With these economic hard times we've been going through the past few years, it's certainly taken its toll on libraries. The disappearance of jobs has also meant less tax revenue to fund libraries, meaning that many smaller ones have had to either shut down entirely or lay off large numbers of their staff and reduce both hours and materials. The library where I work has been a bit more fortunate in that we have an operating levy, but that hasn't exempted us from reductions in staff and materials. As jobs have gone vacant through retirements, transfers, resignations, etc., we have not replaced those positions, and as I am given to understand it, they never again will be replaced. So this is the "new normal" for us, having to work with far fewer staff, less materials available since we also had to cut our budget for those things by 15%, and it's not likely we'll ever again be back up to our old standards of available materials, either. So we're having to change with the times and do things differently. The trouble is that back in the late 1990's, we passed an $80 million bond issue to completely rebuild our entire library system with all new, bigger buildings, and with that was going to come a lot of new jobs and positions available so that we could offer far more public service than we'd been able to in years before. But I don't know if anyone saw the digital revolution coming that has led to more people using computers, smart phones, iPods and more to access the information they once did in the old analog and hard copy world of not so long ago. That has also changed the way we do things and we've had to adjust to all the new technology that has appeared in the past decade.
Back in the 90's, it seemed that money was limitless. Times were good, jobs were plentiful and we had tons of revenue to spend on things. Therefore, it didn't seem out of the question to expand our entire library system. Main and branch libraries were in old, cramped buildings that were never made to accomodate the demands of modern technology and there was never enough room on the shelves to be able to have more materials made available to the public. Lots of stuff was stored in the basement archives, a place I was always fond of wandering back when we were in our old building. I always aspired to work in that department, surrounded by old books, old periodicals and more. But the times demanded more availability of those old things so we embarked on an ambitious building program by passing an $80 million bond issue to fund all new libraries that would be spacious, full of new computer banks and more public space for programming. The bond issue passed with good voter support and the building program commenced. It was all supposed to happen in five years, but as is typical, whenever you think that you can get something done in a specified amount of time, you never foresee roadblocks in your way. So it was only a few short years ago that the final piece of the puzzle, a branch in the southern part of the county where I work, was built and completed. It was a much celebrated event that the building program, which took twice as long to complete as envisioned, was done at last. But then the Great Recession hit a few years ago and now the cost of heating, cooling and staffing these enormous buildings has meant major cutbacks, at least in staffing, in order to be able to maintain our hours and some semblance of having newer materials made available to our patrons. I'm not sure how energy efficient our libraries were built, either. I wish there had been more of an eye to creating buildings that would have been able to run on alternative energy sources or at least run in a more energy efficient manner. But no one foresaw the looming problems of the new century when we started our building program to replace our aging libraries back in the Roaring 90's. I think had we foreseen it, we might have scaled things down a bit to accomodate the changing times, but....that's just my theory. It's just a shame that people who go to all the time and expense of completing a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science are going to find themselves hard pressed to get a job when they finish school. Librarian jobs in recent times have been replaced by people like me, paraprofessionals, who can do most of their jobs at a lesser rate of pay. And I suspect that we're going to be playing a far more important role in the future as libraries continue to be squeezed for money in the coming years. The jobs we've left unfilled at the library will never be replaced. Most of the 8 million jobs that have vanished since the Great Recession took hold will never return. We're entering a new day and age. More and more, digital techology is going to take over where the old analog and hard copy stuff was used in the past. Welcome to the 21st century, folks. New skills are going to be need for the new jobs of our time. We can't go back to the old days anymore. And libraries, like many industries, are going to have to adjust to that fact. I'm just glad that I am going to be eligible to retire soon. I think that those of us who are still in our jobs are going to be working a lot harder and doing a lot more than we are accustomed to having to do. And I think that we're going to be carrying a lot more responsibility than we used to as well. So, libraries, librarians and library employees, welcome to the New Normal.
