Free Library of Philadelphia Director Siobhan Reardon ups staffing requirements to open libraries

The Free Library of Philadelphia has laid down new ground rules about how many people are required to keep open a branch.  The requirement is now four, instead of three employees. The staffing policy change has AFSCME District Council 47 union officials, who represent library workers, raising eyebrows; granted the union in the past has repeatedly asked for a four-staff minimum. But they tell us that right now is not the time to implement the new practice. They say meeting a minimum requirement of four people will be much harder now because there’s not enough staff available to do so since the recent layoffs (if you recall: 49 staff members were laid off and 62 positions left vacant due to the city’s budget cuts).

So what does this all mean? It means that certain libraries won’t open some days because an employee has called in sick and no one is available to fill in. In a scenario like this, without the necessary four people, libraries will be forced to close.

You’ve got to wonder why the library system is implementing this switch now. Free Library of Philadelphia spokesperson Sandy Horrocks tells us the system’s director, Siobhan Reardon, really thinks six staff members are needed to adequately staff a library. Ok, going from three to four is a step in the right direction.

But if you are inclined to think otherwise, you might believe the staffing switch is a cost-saving measure and a maneuver to keep libraries closed. You might even go further to think it’s a move that flies in the face of the recent Common Pleas Court order requiring the city to keep open the libraries it intended to close in the first place.

It’s true that Mayor Michael Nutter disagrees with the court order and has appealed it. Nonetheless, his administration is complying with the mandate to keep open the 11 libraries, but maintains without the closures, the city can’t afford now to run all 54 libraries at full capacity and will have to cut hours system-wide.

Add the latest staffing switch to the above scenario, and here’s what you’ve got: a citywide library system running three or four days a week, with occasional closures at various branches around the city because of staffing shortages.  So during any given week, there could be libraries across the city that only open several times a week or less. If that happens, then folks, the library fiasco will have gone from bad to worse.

For more dizzying details about the library system’s staffing switch, check out today’s Inquirer article.