Pros
Being able to work with the public in a non-sales related role is a dream. Sometimes you deal with difficult patrons, but honestly being about to help 99+% of people is a very affirming way to spend your days.
Cons
Sort II, a massive reorganization of the library, has been a nightmare for years now and has killed any level of passion people had for this organization. It's created robust silos in how things are ran, and completely ignores the concepts of LEAP (Leadership Empowers All People) that the county and library profess to follow. Do not expect any role in a branch to be anything other than a cog in a machine to be worn down and replaced once failure sets in. Admin is not and cannot be trusted to do the right thing by employees. There are stories from every branch and long standing members of the staff about how certain members of Admin have retaliated against staff. I'll admit that I'm terrified to post this, but am sticking my neck out because I've been here long enough to see the light fade from every eye around me. County HR and Leadership needs to start focusing on the real problem entities, and it isn't rank-and-file staff. Related, it's amazing how Office Hours stopped when staff started poking holes in the Sort II plans, and it became less a collaborative effort, and turned into a "March to my drum." In past years, the direct branch managers that could be trusted to stand up for staff have been slowly replaced by spineless sycophants who keep pushing a corporatized work life on behalf of Admin. Branch management are now professional meeting goers, and have little to no idea on how to actually lead/motivate staff. They've been told that they're forbidden from spending any amount of time doing the work that their reports do. No front desk, no discharge, no programming. I ask, how can you manage people if you don't even know what they're doing anymore? Staff moral is dead. Not low. DEAD. Rank and file staff can't even trust direct managers to bring up how bad things are for fear of reprisal, and Admin thinks sending the County Librarian around to branches to "talk" will be enough to fix things. Failing to realize that nobody is going to be willing to stick their neck out to be honest in those moments. The lack of self-awareness by all members of Admin would be laughable if we weren't all so burnout and depressed. This place that used to be a beautiful place to work has become the epitome of "The beatings will continue until moral improves." And that's for FT staff. PT are treated like coal mine donkeys. Utterly disposable. P.S. In the reorganization, no front line staff got a raise when the job roles were redefined. Management did. And new management roles were added. This place is as corporate as I've ever seen it and it's killing it.