A4
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: November 24, 1995
Dept. File No.: CCRCLS96.DOC/h:ddir\reports
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director, Vancouver Public Library
SUBJECT: Central Library Staffing: Report
INFORMATION
The Director of the Vancouver Public Library submits this report
for Council's INFORMATION.
BACKGROUND
In September 1993, City Council received recommendations from the
Director, Vancouver Public Library, in consultation with the Director
of Finance to approve - $3,168,800 in additional staffing as follows:
(1) Additional positions (62.25 fte) at an annual cost of
$2,422,400 (1993$) to maintain current level of service.
(2) Funding of 20.9 fte at an annual cost of $746,400 (1993$) to
implement the telephone information service, Audiovisual and
Young Adult Divisions, and a proposed expansion of the
Multicultural Services Division.
There was also a third recommendation dealing with costing of service
delivery alternatives for building maintenance and security.
The City Manager noted that Council had already approved additional
positions of 33.48 fte in 1992 and 1993 at an annual cost of $1.2
million.
The City Manager did not recommend approval of these recommendations,
but submitted the following alternative recommendations:
(1) THAT Council approve the principle of an additional $1.5
million of staff funding for the new Central Library, with
specific funding decisions in 1994 and 1995 to be made in
conjunction with the respective annual Operating Budgets.
(2) THAT the Director of the Library, in conjunction with the
Director of Finance, report back on Library operations in the
new building, including the identification of any additional
needs, one year after the opening of the new library.
These recommendations were approved by Council.
However, it should be noted that this amounted to one half of the
original request which was designed to support an increase in activity
level of 40% in 1995 and 20% in 1996.
BUDGET MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 1994
In 1994, along with the other City of Vancouver departments, Vancouver
Public Library was required to reduce its annual operating budget by 5%
- $991,000.
In terms of the Central Library, Thursday evening hours were reduced as
well as sick and replacement budgets.
CENTRAL LIBRARY 1995
The 1993 Staffing report requests were based on a projected 40%
increase for Circulation in the new Central Library when it opened in
1995 and 20% in 1996.
June - September Statistics
Circulation (based on checkout)
1995 1994
June 152,332 109,261 + 39.4%
July 161,557 103,504 + 56.1%
August 155,545 114,667 + 35.6%
September 146,057 112,602 + 29.7%
October 176,095 129,528 + 40.0%
40.16% average
Patron Registration
1995 1994
June 6,634 1,796 269.4%
July 5,982 1,656 261.0%
August 5,566 1,870 197.6%
September 5,036 2,085 141.5%
October 6,008 2,472 143.0%
202.5% average
The circulation increase averaging at 40% over 4 months is what we
anticipated and has caused most of the pressure on staff.
Traffic activity levels for the new building average 7,500 to 8,000
people per day, compared to 4,000 to 5,000 per day in the old building.
The sheer volume of people in the new building is making increased
demands on staff time for materials and information.
ACTION TO DEAL WITH INCREASED DEMAND
Self Service Strategies
- placed as many collections as possible into self-source
access (newspapers, phone books, language learning, annual
reports, etc.). We have had some complaints about less
orderly controlled collections.
- purchased self serve formats - full text electronic access to
documents. (e.g. CD ROMS)
- equipment (photo copies, etc.) away from service desk to
force self service.
- installed self-service checkout stations.
- automated notification of holds.
- checkout receipts replaced date due cards in each book.
- the number of free holds per person per year was limited to
24 with a fee charged beyond the limit.
- installed phone service to call attendant system (phone
tree).
- developed more finding aids to encourage people to find
information independently.
- continued to automate information and service delivery
processes to encourage self service and information sharing.
- installed vertical and horizontal materials handling system
so that staff no longer move materials manually from floor to
floor; materials are sorted, put in containers and addressed
to specific floors of the building.
Staffing
Staff continues to maximize the use of technology to gain efficiencies
and control costs.
We are proceeding with a fee-based information service which we hope
will not only take pressure off are regular services, but will generate
revenue and raise our level of support in the community.
As part of our Strategic Planning process we will be examining more
processes although this activity is difficult to do while trying to
keep up to the increased demand.
CRITICAL STAFFING NEEDS
a) Divisions
The 40% increase in circulation of materials has provided the
greatest challenge. This year, using funds available due to a
delay in the hiring of new staff, we have been able to apply over
$210,000 towards Library Assistant 1 time - checking out, checking
in, sorting and re-shelving materials throughout the Central
Library.. Without these funds we would have reached a serious
gridlock situation by August.
It is clear that our most critical staffing requirement is for our
most junior staffing level - Library Assistant 1's (this was part
of our original staffing proposal) to manage the increased flow of
materials in the new Library. Library Assistants are also
managing increased in-house use of materials, increased photocopy,
microprint and computer equipment, increased floor plate sizes for
shelving and compact shelving collections. The loss of sick and
vacation budgets this year, as a part of Budget Management, have
impacted on our staffing levels as well.
In reviewing L.A. I work levels for Public Service Divisions, 10
additional fte L.A. 1's will be needed to handle the 40% increase
in materials use and circulation as well as equipment support,
etc.
Additional staff required:
- 10 L.A. 1's $ 277,860 for 12 months
- L.A. 1 staffing for shelving $ 44,980 for 12 months
shift during non-public hours
This additional staff is required to meet current activity levels, and
does not take into account anticipated increases in 1996.
b) Circulation - Factors affecting service in Circulation:
- Circulation (check in and check out has risen by 35-40%).
Circulation per hour has risen from 456 to 630.
- The RHA (Hold alerts report) each morning is being done
jointly with Technical Services staff. Currently two
Circulation staff spend approximately two hours each day
collecting reserved items and taking them to the holds pick-
up area. Circulation will be assuming this duty entirely in
future.
- All materials must be sensitized/desensitized now. Even with
better equipment, (eg. Knogo desensitizer wand, "966"
sensitizer), it creates an extra step that did not happen in
the old building.
- Circulation Staff are now located on two floors making it
somewhat more difficult to supervise. It has also taken away
some flexibility of moving staff during peak times to the
pressure areas, ie from sorting to check in or check out.
- Telecirc (an automatic telephone system) has helped siphon
off some of the phone calls to Circulation but we continue to
receive complaints from the public that they cannot get
through to a staff person.
- Self service check out accounts for 15% of the circulation
checkouts. (It should be noted that these stations handle
books only - not cassettes or CD's). At peak times one
Circulation staff trains and assists patrons in the proper
method to check out material. Better step-by-step signage
may help but the biggest factor has been the unwillingness of
some patrons to follow instructions. We will need to work
very hard to reach our target of 40% of checkouts being done
at these stations.
- A 21% increase in the number of new borrower registrations
has occurred. Each registration takes approximately 3
minutes.
Additional Staff required:
- 4 LA 2's $ 120,250 for 12 months
SUMMARY
The Library will be submitting a full report to Council in March/ April
re the operation of the new Central Library. The Library will review
all strategies to deal with the situation but given the current level
of activity, it is likely that additional funds will be required at the
Library Assistant level in order to sustain current service levels.
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