More staff, funding increase required to improve library services: report

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This article was published 25/10/2023 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new proposal calls for about a dozen more full-time staff and a multimillion-dollar annual funding boost for Winnipeg libraries to expand their operating hours, emphasizing that staff are already stretched thin covering current schedules.

The city’s 20 public libraries would need 12.4 more full-time staff equivalent positions and budget additions of about $2 million in 2024, $2.5 million in 2025, $3 million in 2026 and nearly $3.5 million in 2027, to expand hours, according to a new public service report.

In an interview, the city’s director of community services described the increase as a budget-conscious first step to improving service, while the report estimates about 85 more full-time positions would be needed to raise service levels to be comparable to other cities.

“In order to accomplish these hours, we need staff…. Right now we are really at a bare minimum for the people that we have,” said Cindy Fernandes.

The city’s 2023 budget accounted for 256 full-time library staff, though some positions are vacant, she said.

Fernandes said library patrons have repeatedly complained about limited library hours.

“There have been concerns and lots of questions and complaints with our library hours. Of our 20 branches, we… currently (have about) seven schedules. One of the things we wanted to do was standardize those hours,” she said.

If council approves the recommendations, the funding would be considered in the upcoming 2024-2027 multi-year budget process. If it survives that process, it would add 4,953 more opening hours per year to be spread across the 20 libraries.

Currently, many branches are closed Sundays and Wednesdays, with one closed solely on Mondays, during the winter schedule, while several branches are closed three days a week in the summer. The new hours would ensure all libraries are open six days a week and all are closed on Sundays, with some variations on the exact hours.

“It moves us from seven different schedules to three across the system (with) a lot more consistency,” said Fernandes.

In the report, library services manager Karin Borland describes the department as “significantly under-funded” for about the past three decades and links a lack of resources to “declining full-time equivalent (staff) levels and designated days of closure.”

Sticking with status quo staff funding and staff levels would result in “continued issues with employee recruitment and retention, and negative impacts on employee health and well-being, workplace safety, and the safety of library services’ public spaces,” she adds.

Library hours would remain “inadequate,” at current levels, the report maintains.

“Services are at risk of being reduced to better align with the realities of current staffing levels, hours, and programming budget,” Borland writes.

The report notes a lack of bilingual staff already forced hours to be temporarily reduced at St. Boniface Library and says other services are at risk of disruption.

“Staffing levels are not sufficient to always replace frontline staff, placing service desks at risk of closing and programs at risk of cancellation,” writes Borland.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he needs more time to review the report before deciding if he will support its recommendations, noting the cost is not the only potential factor affecting his vote.

“That is a substantial price tag but I think there’s a couple of other factors that are involved.… Factors that we’ve been talking about over the last year, for sure, related to what’s been happening in the Millennium Library and the really tragic need to close it for a time, addressing some safety issue.… It’s (also) really hard to talk about increasing hours if we can’t find the staff right now to serve the library during the hours we have it open,” said Gillingham.

The downtown Millennium Library was temporarily shuttered Dec. 11, after 28-year-old Tyree Cayer was stabbed to death on the main floor. Book-browsing and most other library services did not return until Jan. 23.

Coun. Evan Duncan, chairman of the community services committee, also stopped short of committing to vote in favour of the budget request.

“I think the important part of this report is that we’re listening to residents of Winnipeg who want more library hours, that we’re coming forward with ideas. Now these ideas have to be funded.… It’s an ongoing discussion with the department,” said Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood).

Fernandes noted that while the most severe security incidents have been limited to certain libraries, there are concerns at all branches. The report also recommends adding closed-circuit television cameras to seven locations that don’t have them and upgrading existing cameras at 12 other branches. That would cost about $380,000 out of about $500,000 in new proposed capital spending.

“I think, overall, it would be shocking for people to sometimes experience what our librarians are experiencing. There are situations in all branches,” said Fernandes.

The community services committee is expected to vote on the report on Oct. 31.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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