A big round of spending cuts is coming to the Washington State Library, and agency leaders said it means 31 lost jobs and elimination of work to preserve many of the state's oldest historic documents.
The layoff notices are going out Jan. 25 and taking effect through the end of June. It’s the latest in a series of job cuts by agencies forced to operate with fewer dollars.
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“It’s over a third of our staff, if the governor’s budget goes through, which is what makes this so devastating,’’ [State Librarian Jan] Walsh said.
Likely cuts include:
+ Four public services staffers, including reference desk employees.
+ Five technical services staffers, including those who acquire and catalogue materials.
+ Five and a half from prison and mental hospital libraries.
+ Seven of the 9.5 positions in preservation, which means little or no work to microfilm rare papers and old newspapers that are turned over to the state for its Northwest collections.
+ 3.7 positions or half the staff for the Talking Book and Braille Library in Seattle, including the lone children’s librarian.
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