With these economic hard times we've been going through the past few years, it's certainly taken its toll on libraries. The disappearance of jobs has also meant less tax revenue to fund libraries, meaning that many smaller ones have had to either shut down entirely or lay off large numbers of their staff and reduce both hours and materials. The library where I work has been a bit more fortunate in that we have an operating levy, but that hasn't exempted us from reductions in staff and materials. As jobs have gone vacant through retirements, transfers, resignations, etc., we have not replaced those positions, and as I am given to understand it, they never again will be replaced. So this is the "new normal" for us, having to work with far fewer staff, less materials available since we also had to cut our budget for those things by 15%, and it's not likely we'll ever again be back up to our old standards of available materials, either. So we're having to change with the times and do things differently. The trouble is that back in the late 1990's, we passed an $80 million bond issue to completely rebuild our entire library system with all new, bigger buildings, and with that was going to come a lot of new jobs and positions available so that we could offer far more public service than we'd been able to in years before. But I don't know if anyone saw the digital revolution coming that has led to more people using computers, smart phones, iPods and more to access the information they once did in the old analog and hard copy world of not so long ago. That has also changed the way we do things and we've had to adjust to all the new technology that has appeared in the past decade.
Back in the 90's, it seemed that money was limitless. Times were good, jobs were plentiful and we had tons of revenue to spend on things. Therefore, it didn't seem out of the question to expand our entire library system. Main and branch libraries were in old, cramped buildings that were never made to accomodate the demands of modern technology and there was never enough room on the shelves to be able to have more materials made available to the public. Lots of stuff was stored in the basement archives, a place I was always fond of wandering back when we were in our old building. I always aspired to work in that department, surrounded by old books, old periodicals and more. But the times demanded more availability of those old things so we embarked on an ambitious building program by passing an $80 million bond issue to fund all new libraries that would be spacious, full of new computer banks and more public space for programming. The bond issue passed with good voter support and the building program commenced. It was all supposed to happen in five years, but as is typical, whenever you think that you can get something done in a specified amount of time, you never foresee roadblocks in your way. So it was only a few short years ago that the final piece of the puzzle, a branch in the southern part of the county where I work, was built and completed. It was a much celebrated event that the building program, which took twice as long to complete as envisioned, was done at last. But then the Great Recession hit a few years ago and now the cost of heating, cooling and staffing these enormous buildings has meant major cutbacks, at least in staffing, in order to be able to maintain our hours and some semblance of having newer materials made available to our patrons. I'm not sure how energy efficient our libraries were built, either. I wish there had been more of an eye to creating buildings that would have been able to run on alternative energy sources or at least run in a more energy efficient manner. But no one foresaw the looming problems of the new century when we started our building program to replace our aging libraries back in the Roaring 90's. I think had we foreseen it, we might have scaled things down a bit to accomodate the changing times, but....that's just my theory. It's just a shame that people who go to all the time and expense of completing a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science are going to find themselves hard pressed to get a job when they finish school. Librarian jobs in recent times have been replaced by people like me, paraprofessionals, who can do most of their jobs at a lesser rate of pay. And I suspect that we're going to be playing a far more important role in the future as libraries continue to be squeezed for money in the coming years. The jobs we've left unfilled at the library will never be replaced. Most of the 8 million jobs that have vanished since the Great Recession took hold will never return. We're entering a new day and age. More and more, digital techology is going to take over where the old analog and hard copy stuff was used in the past. Welcome to the 21st century, folks. New skills are going to be need for the new jobs of our time. We can't go back to the old days anymore. And libraries, like many industries, are going to have to adjust to that fact. I'm just glad that I am going to be eligible to retire soon. I think that those of us who are still in our jobs are going to be working a lot harder and doing a lot more than we are accustomed to having to do. And I think that we're going to be carrying a lot more responsibility than we used to as well. So, libraries, librarians and library employees, welcome to the New Normal. 
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