The Library hasn’t ruled out reducing opening hours as part of its savings task but it has rejected claims it influenced an independent consultant’s report in order to cut a series of on-site education programs.

In a letter to the state’s public sector union, obtained by InDaily, State Library SA director Geoff Strempel concedes the planned cuts, saying “it is difficult to be in a position where reductions to services are required to meet the Library’s reduced budget allocation”.

“The proposed changes have been developed with due consideration of their impacts on the operations and reputation of the Library, the impact on staff and the impact on our customers,” he says.

He lists proposed changes as including “ceasing targeted learning programs for primary school aged students; changing the structure and resourcing for the People and Information Management Team; reducing the opening hours of the library – both after 5 pm and before 9 am; reducing the number of staff on service counters and from within the retrieval team (and) reduction of expenditure on published collections”.

“The Libraries Board acknowledge that some of these changes will reduce services to the public,” he writes.

“The proposed changes will lead to a reduction in the Library’s expenditure, leading to a balanced budget position – an outcome the Libraries Board is required to deliver.”

Strempel argues “it is clear that while online use of the Library’s resources continues to grow, physical attendance and use of collections in-house has seen an ongoing reduction”.

“With scarce resources available to run the Library the Executive team has worked with the Libraries Board to align resource allocation to both strategic intention and customer use patterns,” he writes.

The Public Service Association has slammed the decision as “short-sighted”, telling InDaily the “nationally recognised” education programs were delivered to thousands of SA children each year from kindergarten to Year 10.

The union said the programs provide an important introduction to the library and its role as a lifelong learning resource.

The PSA said the value of the programs – which it says have been adopted by other states – was confirmed in a draft report by independent education consultant Mandi Dimitriadis commissioned by the Library to review its education programs.

However the PSA claims the report was reviewed by the Library before being released for consultation, with amendments subsequently made, and says arguments in favour of retaining the programs were erased in the final version.

it smacked of being very tricky, trying to pass off a doctored report as independent advice

InDaily has seen a copy of the final report and a draft report with tracked changes suggesting alterations.

In an email, Dimitriadis told InDaily she “completed the work for the State Library as requested”, acting “in my role as an independent education consultant”.

“I submitted a draft report based on my initial findings,” she wrote.

“I was then asked to address some subsequent questions… which I submitted as an additional document.”

In a statement, a State Library spokesperson “categorically” rejected the union’s “allegations regarding the integrity of the report provided by an outside consultant, and the conduct of (the) library…”.

However, an email exchange between Dimitriadis and the Library seen by InDaily suggests the report’s author did raise concerns about proposed changes to her initial draft.

I wouldn’t want to be seen to be changing my professional judgements without due cause

She was advised the Library had “reviewed the first draft of the report… and added a lot of comments”.

“How do you want to tackle this? Would you like to have a face to face meeting … to go through our suggested changes or do you want to see the marked up document first off?” she was asked.

The email said the Library “would like the recommendations to be able to inform decisions – not say we have a decision to make”.

It notes an “original purpose of review” was “to recognise the strengths of the current model of program delivery, including learning activities & programs, delivery methods, pedagogical practices, user experience, learning outcomes, and reach” as well as “to identify opportunities to build on the current model to broaden access for learners across the state, maximise the impact of available resources, and strengthen the position of the organisation as an innovative, relevant, accessible, and engaging enabler of learning throughout the South Australian community”.

In response, Dimitriadis writes: “I am very keen to make sure that the report is useful for the State Library and is presented in a way that meets your needs and I am happy to work with you on this.”

“I do want to approach the work carefully, as I wouldn’t want to be seen to be changing my professional judgements without due cause,” she adds.

She suggests “two ways I would be happy to proceed”, either “the report is published as being co-authored by the SLSA… and myself or… I rework the report based on a clearer understanding of the SLSA’s objectives for reviewing its education functions”.

