"State Library cuts take shape"

Last night Charles Thompson wrote an article for the Penn-Live in which he chronicled the meager results of our all-staff meeting yesterday. The headline is "State Library cuts take shape".

A longer, more detailed, version showed up this morning in the print Harrisburg Patriot-News, and online under the headline "Budget would cut public's access."

Thanks, Mr. Thompson, for getting the word out!

This morning's version includes this:

Library staffers would not comment publicly about Wednesday's meeting, saying they'd been told to direct all press contacts to the Education Department press office. Privately, several confirmed the details of the plan.

Education officials did not respond to requests for comment on the meeting, noting no plans are final until the budget is adopted.

And isn't that last bit part of the problem? Nothing is "final" until the budget bill is passed and the governor signs it. Legally, sure, that's the case. But some people would think that our staff has earned the right for a little decency and respect on this matter. Our lives and careers have been put into limbo since early February because we do not know whether we will have jobs after July 1st.

And, apparently, "education officials" don't care enough to give us more direction than this.

Most of us are 'doing the math,' or trying to, and attempting to figure out if we will be among the 21 who have jobs or the 30 who don't. (as a footnote, did everyone notice how the goal of a 50% reduction in staffing has now slipped to more like a cut of 60%?)

But while we can count up our own seniority, what we can't do is tell whether the state librarian's plans call for 3 techs or 7, for 2 assistants or 5, and so on. All we can really guess is that if we're the most senior person in our classification, we probably have a job; and if we're the most junior, we probably don't.

And that is really a pain. Would it be that difficult for the administration to share its plans for staffing needs with the staff at the State Library of Pennsylvania?

Is No News Good News?

To answer the title question, we think not.

Last word from the administration was that they would have a hit list (our term, not theirs) prepared and would begin talking to people at "the end of March, beginning of April". The end of March has come and gone. The beginning of April has come and is almost gone.

And still no word on plans for the State Library. No word on who has a job in the new fiscal year and who doesn't.

So, as we hear it, some people are actively looking for work elsewhere.

They, and just about everyone else on the payroll, are more on edge every day.

If people from the administration read this blog, you should know that there's no point in delaying announcements because you are afraid work will suffer. Work is suffering already. People are suffering.

Philadelphia Inquirer on Rolling Furlough Agreement

The Philadelphia Inquirer carries pretty much the same news about forestalling the rolling furloughs in an article today headlined "State, unions reach pact to prevent furloughs" by Angela Couloumbis and Mario F. Cattabiani.

Newspaper Coverage of Latest Deal

The Harrisburg Patriot-News for April 3rd carries a big story about the halt of the rolling furlough proposal.

Headlined Rendell, union leaders broker deal to avoid immediate furloughs and written by Charles Thompson, the story's opening sentence reminds us that "hundreds of workers still could be laid off this year." (That would include at least half of us here at the State Library.)

Because "this year, Gov. Ed Rendell proposed the elimination of more than 2,600 jobs because of the state's worsening finances. Many jobs will be eliminated through attrition, but Rendell has said layoffs might be needed."

That is, "with the Rendell administration projecting a $2.3 billion deficit by the end of the fiscal year on July 1, the deal does little to dim the prospects of pink slips for several hundred workers."

This isn't over by a long shot. But people's attention may well be distracted for the time being. Do what you can to keep the light shining on the decimation of the State Library of Pennsylvania.

No Rolling Furloughs (For Now)

Yesterday's news was that the unions and the governor's people came to an agreement over the rolling furloughs that were threatened recently (those were the ones where we would be forced to take off two unpaid days each month, or very roughly a 10% pay cut).

Here's how it is explained in an email that some of us got from our union:

SEIU 668, AFSCME and UFCW have reached a TENATIVE agreement with the Commonwealth that STOPS the Governor’s threats to impose rolling furloughs. This tentative agreement is dependent on a ratification vote of the unions’ members. The entire tentative agreement will be mailed to each member.

The tentative agreement includes the following:

1. NO rolling furloughs for the remainder of this budget year ending June 30, 2009 and the next budget year ending June 30, 2010. If any other furloughs need to occur, they will be done contractually.

