Board eyes summer opening for branch
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Briggs Lawrence County Library Board members will try opening a new northern branch at Symmes Valley by summer.
Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Briggs Lawrence County Library Board members will try opening a new northern branch at Symmes Valley by summer.
Tuesday, the board discussed hiring an assistant manager and two clerks for the branch that will be housed within Symmes Valley Multi-Level’s existing school library.
Symmes Valley School Board and the library board have been cooperating on the venture since last year.
Combined meetings in February and earlier this month brought the groups closer to a partnership where patrons in the Willow Wood area will be able to access Briggs books throughout the year without driving to Ironton.
The library plans to install shelves inside the Multi-Level library for public check out. The area will be closed from the public during school hours, although remain open for use by Symmes Valley students.
Also, during evening and weekend hours, the rest of the school will remain blocked from the public by a series of gates.
Members of both boards have given verbal approvals, but the final decision rests with Symmes Valley, Briggs board members said Tuesday.
The goal is to open the branch when school ends this summer, library executive director Christine Hunt said.
Mrs. Hunt provided board members with tentative schedules, staffing and costs.
Costs are expected to be less than other branches because the volume of books will be low at first, and the northern branch will not pay rent or utilities, she said.
Board members debated schedules, opting for tentatively opening the library 12-8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 12-5:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, for the summer only. Hours will change when school returns.
Staffing also caused some debate, with library management proposing the initial positions of branch manager, assistant branch manager and a part-time clerk – consistent with other branches.
"I think we ought to take it slow as far as the hiring," board chairman Bill Harrison said.
Board member Bob Griffith opposed two management positions at the branch.
"Why would we need a manager anyway?" he said, adding that a small branch inside a school does not have the facilities or staff that make one necessary.
Library administrators argued that the manager and assistant manager both have duties that surpass the duties of a clerk, specifically the children’s reading programs handled by the assistants.
Board members rejected the two-manager approach, opting to run the branch on a trial basis with only an assistant manager and two part-time clerks.
The board indicated that other management duties would filter down from the main branch.
In other action Tuesday, the library board:
– Approved a 3 percent raise for all non-union employees.
– Approved a pay grade increase of 25 cents an hour for clerks when they reach their second-, fifth- and eighth-year anniversaries.
– Set a base salary level for assistant branch managers at $10.25 an hour. Any employees not at that level would be brought to that level.
– Set a base salary level for clerks at $6.35 an hour.