AMHERST — Filling three full-time staff vacancies at the Jones Library, including a young adults librarian and a special collections assistant, are a priority in the fiscal year 2027 budget for Library Director Sharon Sharry.
At a trustees meeting Wednesday, Sharry unveiled her preferred $3.31 million budget that would be used for the budget year beginning July 1, and be in place for the opening of the expanded and renovated Jones Library at 43 Amity St. around March 2027.
But with the town’s Finance Committee recommending a 3.5% increase in the appropriation for library services, an $83,795 increase from $2.39 million to $2.48 million, trustees may need to go beyond the customary 4% draw rate from the Jones Inc. endowment to get to the full staffing of 29 full-time equivalents.
The endowment, which hovers around $9 million, annually supplements the library budget, this year providing $350,858 toward a $3.09 million spending plan.
Sharry presented three scenarios for boosting the library’s full-time workers from 26 to 29 in advance of the opening of what she calls the “new, amazing space.”
“If there aren’t enough staff to manage the services people will be requiring, it just makes it harder for the people who are remaining,” Sharry said.
The main library is currently operating from temporary space on University Drive, with services also available to patrons at the Munson Memorial Library in South Amherst and the North Amherst Library. This year for staffing, the library’s budget also covers 23 part-time workers, two of which work more than 20 hours a week, and seven part-time workers/ substitutes.
Sharry’s charts show the draw rate from the endowment could rise to 4.7%, 5.2% or 5.7%, with the corresponding amount coming from it being $408,093, $451,507 or $494,922. Under each successive increase in the draw, more vacancies would be filled.
The young adult librarian is seen as most important, as the new teen room that is part of the building project can’t be overseen by one staff member, Sharry said.
The new special collections would get back to the two full-time employees who worked there when Sharry began as director in 2010. Sharry said two people need to staff that department due to significant one-on-one work and time spent locating historic materials in the climate-controlled storage area.
Finally, hiring a maintenance employee will allow the bathrooms and other spaces to be cleaned more regularly, with the community room likely to get a lot of use after hours.
Without more staffing, Sharry said employees will have multiple responsibilities.
“There will be more shifting and less programming because there is less staff to do the programming,” Sharry said.
Trustees President Austin Sarat said trustees will need to undertand whether increasing the draw rate is a wise decision, and whether the library would be able to keep funding the positions over the long term.
One of the concerns is the potential for dipping into the endowment to cover some of the capital costs of the $46.1 million building project. Trustees made a pledge to the Town Council to not return to the town for additional money if funding falls short in the capital campaign.
Sharry is expected to present a more detailed plan of various staffing models, including the possibility of hiring part-time, non-benefited workers instead of more full-timers. But she cautioned that that approach could be just as costly.