Effective December 27, the Spokane (Wash.) Public Library will lay off seven staff members, demote 15 others, eliminate all Saturday hours at the downtown main library, and slash the main library’s hours from 60 to 40 per week.
The changes are being made to meet a $253,000 budget cut as a result of Initiative 695, a statewide antitax measure that passed November 2 requiring voter approval of any increase in tax or government fees.
Library officials targeted the downtown library for the cuts because “on any given day our branch libraries circulate three times as many items as the downtown library,” Director Aubrey George told AL. “ If you want to have the least impact on the largest amount of people, this made sense,” George told the Spokane Review December 14.
George said the budget has been tight for the last four years, with staff voluntarily taking 12 days of unpaid vacation in 1996.
(This story was corrected December 21, 1999, to remove incorrect circulation figures used in the Spokane Review.)
Posted December 20, 1999.