2. A TEMPORARY 20% reduction in the Commonwealth contribution to the PEBTF effective April 2009 up to and including June 2010, to be repaid by the Commonwealth commencing in September 2010 in addition to the contractual obligation. Reserves in the PEBTF will be kept at a 1 month minimum.
If necessary, the Commonwealth will provide sufficient funds to ensure that this minimum. (There are currently 2 months of reserve funds)

3. There will be NO reduction in the level of benefits provided by the PEBTF.

4. There will be ongoing discussions to discuss any and all cost saving ideas, suggestions, and recommendations by the unions.

5. Includes an accelerated dispute resolution that includes arbitration in regards to this agreement.

The governor's press release pats himself on the back for the savings this generates:

Governor Edward G. Rendell today said his administration has reached a tentative agreement with some of the state’s largest employees’ unions that eliminates the immediate need for rolling furloughs of employees in those unions to help close the state’s budget gap.

The agreement to temporarily reduce the commonwealth’s health care benefit contribution rate by 20 percent will generate up to $200 million in savings over the next 15 months. The agreement also assures no changes in health care benefits for employees that are members of participating unions.

“This agreement is truly a win-win for employees and the state,” said Governor Rendell. “The temporary reduction in our health care contribution rate will provide us with enough savings to eliminate the immediate need to consider rolling furloughs for participating unions. This ensures that state government will keep running at the same pace for the people of Pennsylvania.”

The same release ends with these words about our managers (and others throughout state government) whose households are being hit by the state's budget situation:

The Governor has issued a pay freeze for all managers and non-represented employees, including the elimination of two step increments and a general pay increase scheduled to take effect between January 2009 and January 2010, a measure projected to save nearly $140 million through fiscal year 2010/11.

“I sincerely appreciate the incredible sacrifice by the commonwealth’s management and non-union employees and their daily dedication to serving the citizens of Pennsylvania without any increase in their pay,” said Governor Rendell. “These public servants often go unrecognized, but because of their hard work and efforts to continue to do more with less, Pennsylvania is in better shape than many other states.”

Surely, more to follow on all this. Some of us are pretty certain that the 'rolling furlough' ball is going to roll back onto the table before this is all over.

Announcement Looming?

So, what did we learn this week?

That "the plan" for what the State Library 'will look like' in the future -- and for staffing that Library -- will be completed at "the end of March or early April." Or, in other words, real soon

And then they will "start talking to people."

Unless, like so much else in state government, it drags on and on, misses deadlines, gets delayed, and happens in fits and starts.

Whenever the boom drops, predictions are that it will create a huge "us vs. them" split in the State Library staff. One side of the split will be the people thrown out onto the welfare rolls; the other side will be the people who still have a job to hang on to.

Avoiding that sort of thing is one of the reasons that the corporate world hands out severance packages and shows furloughed people the door. It is over and done with. Some in the Library are assuming that the administration will more likely expect soon-to-be-furloughed people to continue working full steam ahead right up to the end of the fiscal year. (That could be part of the reason for all the expressions of uncertainty -- "well, we just don't know what is going to happen....").

Anyway, when it happens, just try to remember that whichever side of the divide you're on, it wasn't the people on the other side's fault.

Add Rolling Furloughs for Us Non-Essential Employees

In Thursday's Harrisburg Patriot-News newspaper (and online at PennLive), we're reading about Rendell's current furlough idea: make other people do his work. As the story opens,

Leaders of major state government workers' unions were told today they need to come up with about $89 million in savings to help balance the state budget over the next 15 months.

And if the unions don't reach agreement on how to do that by the end of the month, Gov. Ed Rendell will make it happen through a mandatory two days of unpaid leave per month for non-essential employees starting in April and running through June 2010.

And we all remember who "non-essential employees" are. That's Rendell-speak for everybody but the highest paid people on his payroll, plus prison guards.

Based on the last furlough of nonessential state workers in 2007, Rendell's plan would likely affect at least 25,000 state government workers, except those involved in public safety or direct care of patients.

