After the abrupt layoffs and reinstatement of 14 part-time librarians, as well as the departures of two top Baltimore County Public Library officials, library workers and their supporters say they want clarity from county leaders on the future of the roles.
The Baltimore County Board of Library Trustees, which “separated” from former CEO Sonia Alcántara-Antoine last week following backlash from unionized library employees, soon must find someone to fill the top library role on an interim basis and begin a search for a permanent replacement, Yara Cheikh, the board’s president, said Tuesday morning.
At the same time, Anita Bass, president of the library employees’ union, IAM Local 4538, wants to know if the part-time librarians will still have their jobs after the current fiscal year ends.
“We do not know, and they do not know,” she said Monday evening, speaking to the Baltimore County Council about the part-time librarians. “They were told it was on pause, the removal of their jobs, and also that there was going to be a softer way or softer blow to remove them.”
In 2019, the board of trustees approved a staffing policy stating that the library system did not plan to hire part-time librarians in the future, instead expecting to decrease the number of staffers employed in such positions through attrition, Cheikh said Tuesday.
The library system’s sudden decision to eliminate those roles was made at a virtual meeting in mid-November, when the 14 librarians were informed that their jobs were being terminated. But library officials reversed course two days later, saying in a statement that the “operational intent behind the decision was to enhance the level of service at the branches,” acknowledging in the same sentence that the process was “not handled with the respect and transparency our part-time librarians deserved.”
At the council meeting, Councilman Izzy Patoka, a Pikesville Democrat, said he views public policy through the county’s budget.
“If our public policy is to support librarians, then in this case, we should articulate that through the budget,” he said.
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