More details emerge about controversial changes to Pierce County libraries
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Records and interviews show Pierce County libraries will eliminate some staff roles.
- Leaders say changes will make libraries more flexible and responsive to the community.
- Patrons and staff concerned about disruption to existing relationships and staff.
Just how different will Pierce County libraries look in 2026?
Following up on the initial news of controversial staffing changes coming to the Pierce County Library System, The News Tribune requested public records including internal emails to staff and a copy of the administration’s tentative agreement with the employees’ union. The records show that the library system is eliminating several positions and establishing a list of required programs, meaning that visitors may encounter new faces and changes in the types of activities offered for kids, teens and/or adults.
The News Tribune also confirmed these changes in interviews with library system representatives.
The News Tribune reported earlier this month that the Pierce County Library System was planning system-wide changes as part of its switch to a “regional service model.” That model, according to library spokespeople, involved dividing the library system into regions and making it possible for branches to share resources and staff within their region with more flexibility. It also meant that many staff members would need to travel to more than one branch for work throughout the week — a change which generated some concern among residents who had formed strong bonds with the staff at their local libraries, The News Tribune reported.
At a Board of Trustees meeting Jan. 14, multiple Pierce County residents spoke during public comment, sharing their concerns about the changes coming to the libraries. One resident, Meagan Rhoades, said she read The News Tribune’s reporting about the transition and disputed the library system’s statement that the new model is intended to strengthen the bond between the libraries and their community. Rhoades told The News Tribune via email that she is a long-time member of the Friends of the Buckley Library group that supports the library.
“It appears that you are considering your staff to be just another resource that can be moved around and manipulated to maximize their usefulness on paper,” Rhoades said at the meeting. “But your staff are the heart of what makes people come to the library over and over again. Your staff is what humanizes the library in a world where we can access so much in a matter of seconds.”
Neesha Patel, the chair of the Pierce County Library System board of trustees, thanked residents for sharing their concerns at the meeting Jan. 14.
“I would like to say thank you to everyone who addressed the board today,” Patel said. “... Although we cannot comment on union negotiations or personnel matters, please know your comments are heard and considered.”
Executive Director Gretchen Caserotti explained the big-picture reasoning behind the changes in an interview with The News Tribune Jan. 16. The reorganization, which has been in the works for several years, is meant to help the library system respond to changing times, particularly the increase in people using the libraries digitally rather than visiting in-person, she said.
It’s a trend hitting many library systems across the country, according to data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. From fiscal year 2008 to fiscal year 2019, the average number of U.S. public library visits per person in a year fell from 5.1 to 3.9, the data shows. The COVID-19 pandemic further spurred library systems to increase their digital offerings.
The Pierce County Library System saw their digital circulation exceed physical circulation of materials for the first time in 2024, according to an internal presentation about the reorganization Sept. 9, 2025.
“That is significant, and it is a trend that is unlikely to reverse,” Caserotti said. “We saw the huge spike during the pandemic of people moving to digital content. We’ve seen that trend continue, and ... the diminishing number of people through our doors, foot traffic .... . So all of these changes are not meant to disrupt the individual’s experience. We’re actually investing in our staff and our spaces through our strategic goals, organizational values to say: ‘How can we make the experience of coming to the library worth your time?’”
The News Tribune requested records of resignations or retirements of Customer Experience Specialists, Supervising Associates, Supervising Librarians, and Senior Librarians between Aug. 1, 2025 and Jan. 5, 2026 in a public records request. In one letter, a former employee wrote that her position was eliminated in the reorganization and said it was the primary reason she resigned.
“There are so many uncertainties about my future employment at PCLS – when my current position will end, if I will be selected for one of the new supervisory positions or if I will be demoted, if I must move to a new location, etc.,” she wrote. “Like so many PCLS employees, I chose to pursue my current position in its particular location because it is a great fit for me both professionally and personally, and it meets the needs of my career interests and my family life. I wouldn’t have sought a new position if it weren’t for the unfortunate stress and uncertainty of the CE reorg implementation process.”
The library system’s implementation of the regional staffing model began Jan. 18, according to a tentative agreement with the employees’ union that became effective Dec. 19. PCLS staff experience director Chereé Green, who has been engaged in the bargaining process, confirmed in a phone call Thursday that those dates are accurate and that the tentative agreement represents “closure” of the items listed within. The library system and union have been bargaining the impacts of these changes since the summer of 2025, she said.
Green added that per the tentative agreement, the library system will take another look in February at the changes with impacts left to bargain. She emphasized that she can’t speculate about future major changes or when the bargaining process will be complete, but noted that “2026 is our year that we are wanting to ensure these (changes) are stabilized and the open issues are good-faith bargained.”
Chuck Speece, a staff representative for the Washington State Council of County and City Employees AFSCME Council 2, also wrote in an email Thursday that the union doesn’t expect “any significant changes” to the tentative agreement.
“If, through the process of implementing the reorganization, new issues come up we will meet with library management to try and work through those issues,” Speece wrote.
Which staff positions are going away?
The reorganization will eliminate several job titles in the library system.
Libraries will no longer have clerks and specialists, spokesperson Nicole Milbradt confirmed in a phone call Jan. 15. Customer Experience Clerks provide services like checking in and out materials, emptying book drops and organizing and shelving materials, according to a job description last revised in 2019 that The News Tribune received via a public records request. Customer Experience Specialists were responsible for delivering programs, sometimes for specific audiences such as youth, teens or adults, under the direction of a librarian, according to a job description last revised in 2022.