In other words, according to the furlough notices in the last few budget years, we're pretty much all "non-essential."

Two days a month adds up fairly quickly.

The rolling furlough plan would cost workers about six weeks' pay during the next 15 months.

That is, Rendell wants to whack our paychecks by nearly 10%. THEN put us out the door on lower unemployment.

Business Week Carried the Story

Guess we missed this one last week: Business Week reprinted the Philadelphia Inquirer story on March 5th in its online edition.

Basic Instinct: Concede or Get Laid Off

Hey, you can all rest easy, folks. We have it in print that the governor

said his "basic instinct is to save people's jobs. If there is a way I can do it and minimize the number of layoffs, I will take that."

That's in the Harrisburg Patriot-News on Monday March 9th 2009 at 2:57 PM under the headline "Rendell leans toward cutting employee hours, not jobs" by Jan Murphy.

What a relief!

Of course, he also says that if the unions don't give in to his demands for concessions before the end of March, then there

will be immediate layoffs or temporary shutdowns of certain aspects of state government that would cause many more workers to miss an occasional days' pay.

Seems to us that his basic instinct always comes back around to layoffs and furloughs.

Our Story Hitting the Big Time

After the Philly Inquirer article (see yesterday's post), the story got picked up by the Associated Press and spread abroad . . . and we mean abroad.

Thank you, International Herald Tribune, the Global Edition of the New York Times, for printing the AP release under the heading "State news of national interest" on March 6th 2009. In the section for the East, we are one of two stories:

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Under Gov. Ed Rendell's budget, the 263-year-old Pennsylvania State Library's appropriation would be slashed by more than half to $2.3 million for the year starting July 1. Library Commissioner M. Clare Zales said she can "keep the lights on," but may have to scale back the current Monday-Saturday operating schedule. The library's 56-person staff is likely to shrink.

We also made USA Today under the state news section for March 6th (where they print one news story from each state in 3 or 4 lines).

Harrisburg's Patriot-News posted it online at 3/5/2009, 12:36 p.m. EST under the headline "Budget cuts likely to hit Pa. state library hard."

The Lewistown Sentinel joins the chorus with the same headline on March 5th.

Then there's WHTM ABC TV channel 27 in Harrisburg.

And the Times-Leader from Wilkes-Barre, "northeast Pennsylvania's home page."

And Butler County's "Butler Eagle."

There is also "Library Stuff: a Weblog by Steven M. Cohen".

And probably others. Thank you ALL for publicizing our plight.

Philadelphia Inquirer Article

We're hitting the big time now. Toward the end of this week, Amy Worden of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an article in their paper headlined "Pa. state library faces budget cut". The online version is dated March 5th, the same as the paper version.

With nice photos!

The opening lines read:

The Pennsylvania state library, founded by Benjamin Franklin 263 years ago, has survived two wars and a catastrophic fire.

Now, library advocates fear, its latest threat may be its most dire.

In the face of a multibillion-dollar deficit, Gov. Rendell wants to halve the state library budget - from $4.8 million to $2.3 million - which could all but wipe out the 56-person staff.

Worden goes on the relate that "Library commissioner M. Clare Zales said she was scrambling to find other ways to reduce costs - such as limiting hours - and preserve more jobs." That current party line (cutting other things in order to cut fewer jobs) doesn't seem to have gotten through to the governor's office, though.

Read what the governor's spokesman says, and particularly notice what he does not say:

A Rendell spokesman said that the administration was committed to libraries and that it kept its promise to restore funding for the hundreds of local libraries that had a 50 percent reduction in 2003.

"Our support for libraries over the course of administration is a matter of public record," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. "Our proposal for this year is simply a matter of fiscal reality."

What was it he said about the huge proposed cut to their own State Library? [blank space here, because he said nothing]

The administration restored local library funding that had also been whacked by 50% some years ago? Way back in 2003. Wait a minute, didn't the current administration take power in January 2003? So, wouldn't that mean that the current administration was the group that cut the public library funding it is now patting itself on the back for replacing? Uh, yeah, right.

