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Volunteers help keep Hubbard library going
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Sherry Ault, Hubbard Library Director
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MULTI-TASKER: Kim Mozley, who has volunteered at Hubbard Area Public Library for 13 years, contributes a variety of services including processing books for the inter-library loan system, readying books and tapes for circulation by covering with plastic cases and date-due stickers, doing database maintenance and looking for “lost” materials on shelves.
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BACK IN THE LIBRARY: Jan Schaller, a former employee who was laid off from Hubbard Area Public Library because of budget cuts, returned as a volunteer. Here, she shelves books. Schaller said the volunteers help keep library services available.
Cutbacks reduced staff and hours, but volunteers help by providing invaluable service.
HUBBARD — Funding is at a record low, and nine staff positions have been eliminated at Hubbard Public Library.
Sherry Ault, director, says that there is a bright spot, one that she calls “the gift to the library”— the volunteers who help the library function. “Without them, we would have further reduction in hours that the library is open," Ault said.
The library’s 2010 budget is $600,000; down from a peak of $968,180 a decade ago, Ault said. The decrease in funds has caused a 45 percent reduction in staff. Nine positions were eliminated, mostly in circulation and shelving, and one in the children’s room.
Staff members who remain now work 36, not 40 hours, a week and that translates into a 10 percent pay reduction.
Because staff was reduced, the library is open one third fewer hours.
Ault and Geraldine Bray, assistant director, both noted that Hubbard library was on track to surpass its 2008 circulation of more than 200,000 when hours were cut. 2009’s circulation was 193,308.
About 24 volunteers help out in various services. Friends of the Library, an organization of volunteers with about 100 members, has sponsored fundraisers over the years to provide “the extras” but is focusing on the necessities.
Friends sponsors a big book sale in October and an ongoing sale with children’s books, paperbacks, hardback books and videos.
The volunteers mostly do shelving, putting books in their proper places after being returned by patrons. Ault said volunteers also assist in circulation.
Another area where volunteers are invaluable is the homebound program. “A volunteer gets to know the reading needs of the person,” Ault said.
Homebound patrons are senior citizens and those with disabilities that prevent them from coming to the library.
“Twice a month, a volunteer and staff member deliver the books,” Ault said, noting that the two deliveries account for two separate sets of library patrons.
Though Ault said funding cuts forced the elimination of 14 children’s programs and the Library Commons, an after-school program for students in seventh grade and older.
Toddler and Preschool Storytimes remain. “We’re struggling to keep those up because they are so important,” Ault said. “These are the ones that lay the groundwork for getting kids ready to read. The adult caregiver helps the child interact with the books.”
Ault said such programs help children “develop a love of reading” that lasts a lifetime. “We wanted to keep the programs that affect the first one to three years of life. ... If the kids don’t get it then it can’t be made up,” she said.
Paws to Read, she said, helps develop skills of beginning readers. “It’s a well-loved program,” she said.
Though Ault is concerned about the survival of library programs, the 30-year employee also takes a broader view of how funding cuts are severely curtailing access to the free source of information.
“It scares me because the library is the last and only free source of information,” Ault said. She noted that television was once free, but cable and specialty offerings changed that; and if you can’t afford it, you don’t get it. And she said though some may say the Internet has free information, it’s not always reliable.
“The library is a wonderful place and the volunteers help make it so,” Ault said.
Jan Schaller of Hubbard is a library employee turned volunteer. She was among staff let go because of budget cuts, but doesn’t blame the library. “We’re so blessed to have such a resource,” she said.
Schaller worked on the circulation desk and her experience is an asset. “It seemed natural to volunteer,” she said. “It doesn’t cost anything but time ... but you get so much out of it and know you’re helping to keep this resource available.”
She often can be seen in the stacks on Mondays, the busiest day, shelving books.
Kim Mozley of Youngstown, a retired rehabilitation administrator, has devoted 13 years volunteering. She multitasks by processing books for inter-library loan system, readying books and tapes for circulation by covering with plastic cases and date-due stickers, withdrawing old books from shelves for the Friends’ sale, doing data base maintenance and looking for “lost” materials on shelves.
“I like to work,” she said of her volunteer service. “It keeps your mind active ... and gets you out of the house.”
Lilija “Lily” Pencis of Hubbard has been volunteering a short time because she learned of the budget cuts. “I’m 89 and still vertical and I saw the need for volunteers,” she said.
Latvian by birth, Pencis said she uses the library to get books in the Latvian language. That’s made possible through the inter-library loan system and may be threatened by more budget cuts. As Ault pointed out, this source might be curtailed.
A retired school librarian, Nancy Bolchalk of Hubbard knows the importance of the library. “This is my calling. I love it,” she said. She noted service to patrons would be further cut without help by volunteers.
FAST FACTS
Hubbard Public Library, 436 W. Liberty St., along with other libraries, is struggling to maintain services in the face of severe budget cuts by the state of Ohio.
• Hours: New hours, instituted in November 2009, are: 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; and 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturdays. The library is closed Fridays and Sundays.
• Services: The library offers books, DVDs, books on tape, newspapers, magazines, periodicals, reference and research materials, inter-library loan system and computer access to materials through its library account system. Here are other ways the library helps: People use computers to sign up for unemployment and look for jobs; travelers stop in to use computers; a safe place for teachers to tutor; teacher packs on topics of the instructor’s choice; place to find tax forms; students use online databases for homework; access to historical documents and historical document search.
• How you can help: The library has a flier that details the situation with staff, budget and programs. It has a list of ways you can help including volunteering, donating and working on fundraisers.
• Contact information: (330) 534-3512 or the Web site at www.beyond-books.org.