Inside Mesa

Remember that slang phrase "book on down", meaning come on down? In this case it’s two-fold, or three-fold if you turn your library book pages down to mark your spot!It’s all about the City of Mesa Library leadership, staff, and volunteers that continue to do an excellent job in maintaining a huge amount of quality work with a stream-lined crew, and time constraints due to the budget crunch; it has made it difficult to say the least but not impossible as we have learned. As a member of the Library Advisory Board, I was able to witness again at our meeting last night the excellence in service, the mind-set of those that focus on quality within the library, the remarkable commitment to serve the public’s needs through it’s administration, Librarians, staff, volunteers, organizations like Friends of the Library, and all of those interested in sustaining the benefits a library provides it’s community.In the midst of all this we learned of the good news — Heather Wolf has been appointed Director of the Mesa Libraries, who has been standing in as acting Director. Past Director Trisha Sorenson, now Acting Community Services Department Manager, began the process of cutting back library services as budget cuts became a reality. Both women have demonstrated remarkable administrative skills during this tedious process. It was clear to me at the City of Mesa Council Study Session on the city budget, March 9, that the Council too saw the exceptional knowledge, administrative skills, and ability to handle tough situations as they demonstrated credibility and thoughtfull insight into their presentation of Mesa’s tri-library system. The underlying support and confidence was apparent when the Council gave them the latitude to make the decisions on hours, services and staffing within the current budget constraints. Currently, the library’s staff shortage is at 37.1 FTE. The hours chosen to remain open: 46 hours, 6 days a week, for optimum public usage, those hours posted recently. Douglas Gerlach, also a City of Mesa Library Advisory Board member, appropriately sent an email this morning expressing what we support by saying — In addition to congratulating Heather and wishing her well at last night’s Library Advisory Board meeting — we also want to express our thanks and admiration for the tireless and superb effort given by Trish Sorenson during her tenure as the Acting Director, and commend all Library personnel for their work during these challenging, if not trying times. As a frequent user of the Dobson Ranch branch, I can say that the staff there continues to be just as friendly, personable, and helpful as they were three, four, five years ago, and beyond.