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King County Library System

Is this your company?

Good mission, excellent outward service; horrible internal structure and culture. - Anonymous employee King County Library System Employee Review

1.0
31 July 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The staff at service level (in branches around the county) are generally a fantastic group and the leadership out there is connected to their staff. If you want to work with KCLS, work in the branches and avoid the Service Center.

Cons

Plagued by an overabundance of leaders and supervisors who are ineffective, out of touch, backwards and rigidly adhere to a 1970s-esque view of how business should be done and its employees used. The central leadership and supervisory team is staffed by exactly the people you don't want in leadership roles. Each considers themselves an independent silo and their work more important than the work of other teams or departments. Internal culture and progress as an organization is stymied by lip service towards better working environments, better delineation of work, and greater workplace diversity, but zero action is ever taken. The perpetual promise of a better day coming down the road as they continue to downsize already overworked departments, and start committees and projects that by their own admission, will ultimately go no where. Most staff in the central administration building, the Service Center, keep their head down as much as possible, but higher profile positions tend to be continually overworked and overburdened with "special cases" and "just this once"'s and "no, this is more important", followed quickly by admonishment for not handling workload properly. All that stacked onto a network of middle management that is not accountable to their own supervisors and given free-reign to issue punitive measures as they see fit. If you want an employer with ongoing and open hostility between leadership and your union, ineffective HR leadership, ineffective and mistake riddled Payroll department, a sexist and homophobic Facilities department, a petty and controlling Graphics department, a toxic Cataloging department, and then come home only to find you no longer have the emotional more mental energy to support a healthy home life? -- KCLS is for you. If you want to grow in your career, build bridges, make a difference, and have opportunities for networking with other excited professionals in your filed, you may want to look elsewhere. Or at least get in, get what you need (benefits? decent pay?) and then get out when something even marginally better comes along.

Explore other reviews about King County Library System

5.0
2 June 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

quiet calm environment flexible hours

Cons

Not great if you prefer a lot going on around you

3.0
5 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- My direct manager is great. And the managers in my region are all really kind and supportive. - Friendly and helpful coworkers. - Pays a living wage (although the starting wage could be more livable, it is one of the most expensive cities in the country after all). - Great benefits on the whole, especially the medical insurance and pension if you stay for at least five years. - Some people will view this as a con, but I like that we work one weekend day and in exchange get one weekday off. It helps me have time to run errands and do things that are only open on weekdays, like go to the pharmacy or see my therapist. It was hard at first but you get used to it. - If you work in the library branches, your start time is anywhere from around 9:30 to around 11:30. So if you're not a morning person, this schedule might be a great fit for you. And if you are a morning person and you like getting things done for work, it might be good for you too.

Cons

- Almost no opportunities to move up or grow your career professionally. They hire externally a lot more than they hire from within, so if you're getting your MLIS degree and you work at KCLS, expect that you'll need to move out of state to get your first librarian job. They don't want to hire anyone who hasn't already been a librarian. The same is true for service center positions. Apparently there's a team working on internal development opportunities, but I'm not exactly sure what they do all day. - Senior leadership and people at service center do things without consulting people at the branches, and send emails notifying you of significant changes or programs with one business day's notice. - HR is notoriously slow at responding to email requests. They haven’t got the time of day to pay attention to their internal customers. They could learn a thing or two from people in other departments, like IT. - Expect to have to do a fair amount of masking at work, especially if you are neurodivergent. - The Public Services Assistant job is pretty boring to be honest. Expect to spend a lot of time staring into space while you look for something to do. There's not enough work to go around, but they need enough staff at any given time in case something goes down with patron behavior, and so that staff don't get burnt out on the desk. But if you're someone who likes staying busy, having something to do at all times, and being mentally challenged in your work, then you may find this job very psychologically difficult and boring. Boreout is a real thing. - You'll get off work late, some days at 8pm or later.

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