Library Friends May Gain Larger Role In Director Evaluation

Jones Library News Highlights For The Week of April 10, 2022

Personnel Committee Recommends Friends Have Separate Form For Rating Director
The Jones Library Personnel, Policy and Planning (PPP) Committee met on April 12 to recommend to the Trustees an evaluation process for the Library Director.  Performance evaluations typically help determine the employee’s annual salary adjustment.

Commenting on the proposed evaluation policy that calls for soliciting input from staff and the public, PPP Chair Tamson Ely expressed concern that “the ‘Friends’ are not mentioned as a separate entity.”  “They’re not just the general public,” she said.

Ely was referring to the Friends of the Jones Library, a non-profit organization of volunteers and supporters who raise money for programs and items that are not covered by the Library’s budget.  The group’s generosity is readily apparent: the Library’s FY23 operating budget calls for fundraising activities to generate $175,000 in revenue. However, the relationship between the Friends and the Jones Library has come under fire in the past, due to its lack of transparency and public oversight, and its influence over library direction.  The Friends are not subject to the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law and rely on a web presence maintained by the Jones Library.  The Friends receive donations collected in the library lobby but are not required to provide a public accounting.

Among the most dedicated of the Friends of the Jones Library is the current Capital Campaign Chair Kent Faerber.  An accomplished professional fundraiser, Faerber has served as Secretary for Development and Alumni Relations at Amherst College and is former president of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.  Faerber has also proven adept at leveraging political advocacy to advance library aims.  He chaired the Vote Yes For The Jones Library ballot committee leading up to the 2021 building project referendum, sits on the leadership team of the political action committee Amherst Forward, and has served as chairman of library trustees Austin Sarat’s and Tamson Ely’s election campaigns.

During a tribute at the December Board of Trustees meeting, Sarat described the genesis of the $36.3 million Jones Library renovation/expansion project as occurring when Faerber convened “a small group of die-hards under the idea of Jones Library for everyone.”  Faerber and his associates succeeded in landing a $13.9 million state grant for the project, but at the same time committed the Town of Amherst to providing at least $16 million from the capital budget.  The library building is not owned by the town but by The Jones Library, Inc.

Library Director Sharon Sharry’s salary is paid for out of the Town of Amherst’s annual contribution to the library of more than $2 million which comprises close to 80% of the operating budget.  According to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners website, in 2018 Sharry earned the highest library director salary in Hampshire County, 19% higher than second highest, that of Northampton’s Forbes Library director. GovSalaries.com reports that between 2018 and 2020, Sharry’s compensation rose by 10.4%.

At the PPP meeting Sharry explained that the Friends currently use the same online form as the community at large to comment on the director’s performance.  Ely argued that a separate category and form should be formally created for the Friends of the Jones Library.  Committee member Farah Ameen concurred.  Their recommendation will be presented for approval at the next Board of Trustees meeting on April 27.