Sonoma County Library gears up to re-open branches on Mondays

The Sonoma County Library is on a major hiring spree as it gears up to re-open branches on Mondays for the first time in six years and upgrade buildings and services using money from a tax measure voters passed in November.

Library officials are targeting the month of April to re-open all of the major branches on Mondays. In 2011, officials scaled back library hours as a cost-saving measure amid a crippling recession.

In the wake of Measure Y’s approval, the library has posted more than 30 help-wanted ads seeking librarians and other front-line staff to help cover the expanded hours.

The hiring will require the library to dip into its reserves at first to pay for salaries and benefits because Measure Y revenues don’t start flowing until the upcoming fiscal year beginning in July.

“We wanted to do something now to thank voters and show them things are happening because of their vote,” Library Director Brett Lear said Tuesday.

The 11-member Library Commission on Monday is expected to approve Lear’s request to pull $750,000 out of the library’s reserves of about $9 million to cover new employee expenses from April through July. Lear said it will be up to commissioners to decide whether to pay that money back using Measure Y funds.

The measure increased sales taxes by an eighth of a cent across the county, and will pump $10 million annually into the library’s $17 million budget.

The library’s main source of funding for decades has been through property tax revenue, which under Proposition 13 has been capped at 22.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Many library branches as a result show visible signs of wear. The system currently has about $8 million in deferred maintenance, according to library officials.

Commissioners on Monday will consider a master plan outlining a decade of physical upgrades, expansions and repairs for the system, thanks to Measure Y dollars.

For many patrons, the most visible sign of the library’s funding challenges have been the Monday closures and other reductions in hours.

Current plans call for opening every major branch on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. starting in April. That would be longer hours for that day than prior to the cutbacks six years ago. Branches would also stay open an hour later on Wednesdays, until 9 p.m. The library hours now at the major branches are generally 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Central Library, in downtown Santa Rosa, is the only library of the system’s 17 branches still open on Sundays. Lear said commissioners may consider opening others on Sundays.

“Sundays are a good day for students to go in (to the library) and get their homework ready for Monday,” Lear said. “Sundays also are when job ads sometimes hit, so it’s a good day for people to come in and look for work.

“But,” Lear added, “when we have to choose between Sundays and Mondays, we want to get Mondays back first.”

The library is seeking more reference librarians and those who help check out materials, issue library cards and re-stock materials on shelves. Most of the jobs are part-time, said Kiyo Okazaki, the library’s public services division manager.

The library also will be advertising for three support staff positions that don’t deal with the public, she said.

Plans also call for extending hours at the library’s three smaller outposts in Forestville, Occidental and Roseland.

The library’s 10-year master plan for facility upgrades includes improving access for the disabled, meeting current building codes and eco-friendly touches such as energy efficient heating and cooling units, irrigation systems that use low-drip systems and changing light fixtures from fluorescent to LED.

The Cloverdale branch re-opened Dec. 20 after a refresh that included moving and running new wires, repainting the interior, replacing the carpet and demolition of old shelving to make room for new shelving and furniture. The next branch to begin renovations is the Northwest Santa Rosa Library.

Lear said the work at both of those branches was planned for and budgeted prior to passage of Measure Y.