Pros
- pro customer approach
- emerging technology
- updated technology for staff & patrons
- can be fun
- interactions with patrons
- ability to develop programming
- ability to transfer between branches (mostly due to vacancies)
Cons
- Constant turnover due to low pay and over reliance on extra help (sub staff).
- High school interns lacking life and professional experience frequently hired just to fill in gaps.
- new jobs are posted externally days to weeks before being announced internally.
Common complaints from those who’ve been around for decades & those recently hired:
- more than 1/2 staff at a branch are subs who change daily, rather than hiring full time (or even perm PT).
- lack of frontline staff means pace of job way more stressful than it needs to be
- customer centered approach comes at sacrifice of employees, including pay
- low pay compared with neighboring libraries mean everyone from managers to aides leave for higher paying jobs. Went through 3 manager/supervisor changes in 5 years.
- lack of basic organizational structure (let alone for any critical incidents),
- decisions from central lack any real input from those on ground level
- lack of communication amongst teams
- dead end job for Library Aides and Assistants without an MLIS.
- constant talk of supporting change makers but no real avenue to escalate suggestions to anyone who can take any action. (All window dressing)
- poor ergonomics
- depending on the branch, lots of broken staff equipment (like chairs that’ll rocket you out of the seat)
- managerial / supervisory culture of fault rather than solution finding