Ahead of the 2026 budget season, AFSCME Local 1215’s executive board asked our members to tell us how understaffing affects their work and well-being. Many of these stories are being shared on our Instagram, and you can help pressure the city to support the library by following us and liking, reposting and boosting our stories. You can also use our Action Network tool to write to the Mayor, library Commissioner and your alder about what the library means to you, and what you will lose if they cut positions and funding.
Several staff were comfortable sharing their experiences with the name of their branch included. This post collects those stories, so you may learn more about how the library workers that make your branch work are struggling behind the scenes. If you don’t see your branch represented here, that’s because most staff wish to remain anonymous. A post with their stories is now available.
Skip to your branch:
Avalon
Bezazian
Beverly
Chicago Bee
Clearing
Douglass
Harold Washington Library Center
King
South Shore
Sulzer
Woodson
Avalon
“For the first time in years, every position at my branch is filled. On days where that is a reality we can do amazing things: host a fall festival, provide multiple programs in a day, complete outreach. Outreach makes a difference – I meet kids who recognize me from their school or a back-to-school night, and they get excited when they know me. But just as often, staff from my location are pulled to other branches to cover *their* shortages. When we then end up with people on vacation, out on medical leave, or just plain needing a sick day, we can no longer cover our own shortages. Suddenly all those planned programs start getting cancelled just so we can maintain our daily operations.”
Bezazian
“Our branch has been perpetually understaffed for at least four years. The Bezazian Branch is open, like all other branches, 7 days a week. Normally we provide constant and reliable services to the City with only 3-4 employees a day. This allows NO room for illness, family emergencies, etc. It is a terrific strain on staff who are constantly performing duties that should be shared by AT LEAST 6-7 employees daily.
Because of the stellar and dedicated work of everyone who operates this branch, the public rarely experiences any kind of inconvenience or disruption. We work very hard to make sure that we maintain high standards, but with lack of attention to staffing issues and even more funding/budget cuts, we’re not sure that the public will not be affected. There is only so much that library staff can be asked to do with little to no support and funding.
We hear from the public how much they love and value library service. Hardly anyone realizes that the Chicago Public Library has been working with this staffing shortage for over 10 years. This is simply not sustainable. Any layoffs/budget crunching that occur will cause the public to suffer. We ask the City to fund this valuable and needed resource and to give us the staffing levels to manage our work and maintain quality services for the community.
Cities fund what they value. During the Pandemic, Libraries were the last to close down and the first to open before anyone at the City went back to work. We were deemed ‘essential workers.’ But it seems we’re essential only when it is convenient. If this is true, and Chicago feels that the library system and its workers are essential, they will show it in their funding. Deeds, not words.”
Beverly
“Beverly has not been fully staffed for at least five years – possibly longer, but who would know with constant turnover? For a full year, we had no adult librarian, only a head clerk and one page, which meant the two children’s librarians spent a majority of their time covering the Reference or Circulation desks.
Having two children’s librarians is sorely needed. After school, the branch is full of neighborhood kids hanging out and getting homework help, and the popularity of the library as a safe space to be after school is growing. But staff turnover happens so frequently with long gaps between promotions and new hires starting that there are entire semesters of the school year with just one children’s librarian to serve kids and teens.
On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, it is normal to have only three staff scheduled – usually one for reference, one for circulation, and a page. Believe it or not, after school kids STILL come to the library on Fridays! Reference staff have to ping pong between managing behavior in the children’s area and providing computer help in the adult area. And if an incident occurs, they’re the person in charge.
Our time and energy is finite. We can’t have daily programs, school outreach, build rapport with teens and tweens, and nonstop reference interactions without burning out. All of these things require preparation and material support.
Fully staffing CPL is the bare minimum – imagine what branches could do if they actually had the staff to say yes to new partnerships, yes to more school visits and daycare visits, yes to showing up in the community for special events, and yes to developing new ways to engage patrons in the branch.”
Chicago Bee
“We cannot lose more CPL employees and/or positions! Almost every branch is already short staffed and yet City government is expecting us to continue to provide all library services to the people of Chicago. How can we do that if we barely have any staff? CPL staff already do so much for the people of Chicago. We are basically teachers, social workers, counselors and so much more! If we lose more employees, we won’t be able to give our patrons the quality programs and services that we provide.