And wait a minute! Read further down in the article:

"The state library cut comes as Rendell is proposing trimming by 5 percent funding for 624 local libraries in order to save $2 million."

You restored funding that you had cut? And now you're cutting it again??

Your support for libraries IS a matter of public record. And that really isn't something you should be thankful for!

Well, this Philadelphia Inquirer article includes quotes from Glenn Miller ("They're obviously going to be crippled by this.") and Elliot Shelkrot ("I can't imagine how they would function as a library with five people."), both friends of the State Library. Thanks for the support, guys!

And Clare promises to "keep the lights on" (those would be the lights that were just all switched to compact fluorescent fixtures and bulbs after months of delays) even if we're really slashing hours. Good. Whoever still has a job will at least be able to see. Maybe by then the "heavily fortified rare-book collection" will finally be open for the public.

What Have We Learned?

At a staff information session held a week ago, human resources officials faced the full staff of the State Library. On our side, we pretty much had three simple questions:

1. Will my position be funded in the new fiscal year?

2. Will I be the person filling that position (or will someone else bump me out of it)?

3. When will I know the answers to the first two questions.

The answers were shorter than the questions: don't know, don't know, and don't know.

It took longer for them to tell us that, though. For the first question, we're told that our administration needs to determine 'what the State Library will look like' in the new fiscal year. [we're guessing something on the order of 'like a ghost town' ... and we hope we're just being cynical and not realistic] The answer to the second depends on the first to some extent. [although clear, updated seniority lists should be made easily available to all staffers; can't these be posted on the Inside PDE web site?] And the answer to the third question was really 'not for three weeks at the very least'.

There was lots of good will coming our way from the human resources people. They even made it sound like everyone who was going to be furloughed from the State Library by the governor would get placed somewhere else in state government after the civil service people review our resumes and translate our job experience into something else.

Lots of good will, as we said. Just not any real answers.

Allentown Alerted to our Plight

Back on the 13th of February one of the blogs by a reporter for the Allentown 'Morning Call' carried news of the impending disaster at the State Library should Rendell's budget plan be adopted.

The Morning Call's state house reporter John L. Micek blogs under the title "Capitol Ideas" and on Friday the 13th he wrote:

Now This Is Uncool.

Now, granted, we rarely have occasion to travel to the Pennsylvania State Library, which sits on the grounds of the Forum complex here in Harrisburg. But as a former library worker and big-time library fan, we were nonetheless disheartened to learn that it could lose most of its staff because of this year's budgetary carnage.

Fifty of 57 positions at the Library would be gone under Gov. Ed's budget plan, the Patriot-News reports this morning, prompting a "rethinking" of its role in the civic life of the state.

Rendell's spending plan would slash the library's budget in half, from $4.8 million this year to $2.4 million for the budget year starting July 1.

"The tough times we're in now mean we will need to fundamentally rethink the role of the State Library," Department of Education spokesman Mike Race told the newspaper. "That said, there clearly are assets and services we want to preserve, including hours of operation in which the library is open to public use. [But] until a budget is finalized, we can't speculate on exactly how services might be impacted."

According to the P-N, the Library houses an extensive general and legal reference collection and is perhaps the state's leading repository of Pennsylvania and U.S. government reports, from election results to postings of salaries of all state employees. It has a state-of-the-art rare-books room that preserves a collection of books and newspapers started by Benjamin Franklin.

Mostly copied from the local Harrisburg newspaper, to be sure, but if folks outside of Harrisburg hear about -- and care about -- what's in the offing here, well, maybe there's some hope.

"Budgetary carnage". We love it!

Center County Paper Editorializes on our Behalf

On Sunday February 22nd 2009 the Centre Daily, from up in State College, PA, published an editorial titled "Our View - Cultural identity is at Risk."

Okay, so it isn't completely about the State Library, but we get pretty high billing:

In tough economic times such as these, politicians, as they should, look for areas to cut expenses. But the first place they aim their axes -- libraries, museums and other "nonessential" cultural institutions -- easy targets though they may be, should be the last.

