Friends of Taos Public Library Board
Since you may be hearing concerns about the library, I
wanted to let the board know what is occurring and changes that are being
made:
·
The Town Manager has decided not to advertise my
position but to promote from within.
This will result in reorganization of the staff and with one position
not being filled.
·
The Assistant Children’s Librarian has accepted
another position and her position will not be filled. Thus through the reorganization a staff
member currently assigned in the Adult section will be moved into the
children’s section. I am working with
the Town Manager in an attempt to see if funds can be found to reinstate this
critical position. If not, then we will
be down two positions.
·
Due to the loss of positions I am forced to
close down the magazine table which takes 5-7 hours a week of staff time to
maintain. The magazine table is not part
of the basic service we provide but an added value service. I have had many suggestions concerning using
volunteers. We have tried volunteers in
the past with little success. The
problem is that the flow of magazines is inconsistent with the times that
volunteers can be in the library. Thus,
without someone monitoring daily, morning and afternoon, the 200 magazines we
receive weekly quickly become unwieldy. The
burden to maintain the table then reverts back to the staff. With limited volunteers we need their help
shelving the 151,000 books returned each year or processing the 25,000 gift
books we receive annually. This was a difficult decision because of the
popularity of the magazine table. With
the loss of two positions we can no longer provide value added services to our
library users but only maintain our basic services.
·
I have been directed by the Town Manager to
increase revenues that would help support the library. We currently expend $577,000 to maintain the
operations of the library. 80% of the
Taos County residents live outside the Town of Taos and we receive no monetary
support from the county. The proposal
that is being made is that we charge residents outside the Town of Taos an
annual fee to use the library. Residents
within the Town of Taos would not be charged.
It is unfortunate that we are forced into making changes
that impact the quality of life in Taos County.
The town is looking at a $400,000 shortfall this year and thus cuts need
to be made and revenues generated. Over
the years the town has taken on the burden of providing recreation, Youth and
Family Center, and library services for the entire county with no remuneration
and the GRT the town collects continues to decline. Unless the town acts the situation will only
worsen. If you are concerned about what
is happening I would encourage you to contact Town Council Officials and the Taos
County Commissioners.
If you have questions or need clarification please feel free
to contact me.
George
Jaramillo
Library
Director
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