“I think the second option is probably preferable, but am happy to support whatever works best for the organisation,” she says, offering to meet “to get more clarity about the objectives for the review, and the goals the SLSA would like to achieve through its education services”.

InDaily contacted Strempel to ask about program cuts and received a response from the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s office confirming the education programs would be “discontinued”.

In a statement attributed to a State Library spokesperson, the response said “like many government agencies and statutory authorities, the State Library is required to achieve savings targets”.

“To do so, the library is reviewing a range of its activities,” the statement said.

“The State Library had – prior to any savings target being set – called for a review into the Community Learning Team’s programs, and determined that for a range of factors these programs would be discontinued.”

PSA general secretary Natasha Brown said: “This action severely compromised any consultation with our members — it smacked of being very tricky, trying to pass off a doctored report as independent advice.”

“The State Library is now looking for another excuse to justify the outcome it always wanted,” she said.

The PSA said three staff would lose their jobs as a result of the program cuts and accused the Library of meanwhile spending money on “lavish overseas travel” and reclassifying middle management employees to higher-paying senior management level.

Strempel appears to confirm staff “reclassifications” in his letter to the union, saying: “This process was initiated at the request of some staff who sought an assessment of their roles and responsibilities against their classification.”

“This is a legitimate HR process available to all staff,” he writes.

“An independent assessor was engaged to undertake the process, with the outcome being that some but not all staff in scope were identified as being entitled to a reclassification (not promotion)…

“In recognition of the increasing complexity of the work of the library, since 2018 at least fifteen non-management roles have been reclassified.  A number of promotional positions, particularly at PO2 level have also been created, advertised internally and won by existing staff.  These changes (excluding the management positions) have provided reclassifications or promotions to over 20% of the State Library staff.

“These are necessary changes to recognise the work of staff whose roles have become more complex, or where new supervisory positions have been determined as necessary.  It would be inappropriate and unacceptable to under-pay staff and under-classify positions because of budget pressures.”

Brown said the cuts to the education programs meant South Australia would be the only state in Australia not to have a program that introduces “the wonders of learning” and what a library can offer through an interactive face-to-face experience.

“We believe this is very short-sighted and they have their priorities all wrong,” she said.

“The frontline, public facing staff of the Library and the programs they provide are one of the Library’s greatest assets.”

Brown said the staff affected by these proposed changes were invited to provide feedback to Dimitriadis to inform her report, but the final report did not reflect the feedback they had contributed as part of the review process.

She said the cost-cutting measures would also see the library’s weekday opening hours reduced, to open from 9am instead of 8am and close at 5pm Monday to Friday.

Currently the Library is open until 7pm on Mondays and Tuesdays.

“This severely affects accessibility to this vital community service to all but those who live or work in the city, and again ignores the importance of promoting our cultural precinct as an essential public service for all South Australians,” Brown said.

But Strempel, in his letter to the PSA, said “data regarding use of the Library after 5pm and before 9am indicates that there is very low use of the Library in these times”.

“Therefore, these proposed changes to opening hours (when compared to other options) will have minimal impact on the broad base of Library users while generating considerable savings,” he wrote.

A spokesperson for Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said: “The State Library is investigating a range of options to meet its budget requirements. None of these have been finalised.”

Asked for the dollar-value of the Library’s cuts, a State Library spokesperson cited savings measures detailed in this year’s state budget, which “have been allocated proportionately across the portfolio budget”.

“The boards or governing authorities of the statutory authorities and major organisations will determine how they achieve savings as part of their budget setting process,” the spokesperson said.

“The nine programs currently being run by the Community Learning Team are being discontinued due to a range of factors, including declining use and ensuring resources are effectively distributed across all of the library’s services.

‘The State Library is reviewing further possible budget savings measures. None have been finalised.”

EDUCATION PROGRAMS EXPECTED TO BE CUT:

• Explore – a – story
• My History
• Our changing environment
• The opposite of bored
• Pop ups and moveable books
• The great air race
• Colonial SA
• Suffragettes
• Theatre Inside the eBook