Under Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed budget, Pennsylvania's museums face layoffs, reductions in visiting hours and even closures. The staff at the State Library -- an important repository of legal reference works, government reports, rare texts and even a collection of books and newspapers begun by Benjamin Franklin -- would be gutted, with 50 of 57 positions eliminated and one person transferred. Community libraries and local museums, always in danger of having the lights turned off, could go dark for good. And that would be a disaster, not only for genealogists, history buffs and bibliophiles, but for everyone -- for society itself. To know where we are -- who we are -- and where we are going, we must first know who we were and where we have been.

Then they point out that, for example, $9.5 million of taxpayers' money has gone to the 'bonusgate scandal' (some in bonuses, more in lawyer's fees to investigate). BUT, the editors in State College add,

Of course, information like that will be harder to find when the State Library is all but closed. Historical perspective -- perspective of any kind -- will be lost when our legacy is locked away or sold to the highest bidder on eBay. So will our bearings, our sense of direction and, literally, our identity. Tough times are exactly when we most need the direction, perspective and wisdom our past provides. Those who view history and culture as dead, with nothing of value to offer to today, are not the ones who should be making critical decisions about tomorrow.

Thank you, friends of culture! Thank you, friends of free-flowing information! Thanks you editorial staff of the Centre Daily!!

SLA's Public Policies Connections Blog Supports Us

Okay, then, the original post in the Special Libraries Association "Public Policies Connections" Blog, dated February 23rd 2009, is titled 'Pennsylvania 2009/2010 Proposed Budget Cuts Library Funds.'

The text of their post was picked up by the other SLA blog we just quoted, so we won't repeat it here.

Thanks for your support, SLA!

Genealogists Up in Arms (we hope)

The genealogists are rising! Watch out Rendell!!

In the February 18th 2009 "Genealogy Insider" blog written by Diane Haddad of Family Tree Magazine, there's a post titled: "Pennsylvania State Library May Face Severe Cuts." (It is tagged 'Libraries and Archives' in case you need that to find the post.)

Haddad includes links to a newspaper article and a number of web sites (we have removed the links below; go to her blog to follow them). She writes:

According to the Web site PennLive.com, the State Library of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg will see massive cuts if Gov. Ed Rendall’s proposed budget for 2009-2010 goes through.

Of the library's 57 positions, the plan would eliminate 50 and transfer one, leaving six staff members to maintain public access to the library’s resources.

Those resources include government publications, a book collection Benjamin Franklin started, historical newspapers, and a genealogy room with maps, state and county histories, church and cemetery records, and more.

The library’s budget would be half its current $4.8 million.

Read the PennLive article here and see the budget proposal on the Pennsylvania Library Association Web site.

What she writes is true. There will be HUGE crimps in the Library's ability to help family history researchers and genealogists. Microfilm lending could be cut. Weekend and evening hours could disappear. Purchases of new resources and of online databases will probably stop.

Library Journal Takes Our Story Nationwide (sort of)

The Library Journal has picked up the news about the threatened closing of the State Library of Pennsylvania. In an online story dated February 18th 2009, reporter Norman Oder writes about Rendell's having slashed the Library's budget in half.

The story is titled:"With 50% Budget Cut, Service at State Library in Pennsylvania Would Suffer." Unfortunately, Oder relied on a Dept. of Education press office spokesman for an evaluation of the news,

"“There will be an impact on service hours,” Mike Race, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, told LJ. “But we don’t know what impact it will have.”"

But, fortunately, Oder developed further information and inserted an update and correction to his original story. The final version of the story continues:

"While he said a local newspaper report that the library would lose 50 of 57 positions was not based on information from his department, the gubernatorial budget (see I-7 of this PDF) confirms that estimate."

[The PDF he links to is the governor's budget request, particularly the page from the Complement report where staff losses appear in black and white.]

But then Race races on:

"The line item, Race told LJ, does not break down costs for the library. Still, given that most items in the library are archival research materials, with newspapers representing the predominant current acquisitions, it’s a good bet much of the budget goes to staff.

“Nobody likes to see cuts in any sort of education funding,” Race said, “but we have to tighten our belts. In terms of public education, we determined the dollars we have to spend are best spent in classroom instruction.”"