Instead, administrators are consolidating library staff to just librarians and Customer Experience Assistants, the latter responsible primarily for customer service inside the library. CEAs can also process materials and help prepare programs, according to the Sept. 9 presentation about the reorganization.
Milbradt said the change will allow the library system to put more of their resources toward community outreach and offering more of their programs and services outside of the physical library. The Sept. 9 presentation also notes that the new structure will better differentiate roles and make the ratio of staff to supervisor more equitable across the system than before.
“Current staffing levels are not financially sustainable,” the presentation said.
The library system is also transitioning away from three supervisor positions — senior librarians, supervising librarians and supervising associates. Administrators are replacing those roles with library operations supervisors, tasked with overseeing items like payroll, facilities coordination and other in-library functions; and programs and services supervisors, responsible for representing the library at community events and overseeing regional program planning, according to job descriptions last updated Dec. 31.
The library system posted the new jobs internally and gave current employees the opportunity to apply and interview for them. The tentative agreement with the union said that “positions are not to be unreasonably withheld from qualified candidates.”
Milbradt said that “the library is trying to create pathways for current staff to move into other positions.”
“We’ve created a library and training position, for example, that would allow specialists who are pursuing a Master’s of Library and Information Science degree to serve in that position while they’re doing their education,” she said. “There have also been additional assistance positions available.”
She confirmed that the staffing changes will help save on payroll costs. The News Tribune previously learned from Somer Hanson, another library spokesperson, that PCLS is facing a structural deficit due to rising costs and the state’s cap on property tax collections. The library system’s 2026 budget is $51.43 million.
Milbradt clarified that the structural deficit didn’t cause the reorganization, which was already in progress, but said that “it’s true that the reorganization will change the number of PCLS employees” as the library system considers whether to fill vacated positions.
“Technically speaking, that number’s changing across the board because we try to evaluate every position that’s vacated and consider whether or not it’s something the library may want to transition away from and if it can be done more efficiently or differently,” she said. “So we always look at openings through that lens to make sure that we’re being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars.”
The library system doesn’t know what the total decrease will be over the course of the reorganization, “but it definitely will decrease, which will result in the cost savings,” she added.
Concerns remain about disruption to existing patrons
The shake-up has raised concern among residents like Beth Elliott, a longtime patron of the DuPont library.
“We in DuPont have had a steady and consistent presence of library staff for many years,” Elliott wrote in a public comment submission to the Board of Trustees Jan. 2, which she shared with The News Tribune. “Our library director has been here at least 18 years. The longevity of our staff helps to strengthen bonds in our community. These dedicated staff members have come to know their patrons and understand what our community likes and appreciates.”
Elliott said in a phone call Wednesday that she would have liked to see the library system collect more input from the community before making the changes.
“I mean, I think since the libraries are such an embedded part of our communities, that these people should have at least a voice in how changes are going to be made,” she said.
Caserotti told The News Tribune that she and the library system are keeping track of the feedback they’re getting.
“So my hope would be that the community would be willing to give us a chance, and that we will check in with these folks,” she said. “I keep a list. I’ve responded individually, or someone has responded to every email, every phone call.”
While she didn’t have details yet, she also said the library system plans more opportunities to hear from patrons in general in 2026, including via surveys, focus groups and community meetings.
Are book clubs or other programs going away?
The library system is instituting a set of required programs across their branches, a change that may affect some existing activities.
The News Tribune learned through a Microsoft Teams message thread Oct. 23, received as part of the public records request, that some library branches were considering discontinuing their book clubs due to a lack of staff capacity.
“Sadly here at (South Hill) we no longer have the capacity to run book clubs due to the new Core Programming rules,” one employee wrote. “I will be informing both of my book clubs next month and I am sure some of my members are going to be asking if there are any locations in the system that are continuing their book clubs on into 2026.”
Caserotti confirmed in an email that members of the South Hill Library book club “had been meeting for several years when staff made the decision to conclude the library‑sponsored, staff‑led format.”
“This decision was based on sustainability and participation, not core programming standards,” Caserotti wrote.
“We continue to welcome and support community‑led book clubs in our spaces, and we remain committed to providing meaningful, engaging opportunities for readers throughout Pierce County.”
In libraries where staff don’t have the capacity to run a book club, librarians will be able to support “community-led book clubs” led by patrons, Milbradt said. In these groups, librarians won’t be able to facilitate the discussion, but can help patrons book rooms, access library materials and point them to resources for book discussion questions.
The change appears to be part of a wider shift across the system in how the library wants staff to allocate their time. It might not be the best use of a librarian’s time to spend hours preparing and leading a book discussion if the group’s main purpose is for social connection and belonging, Caserotti said. Instead, she said, the library system can empower community members to lead the group on their own, or a librarian could spend time designing a book club specifically for people with disabilities and work with community partners to do that.
“Again, the model is designed to be really flexible for meeting those community needs,” said Caserotti.
Meanwhile, the library system is instituting a set of “Core Program Requirements” for kids, teens and adults, across all regions of the library system. The purpose is to “provide a consistent and quality experience for our public,” an overview document that Milbradt shared with The News Tribune said. The list includes story time and play time for kids, the Summer Reading Program, the teen Discord server and personal finance and health programs for adults, among many others.
Milbradt said that the library system will be able to save money by sharing resources and kits for certain core programs, like robotics classes, across locations.
Library branches that want to offer programs specialized to their communities will be able to go through their regional program planning teams to get approval for them, she wrote in an email.