For a while we only had two full-time clerks and no part-time clerks, so we were very short-staffed in that aspect. One week in September, both our full-time clerks were out. We had no clerks for that whole week. The librarians and the pages had to sit on the desk to cover. I had to cancel a program that week because I had to cover the circulation desk.
We now have one part-time clerk, but we are still missing another one. If the city cuts more CPL jobs or lays off CPL employees, we won’t have enough staff to run our branch, and we will have to close. So, for the sake of our employees, our patrons and our city, PLEASE DON’T CUT OUR JOBS OR LAYOFF OUR EMPLOYEES!”
Clearing
“Cutting budgets and cutting staff will mean that our most vulnerable patrons may lose out on services that they need to succeed in the future. In the 26 years I have worked at the library, I have seen thousands of people receive services. Some are more traditional services such as checking out a book. Others may be more unconventional like helping an unhoused person find a location to take a shower.”
“How do you put a dollar amount on a preschool story time? Is it by the number of people who attend? The number of books that get checked out? The number of books read? Songs sung? Smiles?
Bringing preschoolers together in a safe, happy setting and sharing songs, stories and experiences is a bridge to their future. Showing these children and their adults the fun, the laughs and the learning that can happen around a book is watching them grow. They learn new words. They develop the ability to predict. They learn to stop and start activities. They learn to share a space and navigate that space with their peers. They show their adults what they like. They often share their words. Watching a crawler become a toddler, become a walker, is magical and a gift. Watching a baby, a toddler, and then a preschooler develop speech, imitate sounds, form words, and say words with meaning is the very beginning of their education.
Some of the adults do these activities at home but many do not. Bringing a child to story time shows parents different ways to engage their child; to interact and develop confidence. Many new parents are nervous that they are doing everything right. Coming together with other parents gives them a safe, FREE, non-judgmental space to share stories, ask and offer advice, share resources and develop parental friendships.
Many families do not have the financial resources to seek activities for their children outside of the library. The library gives them a place to try new things for free! All it takes is an investment of their time.
Why would our Mayor take these services away from the citizens of Chicago? If you want an educated, invested and progressive city, you must help provide these services for our youngest of citizens.
Our school age children may not have a library at their school or at their home. Teachers arranging field trips to introduce their students to the library is bridging a huge parental gap in making lifelong learners. Many children are not brought to the library by their families. Once they come for a visit with their classroom, they get to explore and experience all the library has to offer and want to come back with their families! A librarian having the time to visit a classroom, attend a literacy night, science night, back-to-school night or a parent meeting again tells these families all that is available for them for free as citizens of Chicago.
If we cut staff, many of these occurrences will have to end, as keeping enough staff in the building will become the priority. Yes, the library will be open BUT we can’t bring or introduce the library to those who can not visit the library on their own. We will just be keeping our doors open.
Why are you threatening to take away the most critical of resources for families at a time when our city is already suffering? We cannot do more with less. We will be forced to make extremely hard choices that will affect our future generations. Chicago will suffer without full services available at ALL Chicago Public Library locations. We keep children reading, learning and discovering in every neighborhood in Chicago.”
Douglass
“Unreliable security and ignored incident reports have led to two staff members being assaulted in the last year. These incidents were ignored and not shared with staff and the greater system wide email. Acting like these assaults never happened put us in danger. We are unable to do our job with a sense of safety.”
Harold Washington Library Center
“It’s already very difficult to keep Harold Washington Library open. As staff retires or move on, new positions are not being filled. Librarians are expected to staff public service points for over half their days, in addition to managing large collections and offering programming and in-depth archival research help at one of the largest libraries in the country.
Many of the patrons we serve have major, pressing needs that would be best met by a long-term social worker, but we do the best we can. I really care about my job and want to offer the people of Chicago useful resources and programming to meet their material, social, intellectual and creative needs. It breaks my heart that Chicago Public Library could be doing so much for our patrons but we’re forced to do less and less each year as demand increases and our budget and staff shrink.“
“My department runs very smoothly during the weeks that we are fully staffed. However, due to understaffing in the rest of the building, members of our department are frequently lent out to other departments. (I would say at least once a week but many weeks it happens multiple times.) While we are happy to help, it creates stress for the staff in our department, especially in the event of, say, a colleague calling out or being on vacation—events that have been planned for when our schedules are made and would otherwise not cause a strain. As our department is very patron interaction heavy, the absence of any staff member affects the workload of everyone else and does not leave the room we need to address any emergencies that arise.
