Masterton District Council [MDC] has completed a restructure of the Wairarapa Archive and Masterton District Library that has resulted in three redundancies and two new roles across the facilities.
The three roles that were disestablished as part of the process were those of the archive assistant manager, library assistant manager, and children and youth services librarian.
“A new content and access manager role will be responsible for the technical and or back-of-house functions of both the archive and library,” MDC general manager of communities Corin Haines told the Times-Age.
“A new community services manager will also be responsible for delivering customer service at the archive and library.
“The restructuring is focused on the library and archive functions only.”
Haines said the restructure was due to a decision to create a more “service-oriented model” that he believes will strengthen the alignment of the library and archive activities that will, in turn, result in the delivery of agreed-upon levels of service.
The three people whose jobs had been restructured were invited to apply for the two new roles, and it’s understood the positions have now been filled. However, it is unclear if either of the roles has been taken by those who lost their jobs or by other internal or external applicants.
MDC declined to comment about concerns expressed anonymously to the Times-Age that the loss of the archive assistant manager – who had “decades of experience” – will have “a terrible effect” on the archive: “Details of any employee roles impacted significantly by an organisational change process are confidential and subject to the normal privacy related to employment matters.”
However, Haines has provided an assurance that the library will retain “three experienced specialist archive staff” who will be on hand to help anyone using their services.
He also confirmed that the restructuring decision was not related to the library plans set out in MDC’s Long-Term Plan.
