Nine More Hours Makes Full-Time At Deep River Library

DEEP RIVER, CT — For the past several years, Elaine Alexander has been wearing several hats at the Deep River Library, working 21 hours a week, but dedicating more of her expertise and time freely to a job she loves and cherishes.

Deep River Library Director Susan Rooney, who has been at her post since 2013, spoke at the Tuesday evening Deep River Board of Finance Budget workshop in support of bumping Alexander’s hours up to 30 hours a week, making her an official full-time employee at the library, which would allow her the additional hours that Rooney feels are needed for the work at hand, as well as afford Alexander the opportunity for health insurance.

“Honestly, it's more about making Alexander feel like she is part of the family and a true member of the community than it is about the insurance,” said Patrick McGlamery, who works part-time at the library with both Rooney and Alexander.

Alexander is a professional. She has her Masters in Library Science and has become an important part of the staff at the library, responsible for the children’s programming, as well as a myriad of other tasks including adult programming, the 0-18 book collection, administrative tasks and the libraries Bibliomation Consortium, which is a group that libraries throughout the state belong to and share resources with one another through.

The bump in hours was being discussed at the Board of Finance Budget Workshop because the extra hours will have a small effect on the town’s bottom line budget and many feel it is money well spent.

“She [Alexander] has made tremendous strides in improving the programming at the library and she is a benefit to the community,” said First Selectman Angus McDonald, in support of Alexander becoming full-time. “Deep River’s library is a treasure and we need to work toward nourishing that treasure, not starving it.”

In total, the increase to the Library’s budget this year is $17,800, which among other things, includes the extra hours for Alexander, as well as a 2.5 increase in salary for all library staff, according to McDonald.

Rooney explained that the Deep River Library is one of only a handful of like-sized libraries throughout the state that only has one full-time employee.

She added, that having an additional full-time employee is not only needed to fulfill the workload of the library’s needs, but it would supply much needed continuity to the staff, which currently operates with a change in part-time people daily.

“I want to become full-time for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is to provide Susan with the assistance and continuity she needs,” said Alexander, who was very touched that so many people wrote in to the First Selectman’s office in support of her becoming full-time. “It was so nice to see that I have made an impact in the community and people do support me and the library. That’s exactly what you strive for in this position.”

Currently, the town of Deep River’s budget is still in the “working stage” and is not finalized at this time. The next Board of Finance budget workshop is scheduled for April 20, at 7 p.m. For more information go to www.deepriverct.us.