, processing library cards, helping in the teen area and cataloguing, Mattson said.
While he did not major in library science, recreation coordinator Roy Jenkins said his background in initiating programs and activities prepared him in part for working in the library. He started one to two days a week three months ago in the former library site, and now works full time.
"Everything is about public service," Jenkins said. "We want to help them (library patrons) get to where they want to be."
Fellow loaned worker Geralyn Lesak, an administrative specialist in the Police Department, said she changes her workstations every two hours in the library.
"The people are fantastic," Lesak said. "It's a real team. And people really take the time to explain processes and procedures."
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Posted: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Article comment by:
Grundo...you know he's right
TO:"Critics Should Move out of Here", A sensible cost cutting measure would be to make all the employees part time thereby cutting the need to pay their health insurance costs, and use the army of volunteers the town is always chortling about. This monster of an over priced library was nothing but a pork & patronage project as no sane person could condone the expense of over $17 million for that embarassment. Vistors from normal places are astonished, horrified and laugh hysterical when they see that eyesore.
Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Article comment by:
Critics Should Move out of Here
To all the critics on here...Put yourself in these employees' shoes. Would you like to be relieved of your job or rather just transferred to another position?
Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Article comment by:
Tom Delong
Pv is not saving money. They are taking resources from one department and moving them to another department. That means there will be a reduction in service in the department that lost a worker. So either you sacrifice customer service in one area to satisfy another or you have too many employees with free time who should be laid off to save money.
Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
I quit going to the Prescott Valley library because of the rude and incompetent librarians. I was constantly being charged late fees and them wanting to charge me for "lost" books when they had been returned. It wasn't worth the hassle anymore.
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Amanda G.
With all the people they hired, you would think that the PV library would hire people with social skills. Every time I am in there the librarians are screaming at their customers, being rude, and extremely unprofessional. ... I guess they get what they pay for though.
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
You Can't Make This Stuff Up
Maybe they should have spent $30 million on that "WOW!" piece of rusty junk and and have Harvey and the Tremblers checking out the books. Fire the patronage employees and cut wages. Make them all part time without health benefits.
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Weed Lady of Park Ridge
I'll bet the PV Library (aka "tower of rust") has more volunteers working in it than it has townspeople using its resources!
So it appears that the town attorney and town manager - who are paid QUITE well - obviously don't have enough work to do at their actual jobs if they have time available in their work day to staff the library. Maybe these two high-priced pseudo-librarians might also become street maintenance workers and cut and pull all of the unsightly weeds in the Viewpoint area. At least this way they would be earning their paychecks -maybe it's time they do some REAL work!
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Grundlecat
Expensive: try reading the article. "Hiring Freeze" means they CAN'T hire anyone, cheap or not. With the reduced hours in the Civic Center, this is no doubt a good way to keep existing staff fully employed until the town can once again afford to serve the public five days a week in the Civic Center.
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Not a PV resident!
Quantity over Quality doesn't pay in the long run! Staffing positions in an area that deals with the public and public knowledge better be trained! Volunteers are always needed but sometimes they are used for the wrong reason and to fill a position that needs training isn't going to "help" anyone in the long run! No I don't live in PV, hope never to fall victim to that arena, but I am a local who frequents the local libraries.
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Run it right
The PV library already makes overly-liberal use of "volunteers," and in most cases these people have not been properly trained. The library is a valuable resource but unfortunately the town of PV is not administering it properly. They are now making a bad mistake worse by herding in more "volunteers."
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
This is the best idea that the Town of PV has had in a while. Nice Job PV.
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Pike's
City of PV has come up with a creative way to staff the library. Seconding people from other departments which may have downtime involves a buy-in from all parties involved for it to work. I hope it proves to be a success. It's a great example of making do with what they have at little or no additional expense to the taxpayer. The prospect that it may wind up saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually is a testament to the quality of city employees who are willing to cross-train and venture into workstreams outside of their functional areas. PV HR is also to be commended. Good luck to you all!
Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Expensive way to run a library
Favoring work-buddies over taxpayers, what gives? Hire cheaper library employees and fire the unnecessary workers in other departments and/or make those other positions part-time.
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