What I would like to emphasize is that even if only one department or branch is understaffed, it affects the ability of other departments or branches to function. It causes the understaffed department to receive assistance that cannot be of the same caliber work as what someone who is familiar with their department can provide. I can say this with certainty after being paired up with another sub a few weeks ago, on a floor on which neither of us knew the layout of the floor by heart! When a department is understaffed it hurts the productivity of the entire building!”
King
“I’m honestly so tired of being short staffed. It feels like I’m doing the work of two or three people, and it’s just too much. I’m overworked, stressed, and honestly, I don’t feel appreciated for how hard I’ve been trying to hold everything together. It’s frustrating giving your all and still feeling like it’s never enough. I love what I do, but this constant pressure is draining me.”
South Shore
“Because we only have 7 full-time equivalent staffing our branch 7 days a week, there are often times when we are very short staffed. When we only have 3 staff members (e.g. a reference librarian and two clerks), CPL management won’t send us any assistance, despite having an overtime list to draw help from. This means that the reference librarian will have to be on shift for the entire day, and there will be no reference when they are at lunch. And if they have a program to do that day, there will be no reference then, either. The reverse is also true if there is only 1 clerk – they will have to be on desk for the entire day, only getting relief for their lunch break.
Our patrons deserve to have the services their taxes pay for when they come into the library. If they arrive when there is no reference person on duty, should they really be expected to wait until that person is back from lunch or finished with their program to get the services that they need? How is that providing the excellent customer service that CPL demands that staff provide for patrons?”
Sulzer
“I have worked at Bucktown-Wicker Park which was incredibly understaffed in 2023-2024. My schedule changed every week, and since I had the lowest seniority, I could barely see my family since there was no coverage if I left. I’m currently at Sulzer but am getting detailed to Mayfair because they are so understaffed in 2025. They don’t even have enough staff to cover all days of the week.
It’s not the easiest to get there, and getting detailed has put financial restraints on me. I have to spend more of my paycheck on gas and vehicle upkeep, and as a full time clerk, I already don’t get paid that much. Not to mention that the workload becomes unbearable, leaving staff not able to focus on patron needs as much as anyone would like. There is significant mental and physical stress asked of staff.
Woodson
Content Warning: Brief mentions of violence, including gun violence
“I’ve worked in the library system for eight years, and from the beginning I’ve enjoyed being able to help people, especially the youth patrons I’ve served as a library associate and now as a librarian. Since childhood, I’ve dreamed of serving my community and was inspired to become a librarian by a mentor.
However, I have to admit that not everyone understands the type of work I do. Many people think I just sit at a desk, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that some city officials feel the same way. It’s disheartening because not many people realize how hard library workers have worked to establish programs, events, collections, and spaces that promote the ideal that everyone is welcome.
The library has become a safety net for the city, hosting pilot programs such as municipal ID sign-up events, Narcan distribution, COVID vaccination clinics, and more. But my question is where is our safety net? Our teams keep getting smaller and smaller, with no new hires coming to support us.
As a librarian, my day always begins with hope because I never know what’s going to happen. There have been situations where parents left their underage children at the branch, a patron threatened to shoot staff, and even a man was killed across the street. As a teen librarian, I constantly think about the safety of the youth I serve. How do I tell a teen to be careful when nearly every other day there’s a crime in our library’s community?
I try my best every day to keep the teens I work with focused on the positive aspects of life. Supporting them means offering social, mental, and informational resources. I create book groups centered on “what ifs” and “what could be” rather than the harsh realities of living in a city that doesn’t always protect its youth. When a teen comes to me after being attacked by a peer after school, I sit down with them and we make art together. It becomes a way for them to express pain and find a safe space. When a teen wanted to sit with me because their foster parent was at work we read manga and practiced drawing characters for hours.
I’ve been in too many situations where I’ve had to pull a book from the shelves that relates to a young person’s trauma, just to help them feel seen and understood. It’s my duty to serve the public, and although I use these situations as examples, I’m not seeking pity or an escape. I’m simply hoping for real breaks on days when we’re short-staffed so I can return to serving the youth as my complete and energized self.
There have been so many days when I’ve wondered: when will the value of what we do finally be recognized? It takes time, energy, preparation, skill, and care to run a library branch. My department isn’t fully staffed right now, but I wish it were because then the youth and adults of this city would receive the full benefits of what a library and its workers can offer.
No matter what decisions are made regarding our future, I will continue to work my hardest to provide a welcoming space and a positive attitude to every patron. It’s only right.”