Closed for four months, Lexington Public Library lays off nearly half its employees
The Lexington Public Library is laying off 45 percent of its workforce ahead of an eventual reopening at greatly reduced capacity following four months of closure because of COVID-19.
The library informed 101 part-time employees late Wednesday that their final day will be July 18, said executive director Heather Dieffenbach. That leaves 121 library employees, nearly all of them full-time, Dieffenbach said.
The laid off employees worked throughout the library system doing many different kinds of work, including helping the public to find and check out books and to work on computers, Dieffenbach said.
“This is really a devastating loss to the library and to our community. We’ve worked hard over the last couple of decades to build a really, really great staff,” she said Thursday.
“I know that the library is well-loved throughout the community. I’ve heard people say that it’s been a life-saver for them throughout the pandemic. And I know that that’s not because of anything that I have done. It’s because of their relationships with our staff,” she said.
The library’s roughly $18.9 million annual budget remains in good shape, Dieffenbach said. But as the central library and the five branch libraries gradually reopen later this year, they will do so at 33 percent of capacity to reduce the chance of people spreading the novel coronavirus, she said. That will mean fewer staff and customers in the buildings and a reduction in the usual services, she said.
Although all library employees have remained on the payroll for the last four months, regardless of whether their services were needed each day, that cannot continue indefinitely, Dieffenbach said.
“As we reopen our locations, we’ve realized that we’re not going to be able to have our full staff in the buildings,” she said. “As a taxpayer-supported entity, it’s hard to justify continuing to pay people we don’t have work for.”
The library’s Northside Branch at 1733 Russell Cave Road is scheduled to reopen with limited services on July 20, and on that same day, curbside service will be available to pick up material holds at all library locations, she said. But there is not yet a definitive schedule on reopening the other library buildings to the public, she said.
Since the library closed its locations March 13, it has pivoted to online services, focusing its attention on eBooks and audio books that can be borrowed remotely as well as on Facebook programming created by library staff.
Financially, the library’s budget remains in solid shape, according to a financial report given to its Board of Trustees on Wednesday, just ahead of the layoff announcement.
Revenues in May increased by $373,600 year over year and were $130,600 ahead of budget, library officials told the trustees on Wednesday. The library collected more than $500,000 in private donations and public grants in the previous month.
The trustees voted to add $1 million to the existing $3 million for a building fund that eventually will be used to build a permanent Cardinal Valley branch near Versailles Road, where the library currently has a small leased space in a shopping center. The trustees also voted to add $500,000 to the library’s emergency fund, taking it up to $1 million.
The library is primarily funded by a dedicated portion of Fayette County property taxes.
“Right now, we’re doing OK,” Dieffenbach said. “But a year from now, I think we might be in a different situation.”
“If you remember, back in 2008, we did suffer something like a 5 percent loss after the recession. Our revenue is tied to property taxes. There’s a lot of concern right now with what’s going to go on with commercial real estate. As that suffers losses, the library is going to be affected as well,” she said.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 11:08 AM.