Notice how he paints a rosy picture? Notice how he doesn't mention the 50 people who are heading to the bread lines, who will be collecting unemployment, who will be out on the streets? It's typical and expected that a press office spokesman supports the governor's plan. Whatever the plan is. It's required if he wants to keep his job.

Okay. Fine.

But don't also candy coat the fact that hard-working civil servants in the State Library are living in limbo now, not sure when or whether they will be forced out of work by this governor's budget.

Blogosphere Hum

John Fea from the Messiah College (Grantham, PA) Department of History has blogged about the threatened closure of the State Library of Pennsylvania by way of the firing or furloughing (same difference) of 51 of its 57 employees.

His blog, titled "The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Reflections on a first book and random thoughts at the intersection of American history, religion, and politics," has a short post on February 16th 2009 titled simply "The End of the Pennsylvania State Library as We Know It." Here's what Fea has to say:

"Educational and cultural institutions are being hit hard by the economy. Saturday's Harrisburg Patriot News, my "hometown" newspaper, reports that Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell will be cutting 50 of the current 57 staff positions at the Pennsylvania State Library and the budget will be cut in half. A fight is expected.

"Sad news."

Well it is sad. And what is almost as sad is that the fight to save the Library will have to come from outside the Library, since the staff are not allowed to lobby state government for their own jobs. As citizens, and on their own time, they can write letters and whatever. But they aren't allowed to make any noises during the work day. They're supposed to be good little boys and girls, and accept whatever the governor throws their way.

That's sad news, too.

Law Librarians Made Aware

In the blog titled "Law Librarian Blog: A Member of the Law Professor Blogs Network" editors Joe Hodnicki and Ron Jones highlighted the impending death of the State Library due to the governor's proposed budget slashing.

As they put it:

Pennsylvania Governor's Proposed Budget Would Eliminate Almost 90% of State Library Staff

Can a state library operate if 50 of the library's 57 positions were eliminated? That's the plan under Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed budget for 2009-10. Details here. [JH]

[Their link for the details leads to one of the Harrisburg Patriot-News articles highlighted earlier in our blog.]

Well, we can hope that lawyers, law librarians, and law professors take up the campaign for us. Our jobs are at stake, sure, but with them so is the well-respected law reference work done out of our Law Library. The State Library of Pennsylvania serves as the main Law Library for Pennsylvania's capital hill crowd. (hey, wait a minute, maybe the governor is just trying to cripple the General Assembly by closing its access to the Law Library!)

We hope someone has alerted the folks who are planning to work in the new justice center in Harrisburg that their plans to make use of the State Library's Law Libray will have to be curtailed when Governor Rendell cuts the staff for the entire Library to half a dozen people.

Patriot-News Breaks Its Silence

Charles Thompson finally broke the local newspaper's silence on the gutting of the State Library's staff complement. His story, titled "State Library to shed 51 jobs, leaving staff of 6," appeared online in The (Harrisburg, PA) Patriot-News on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 5:04 p.m.

Thompson writes:

"There is another cut in Gov. Rendell's proposed budget for 2009-10 that is starting to get a lot of notice: a 50 percent cut in funding for the State Library.

"The governor's proposed budget takes the library's funding from $4.8 million this year to $2.3 million for the budget year starting July 1. Fifty-one of the 57 jobs would be eliminated, with one person transferred elsewhere in the state Department of Education.

"That would leave a staff of six, presumably to maintain the existing stacks and keep some sort of public access to the facility.

"'The tough times we're in now mean we will need to fundamentally rethink the role of the State Library,' Education spokesman Mike Race said.

"'That said, there clearly are assets and services we want to preserve, including hours of operation in which the library is open to public use. (But) until a budget is finalized, we can't speculate on exactly how services might be impacted.'"

This version of the story garnered many comments (some much less helpful than others). The PDE press office spokesman seems to be soft-peddling the furlough. At this point, nobody in the Library has heard anything different from what we were told on February 4th.

A longer version of the story appeared in print the next morning.