Staff shortages, fair pay among top library issues
As the director at Mount Gilead Public Library in Morrow County, Melissa Kipp oversees a staff of 12 in a single building. She acts as director of human resources and finance. She also directs marketing, operations and circulation, among other duties.
And, yes, when there’s a maintenance issue, she stands ready.
“The toilet is not working? Now I’m a plumber,” Kipp said recently, chuckling.
She makes $29,000, almost 10 times less than her counterpart at Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), Pat Losinski, who earns about $270,000 as CEO of the 23-branch system with its $69 million annual budget.
But even though these libraries and their leaders may be different in many ways, the fact is that they — and other public libraries throughout the state — deal with many of the same challenges these days. These range from finding enough workers to keeping up morale to working through the unique hardships of a pandemic.
Libraries large and small have taken
on new roles over the last two years, including offering curbside pickup of materials and becoming dispensaries of COVID-19 test kits. Columbus’ recently handed out a record 13,000 test kits in one week. And Mount Gilead’s has handed out as many as 100 per day.
Added demands on staff can take a toll, however.
Worthington Libraries staffers took the rare move this year of voting to form a union after several employees complained about not having a voice in management decisions regarding pay, family leave and time-off policies while facing daily exposure to the virus.
And CML currently has a staffing shortage, needing to fill as many as 160 full-time positions in order to reach full staffing of 870, said Ben Zenitsky, library spokesman.
“Most of those are public-facing positions,” said Zenitsky, explaining why the system’s branches had to close on Sundays beginning in mid-november.
As a result, libraries increasingly are focusing on compensation and how to retain happy workers who might be drawn to higher paying jobs. (Amazon warehouses and even fast food restaurants pay more in some instances.)
In Columbus, the library system on Dec. 2 approved a compensation package to increase pay for all workers as part of the 2022 budget, including merit increases of up to 6%. The increases will cost about $3 million.
Upper Arlington Public Library also has increased pay for its least-skilled jobs from about $10-$12 per hour to $15 per hour, said Director Beth Hatch. Officials there are hoping that voters in May approve a renewal levy that would double the library’s current 1 mill property tax, in part to provide wage increases systemwide.
“We really need to work at that, to make sure that our staff is getting the compensation equal to what they are doing,” Hatch said.
Hatch, director for the past two years, is paid about $120,000 annually overseeing the three-branch system whose annual operating budget is $6 million.
The heads of all Franklin County library systems are paid six-figure salaries, though amounts do vary, according to a 2020 annual survey by the State Library of Ohio. In addition to Columbus and Upper Arlington, the survey data shows annual salaries for directors of Bexley Public Library ($101,000), Westerville Public Library ($123,000), Grandview Heights Public Library ($136,000), Southwest Public Libraries ($139,000) and Worthington ($153.000).
But front-line library workers are paid roughly the same, regardless of the size of their employer. Starting salaries for those with a master’s degree in library science range from about $23 per hour to $25 per hour in Franklin County libraries.
Worthington librarians can top out at $41 per hour after many years of service, among the highest rates of pay for nonsupervisors in Greater Columbus.
At Mount Gilead’s library, like at many small libraries around the state, there are no degreed librarians, and Kipp — the seventh-lowest-paid library director in Ohio based on the survey of 251 public libraries — is pushing her board to pay staff no less than $10 per hour.
In the four-branch Delaware County District Library, Director George Needham has measured his $113,000 salary against the lowest-paid employees, those who shelve books, he said.
“For a long time, we’ve underpaid our people, and that’s coming home to roost now,” he said. “We’ve all had to rethink this.”
But pay isn’t the only factor in job satisfaction, he said, noting that librarians thrive on interacting with appreciative patrons who have not fully returned to in-person visits due to the pandemic.
“I’ve had staff mention having a hard time seeing how they fit in to this new environment. If we can’t do the things that we’ve trained for and love doing, where does that leave us?”
Evan Struble, associate state librarian for librarian development at the State Library of Ohio who helps compile annual survey data, said pay is dictated by library trustee boards and support from the public through property tax levies. There are some states that set salaries based solely on a library’s operating budget, overall circulation, service area or other objective measures.
All the changes that COVID has wrought at libraries, however, certainly has shook up the librarian landscape.
“I think there is still that joy, but kind of a COVID cloud that we’re trying to work our way through,” Struble said.
While Losinski in Columbus is Ohio’s highest-paid library CEO, he started out small — in Port Clinton, where he had 12 employees as library director. And so while he now supervises a variety of teams that make the large library system run, he said he can understand the challenges facing his colleagues and how much they have in common.
“I have a good understanding of the work and responsibilities of public library directors at many levels,” Losinski said via email. “I have a deep appreciation for director colleagues who show great dedication and commitment in public libraries of every size in Ohio and throughout the United States.”
Kipp, whose library has a budget of about $345,000, has met with directors from larger library systems and has heard stories about delegating responsibilities, but the practice still eludes her.
“Sometimes I wonder, ‘Wow. That would be nice if I could pass that off to another person,” she said.
But she knows that librarianship is a calling and that compensation, while important, often takes a back seat to the mission.
“No one goes into library work for the money,” said Kipp, who’s worked at the library for seven years, taking the top job in June 2020. “Most go into it for the love of working with people and kids. I love this library, and I want it to do well.” dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso