Great Barrington — Library staff came to Tuesday’s (August 18) Selectboard meeting to protest any consideration by the town of introducing Sunday hours at Housatonic’s Ramsdell Library, citing a host of reasons why it wasn’t a good idea.
After deliberations, and after a test case one Sunday last spring proved wildly successful, the Library Trustees voted in favor of opening Ramsdell on Sundays from January to April for four hours, in order to include programs such as movies and social groups during the weekend and on a day when parents are frequently looking for activities for children.
The Selectboard was set to go into executive (private) session for union negotiations on the issue, when library Assistant Director Jessica Magelaner got up to speak.
“It’s demoralizing for staff to see the Selectboard going into negotiations,” she said. “It’s also really demoralizing for staff to be on call 7 days a week.”
Magelaner said that as a “library lover and a big fan of Ramsdell,” opening Ramsdell on Sundays “takes focus away from issues we’ve been pushing for a lot, like making it handicap accessible. We have a few issues there right now: the floors still need to be refinished, the roof is leaking a bit, there are potential issues with the furnace…I don’t see any plans in place to address those.”
The library did not get Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds sought last spring to renovate part of the building and make it handicap accessible.
Magelaner also said that there hadn’t been much communication between staff and the town on the issue, and it was for that reason that she and some of her colleagues decided to go public with their complaint after filing a grievance through their union.
Selectboard member Ed Abrahams, who also happens to be a library trustee, told The Edge that he was puzzled by the logic of the communication complaint, since the library union is made up of library staff. Talking to one means talking to the other.
“I love unions,” he said. “The only unfortunate part of the union is that they are the staff. So if we want Sunday hours we have to go to the union first. When you get a union you get a lot of good stuff, but one of things you give up is the informality.”
Part-time library staff member Molly McFall said that while she was a “fan of libraries,” she was concerned that there wasn’t enough proof that the extra hours at Ramsdell were wanted or needed at such a small library, and that adding the hours would increase expenses.
“As taxpayer, there’s been a lot of talk about how people are unhappy about taxes,” she said. “To add Sunday to it would be a hard sell.” She wanted to see research to support it, not simply, “it’s a good idea.”
“I work there part time, and I can tell you that it is not very well used, even on a Saturday.”
But according to Friends of the Libraries member and former library trustee Holly Hamer, there are no plans to use taxpayer money for Sunday hours at Ramsdell. The Friends of Libraries would take care of that bill, she said.
That Sunday staffing, according to the library, would cost a total of between around $1,300 and $2,500 including any necessary plowing during those winter months.
Hamer said she thinks the real reason for the objection to Sundays is that the staff simply do not want to work that day. She says she understands it; workers don’t want to change their schedules, and also want to spend time with their families.
But the plan, she said, was always to staff Sunday with someone who wanted to do it.
“We never intended for any of the staff to be forced to work on Sundays. We had hoped to hire that position, or use temporary seasonal workers. Objections do appear to be personal…But I don’t think that should prevent us from hiring people who want to work on Sunday.”
She said that the decision is ultimately up to the Town Manager.
Hamer is passionate about library accessibility in general. “No one has come up with one single reason why it wouldn’t be advantageous to the residents of Housatonic and Great Barrington and the surrounding towns. It’s an important benefit to give people who work all week long.”
She also thinks that the modern business model might come to apply to libraries, no matter how rural.
“All libraries will be open on Sundays in the future,” she said. “Just like all retail stores. It took a while, but you have to be open when customers are available. It’s not just about books, but about space outside the home, about Internet, etcetera.”
Presently the Sheffield Library is the nearest library open on Sundays.
“It’s a no brainer,” Hamer said. “And we’re not going to give up on this. It’s not controversial. It’s just a question of reassuring the staff that they don’t have to have upheaval in their lives. There are 13 positions between the two libraries. We feel like we can somehow work this out.”
Hamer said Sunday hours were ultimately good for the staff. “A successful library means a steady job. We can’t just be a library for people who don’t work during the week.”
