Staffing challenges were one of the first things Newton Library Director Nicole Terry mentioned when she gave her annual report to the Newton City Council earlier this week. But she also noted the number one priority of the staff that is there, is to keep the Library open and continue essential services.

“We are at the lowest staffing we’ve had since I have been director. Over the eight years I have been here, we have lost 78 hours of staff time all together. So when someone is sick or on vacation, we are at the bare minimum to begin with. What we are trying to do is make sure if someone does call in, we can fill in a different desk to get the bare essentials done. No one is going to leave a Storytime or different program, but we are still going to make sure the Library is still  running day to day.”

In addition to her, Terry says the Newton Public Library has three other full-time employees and nine part-time workers. The full-time staff includes an administrative assistant and two librarians. The part-time employees are four library assistants and two information assistants. Terry says they each work 20 hours per week. Two pages each work 19 hours a week, while the one cataloger works 25 hours a week.