The Pima County Public Library is undergoing a period of change with a new director, expanded hours and continued efforts to rebuild its workforce.
This fall marks one year since Arizona Luminaria’s coverage of the library’s proposal to close or shrink several branches to address staff burnout and vacancies sparked renewed public attention on the future of the library system. Since then, the county has increased the library’s budget, added new positions and plans to expand hours at eight locations in the coming year — a step toward restoring pre-pandemic levels.
The library has a multi-faceted role in Tucson’ s community. It provides free COVID-19 tests and a cool place to stay amid the month of punishing summer heat; the library also provides personalized reading recommendations and curates specific reading opportunities like cookbook lists for vegetarians.
Here are some of the latest updates from the library system:
Plans to add more librarians
Expanding libraries without accompanying staff growth has squeezed Pima County library staffing numbers and operations, according to an Oct. 3 memo from Pima County administrator Jan Lesher on library staffing notes.
From Fiscal Year 2015 to Fiscal Year 2020, the library had the equivalent of 390 full-time positions, with a total of 405 budgeted positions. Since Fiscal Year 2021 through 2026, the system has had an average of 364 full time positions. That is “well below the staffing levels required to meet the service expectations of the Pima County Public Library District,” said Lesher’s memo.
That’s caused in part by the library district building new facilities and major expansions without requesting accompanying staff positions, including 36 positions to support doubling the size of the Martha Cooper Library and increasing the Sahuarita Library from 2,000 to 17,000 square feet.
New library director Tess Mayer did not give additional information about why the positions were not requested, but did say in one case the pandemic disrupted plans to increase staffing in Fiscal Year 2021.
Over time, the library also lost more positions than it could fill, partly because of a county policy that eliminated any position left open for 280 days or more and because the human resources team lacked capacity to move hiring ahead quickly.
In the past year the library system has addressed these concerns by adding four additional positions to its human resources team to work on recruitment. That has helped positions be filled more quickly.
The library received a budget increase for Fiscal Year 2026 to add 40 positions. There is also a proposal on the table for county supervisors to consider an increase in the library’s tax rate.
Still, Lesher’s memo sounds a note of urgency on library staffing.
“The Library District continues to face a critical need for additional staff to make up for the deficit that has emerged in the past five years,” it says. “Increasing the FTE [full time equivalent positions] count is essential not only to restoring service hours across the libraries but also to meeting community expectations for high-quality library services.”
Main library move inching ahead
Plans to relocate Tucson’s main library branch downtown are moving forward after the county purchased a new building this summer.
The Tucson Public Library started out on the top floor of city hall in 1883; then, with the help of a $25,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie, was moved to Sixth Avenue — the current home of the Children’s Museum.
It was only in May 1990 that the main library moved into its current home at the site of the Jácome’s Department Store on Stone Avenue, and was named in honor of former Tucson City Manager Joel D. Valdez.
Now, following months of discussion about the need to find a new building amid structural issues and millions of dollars in projected repairs, the library is in the initial stages of its move into the Wells Fargo Building across the street.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted this summer on a contract to purchase the Wells Fargo building for $6.2 million to serve as the new main library branch.
County staff now has possession of the key for the Wells Fargo Building, said Mayer, and are in the process of selecting an architecture firm for the new library location. Once that firm is selected, the library system will create a timeline.
Weekend library hours
The library system will increase open hours to six days a week at eight library locations, part of a broader effort to slowly bring libraries back to their pre-COVID hours through incremental staff growth. Which library locations will be prioritized for expanded hours has not yet been decided, said library director Mayer.
In 2020, Pima County reopened its libraries after several months of closures, but kept limited hours at many branches. A slew of librarians retired in that period as well.
Those library hours have been slowly increased over the years.
As of October 2025, Dewhirst-Catalina, Dusenberry-River, El Rio, Joel D. Valdez, Frank De La Cruz-El Pueblo, Joyner-Green Valley, Sam Lena-South Tucson, Salazar-Ajo, Wheeler Taft Abbett Sr., W. Anne Gibson-Esmond Station, Southwest and Santa Rosa remain closed on weekends.
A key barrier to expanding hours, say library staff, remains getting positions filled.
“The plan is moving forward to increase Saturday availability,” said support services director Anthony Batchelder during a library advisory board meeting in June, “but it requires [us] to incrementally gain more positions to be able to do that.”
New library leader
Tess Mayer became the new director of the Pima County library this year, taking over from former director Amber Mathewson.
Mayer joins the library with more than 15 years of library leadership experience, including as the former director of the Berkeley Public Library in California and director of library outreach, programs and services for the King County Library System in Washington.
In response to a series of questions about her hiring shared on the Pima County library website, Mayer spoke about the ways libraries are uniquely positioned to meet local needs.
“Libraries are impactful because they support both individual growth as well as community building,” Mayer said. “Given the current level of social polarization in our country, it is important to remain a place where all kinds of people can come together and share space. This offers the potential for greater empathy and understanding.”
Her goal in the position will be to expand public service staffing and working with the community outreach staff to bring library services more directly into communities, including to schools and local events.
Check out some of Mayer’s book recommendations here.
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