DeKalb Library Goes with No Pay Holidays Instead of Furlough Days
Decatur Metro | August 11, 2011From Janet with the DeKalb County Public Library….
DeKalb County Public Library is rescinding its plans to implement three furlough days this summer and fall as a means to reduce county budget shortfalls. Instead, library employees will take three unpaid holidays– Labor Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving– to save money.
Sounds like staff still gets the pay cut, but now they have to work too.
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It doesn’t seem fair to me that the employees should bear the burden of the County being broke. I think all the citizens should share that burden, and cutting services (like closing the library for a day or three) would share the pain more equitably.
I guess it’s all part of the quest to run government operations more like business. In business, employees carry the burden of a bad economy before customers and stockholders do.
Or owners.
FTFY.
right…run the library like a business? Can you say “Borders” three times real fast and click your heels?
Wouldn’t closing the library cause its employees to lose wages?
Yup, an unpaid holiday is identical to a pay cut; the use of the term “unpaid holidays” seems disingenuous. And pay cuts are worse than furloughs which are like leave without pay–at least you get a little free time. While I believe in holding my government accountable and responsive to citizen input, I’m not a fan of running government “like a business”. Most businesses fail. We cannot afford to have government fail, much as we may hate it at times. Rational, tranparent, effective, responsive, accountable government is what we need and calling a pay cut “unpaid holidays” is sophistry.
yes- it is a pay cut. When a libary employee is paid $20k per year, taking away three days of pay means they make less than the $20k. It doesn’t matter if you call it holidays, furloughs, or whatever…employees are still making the sacrifice here. Go tell your boss not to pay for three days and then see how you like it.
It’s too bad they can’t get Wiz Miller’s deal: don’t show up for work a third of the time, get paid $150 grand anyway. But one example of County government’s long-running display of the very opposite of responsible and accountable government.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/27232197/detail.html
I’ll be sure to skip the library on those days…they are usually surly on a regular day when they are being paid…can just imagine what they will be like if they are working for free.
Hmmmmm… In my gazillion visits to the library , I’ve had maybe two “off” interactions with staff. Is it possible that you’re mistaking the more reserved staffers as being surly? Maybe try smiling and saying hello next visit to see if changes your experience.
(Might as well still skip it on the listed holiday days anyway. The library will be closed.)
Surly. Yes they sometimes are. My son has a t-shirt that says SURLY on the front of it, which he loves to wear sometimes. I want one that says Persona Non Grata.
My experience is consistent with Old Decatur Gal’s. I’ve been a regular public library patron since I learned to read, and have never experienced such consistently unfriendly behavior from library staff as I see at the Decatur Library. Surly is indeed the word. I love the self-service checkout kiosks because they enable me to avoid interacting with staff unless I have a question. Of course, it’s when I have a question that they’re most likely to be rude. I basically don’t feel welcome at the library, which is a real shame.
Decatur library is convenient, but I actually really love going to the Tucker library over by Walmart off Lavista. Their staff are incredibly pleasant and informed, even the janitor. Plus they have a fireplace!
Wow! This kinda blows my mind! What exactly is happening? Have y’all brought the concern to the library folks’ attention? ( I did an online survey not too long ago. The suggestion box is handy too, especially for pinpointing the day/time/employee.)
The only thing I can think of that might be irritating is the staff’s practice of saying “Next in line” at checkout instead of using a greeting. I’ll admit that kinda bugs– especially when I’m the only one standing there!– but since the rest of my encounter’s always pleasant, I figure that “Next!” is one of those lame efficiency techniques that employees are instructed to follow to keep the line moving. “Next,” combined with a reserved manner, could come off as unfriendly, especially if that’s the extent of your exchange. (I’d love for them to switch to a “Hi!” and a smile to indicate the patron should approach the desk. Just think how many smiles would be shared, then ripple on throughout Decatur…!)
I’m not talking about saying “next in line” instead of “hi.” I’m not talking about a neutral or flat demeanor instead of a smile. For my part, I do smile and begin with a pleasant demeanor. I’m talking about giving non-responsive answers in a surly manner when I ask a question; giving misinformation (in one case lying to my face, when I knew she was lying and she knew that I knew it); and generally being unpleasant. Not every staff member is like that every time, but in my experience it’s a pattern. I assume this is the case because of horrible management. On several occasions I have asked to speak with a higher-up, and been told no one is available and/or that it is not possible for me to see them in person, and given a phone number. I’ve called a couple of times and nobody ever called me back. I have given up, I just do everything I can online and using the self-checkout facilities.
smalltowngal- Well, this won’t do at all!!! (Props for not ending up as a DM post after the lying to your face incident!) It’s not right for you to have to grit your teeth through every library experience. You’d be doing a good deed if you’d try one more time to remedy the situation. Here’s the contact info:
Alison Weissinger, Director
(404)370-8450
215 Sycamore St.
Jaqueline Kimbro, Manager, Adminstrative Services (F.O.)
