NEW SALEM — The Selectboard this week gave its blessing to a change of hours for the library director’s position, but the decision must go to the Finance Committee and get Annual Town Meeting approval before it goes into effect.
Linda Chatfield, who became interim library director when Tracie Shea resigned, spoke with Selectboard members on Monday and said changing the workweek from 19 to 30 hours might persuade more qualified candidates to apply.
“We’ve had a couple of searches in the past and we’re not getting really great candidates,” she said. “And so we decided that it would make sense to upgrade the position so that it is more attractive to prospective candidates.”
Chatfield told the Selectboard on Monday that she experimented with budgets that included various hours and settled on 30 hours per week.
“This is the one that worked out the best, because 25 is sort of the minimum, the absolute minimum that you can do that job in,” she said. “But, also, the higher salary and benefits will create better retention so that people stay, rather than leaving after a couple of years. The library can be open more days and hours each week, which was one of the things that residents did mention on the survey that we did last year.”
Chatfield also said increased hours would improve inter-departmental coordination, as the schedules of the New Salem Public Library and town offices would better overlap. According to its website, the library is currently open on Tuesdays from noon to 8 p.m., Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“It really isn’t possible to do the director’s position in 19 hours a week, and it’s really, I think, expected that someone would be compensated for the hours that actually are worked,” she mentioned.
Chatfield said in an interview Thursday that the library has historically had one director and two assistants. An experimental third assistant was added in an unsuccessful attempt to compensate for the limited director hours. Chatfield said this position will be eliminated if the director’s position gets expanded.
She also noted Thursday that she has submitted to the Finance Committee a preliminary fiscal year 2027 budget that requests a 28-hour workweek, which she said is a good compromise between 25 and 30, and would be enough for a director to fulfill his or her duties.
Chatfield also said she will turn 74 years old in June and she is not interested in becoming the permanent library director.
“Ten years ago I would have been so thrilled,” she said. “It’s just too much for me at this point in my life.”
Chatfield said that out of 16 comparable libraries throughout the state, New Salem’s is the only one that does not pay its director for at least 20 hours per week.
In response to a question from Town Treasurer Gabriele Voelker, Chatfield said she typically works 25 to 30 hours per week, though she is paid for 19 and is not offered health insurance. She mentioned she recently worked two 35-hour weeks.
“There are some weeks when I actually work, maybe, 20,” she said. “I don’t think there’s ever been a week that I work just 19.”
Voelker agreed that limiting the library director’s position to 19 hours has hindered the hiring process.
“It will not cost us more in benefits. Benefits, once you hit 20 [hours per week], are the same cost whether a person works 40 hours or 20 hours. It’s the same cost to the town,” she said. “So that’s food for thought for the Selectboard.”