Library Assistant Director Marge Baker told the Repository that union officials suggested the week without pay. The library’s board approved the measure May 18. Director Kent Oliver called the agreement a sign of a strengthening cooperative relationship between the administration and the union. “Both parties are concerned about providing quality library services to this community,” he said. “We have all agreed that this plan will avoid the inconvenience of a systemwide shutdown to patrons.”
Unionized staff went on strike for nearly four weeks in August 2000.
The library's fiscal crisis follows substantial cuts in state library funding since 2001. Oliver said he would discuss additional cuts at a public forum scheduled for May 25.
Posted May 21, 2004.