An important community resource - Assistant Circulation Clerk Madison County Public Library Employee Review

Wonderful environment! The people are amazing and welcoming, and the library does an abundance of good work for the community.

More people should know about the wonder resource and place that is the their library.

There are a few good managers and employees who could improve this place if they ever get the opportunity for career advancement.

This is physically and emotionally demanding work where you get very little support or communication from upper management. There's low pay and few chances for staff development and advancement. You'll spend all day standing or dealing with uncomfortable situations, and they'll thank you by giving you the job title of "circulation assistant" when you're effectively a reference librarian just so they can justify paying you less. If you want health insurance through them, you better be a single person household because they cover dependents at 0%. If you manage to stay for five years or get a $30,000 master's degree you'll only get a 2% raise. Oh, and speaking of that master's degree, prepare to not use any of it because this place does not function like a proper library. They run this place like a business, and will make dubious and unethical decisions to meet their KPIs. They'll find ways to covertly censor books that are controversial, like hiding them from their catalog system, boxing them up and putting them in an office, or moving kids books to the adult section where they'll inevitably not circulate and be weeded for poor performance. They're terrified of any backlash or media attention, but they alienate themselves from groups like the ALA and local organizations that would support them if they ever stood up for intellectual freedom. Their policies are woefully out of date and often aren't followed to the letter, especially in the case of their collection development policies where they don't disclose that they were using a website that was allegedly tied to Mom's for Liberty to help them make their decisions, and their laissez-faire approach to handling challenged materials without filing proper paperwork.