The council says it is unaware of any job losses at this stage, but the Local Democracy Reporting Service has information which suggests that at least twenty mainly experienced, staff are to leave the service in the coming weeks. Five staff are expected to leave Swanage library alone, ranging from management level to part-time, to be replaced by some on lower grades with the library halving its opening hours on Saturdays, said to be the most popular day of the week for families. Those leaving at the Swanage library have between them clocked up more than sixty years of service.
New staff being employed from now on will have different job descriptions to existing staff to encompass a wider work role on pay grades between £23,893 and £25,119 for full-time posts, pro-rata for part-time positions. The new positions, described as “library customer advisor”, include dealing with inquiries from the public about Dorset Council business as well as traditional library roles. Complaints have arisen among library staff about the whole process of re-designing the service, which was started by the previous Conservative administration at County Hall.
“Staff had to re-apply for their jobs which was very stressful and some fell by the wayside,” said a close friend of one West Dorset librarian who is giving up her part-time job. Several existing staff have been offered new positions, but not necessarily where they previously worked, one being asked to travel around 40 miles a day to w.
