At Free Library of Philadelphia, 20 Branches to Operate Without Librarians

-- Library Journal, 01/24/2005

Faced with staff and budget cuts, the Free Library of Philadelphia will operate 20 of 49 branches without librarians. This decision will allow systemwide Saturday service. The branches--each of which will be open four afternoon hours for six days a week--will be managed by a library assistant supervised by a library supervisor at a full-time branch. The library was ordered to lay off 17 staffers to reach a ceiling of 630 staff members. The new plan, said library Director Elliot Shelkrot, "is much better service than we are providing at the moment. Is it as good as when we had 760 staff [in FY 01]? No."

In 2004, Shelkrot said, only 10 of 49 branches were open on Saturdays, along with three regional libraries and the central library. Moreover, over six months, in about 150 instances a branch had to close unexpectedly, because of staff absences. He said that the library could have continued as before, it could have closed six to eight branches, "or we could find some new way of providing service." He said the library board was adamant about not closing branches. Paraprofessionals will provide "light reference work," such as answering questions about branch holdings, while more complicated reference questions will be handled on the phone and later online. Allen Merry, a representative of the librarians' union, said staff wondered how much the system would save, and warned that "the service isn't going to be close."