(404)508-7190
3560 Kensington Rd. Decatur 30032
Email address from Dekalb Govt site:
There’s also a Board of Trustees Meeting this month. Don’t know if it’s open to the public, but the notice lists the board members.
http://www.dekalblibrary.org/board-of-trustees.html
Hi Old Decatur Gal and smalltowngal–
Yes, please give me a call (404-370-8450, ext. 2227) and I would be more than happy to address any negative experiences you have had at the Decatur Library.
Alison Weissinger
Director, DeKalb County Public Library
(and longtime Oakhurst/Decatur resident)
Dear smalltowngal,
We at the Library really are concerned about the quality of service and want to hear from you if things don’t go well. Some of the contact information you were given by Deanne is incorrect. However, you really can reach Library Director Alison Weissinger at 215 Sycamore Street, Decatur 30030 or call 404/370-8450. You can reach me, Janet Florence, Public Information Officer, at the same address and number; and I will be happy to talk with you about the problems you’ve encountered.
It’s important to us that your library experience is a good one. If service is less than satisfactory, we’ll take action to improve it.
Thank you Janet and Alison for taking the concerns to heart! I always look forward to a trip to the library, and I want everyone else to have the same positive experience! ( Don’t forget Chira! She’ll happily trade in her grumpy t shirts for a smilin’ librarian and a good book! :0)
The moellere email address looks to be a dud– my email bounced back. Apologies for indicating the wrong contact person.
I have had the same experience. Just a couple months ago, I inquired for the millionth time about children’s activities. “I don’t know” was yet again the reply. How can employees expect to have a job in a library and not know what is going on in their own building every week! Children’s librarians always say, “look a the schedule” but there are never any schedules. I gave up trying to utilize this library for my kids. I have had several friends with the exact same experience.
What’s really disingenuous is what my government employer did… give us four unpaid holidays but call them furlough days. Um, no… furlough means getting paid less for working less. Unpaid holiday means working the same as you would have anyway but getting paid less. Yep, that’s just a salary reduction, pure and simple. Did they think employees wouldn’t figure that out if they call it by a different name?
Yes, come visit us in Tucker! We love our patrons and we’ll turn on the fireplace for you when it gets cold.
Veteran’s Day? The day after Thanksgiving? Those are vacation days where I work.
Since the library’s closed on those days, and the staff will no longer receive holiday pay, it means a lower pay check for the shortened work week (minus 8 hours or whatever the shift usually is).
Sometimes staff members have a good day or a bad day, just like everyone else. Try giving them a big smile and being extra friendly–it could change someone’s day. Yes, they are paid to be courteous, but you never know how the person right before treated them, either. If you consistently get bad service or a consistently rude staffer–let a manager or administration know! You can even send a comment online on their website and you will get a response from a real person. Library staffers are overworked, underpaid, deal with ALL sorts of people all day, and often work in conditions that a business would close for–no heat, no air, no electricity. It’s like the mail–library goes on no matter what in order to keep information and books available to everyone.
My experience with both Toco Hills and Tucker is that staff at both locations are vquite pleasant and helpful. From what I can see they put up with a lot as far as customers and the school kids go. The staff at Tucker are great with maybe one exception- [edited: no personal attacks]
As a former employee, I can tell you there is a reason they are surly. The heat/ac outages mentioned above, being forced to work a schedule of 6 days on, 1 off then 6-7 again in a row. (sometimes 13 days straight if there’s a Sunday rotation involved.) And they get paid NOTHING. Seriously, the benefits suck, the salary sucks and the conditions suck. Employees there have NO POWER to change anything and the administration is clueless as to who they serve and who works for them. Worst job I have ever had was in that building. They lost a lot of great (and friendly) employees due to an inability to keep current and serve the ACTUAL Decatur population instead of what they THINK it is. Security guards have quit because THEY WEREN’T ALLOWED to kick people out for poor behavior (resulting in the recent stabbing there perhaps?). Overall, give the employees there a break. They are all great people being managed by morons and an administration and county that don’t get it. We deserve better in Decatur than we get in terms of library facilities and services.
This is consistent with the sense I’ve had about the situation.
I know it is impractical but I wish that the public library was a city, not county, function.
Whoever finds the Decatur library employees unfriendly must never have visited the reference desk – these research wizards are cordial, efficient, and patient beyond belief.
Library employees will not go to work on the holidays in question, nor will they be paid for those days. Unpaid holidays. This is the same as what happened in 2010: all county holidays were to be unpaid in lieu of furlough days on regular work days. The CEO & Commissioners rescinded that policy after only 2 or 3 unpaid holidays because the DeKalb Police (being required public safety employees) did a ticket writing stoppage to protest having to work on those upaid holidays.