{"id":982548,"date":"2026-08-05T15:17:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/982548\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:17:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:17:22","slug":"thousands-of-books-are-piling-up-in-chicago-libraries-due-to-staffing-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/982548\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands Of Books Are Piling Up In Chicago Libraries Due To Staffing Shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPTOWN \u2014 It started with small stacks of books on tables in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By May, the piles began to grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And each week the towers of books stacked by library workers multiplied.<\/p>\n

Soon, the tables in the Bezazian library branch in Uptown were needed for summer programming. To make room, library workers \u201crescanned and restacked every single item into piles on the floor of our community room,\u201d said Emma Ramirez, one of the library clerks there.<\/p>\n

\"\"Library workers piled books on the floor of the Bezazian branch of the Chicago Public Library in Uptown this spring as they waited for delivery drivers to pick them up. Credit: provided<\/p>\n

But as the books kept accumulating, kids, teens and other patrons attended their afternoon art classes, science club meetings and other programs next to large piles of books.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Library staff say the unshelved stacks of books were among the byproducts of a shortage of delivery drivers this spring \u2014 and a window into ongoing staffing struggles within the Chicago Public Library system.<\/p>\n

For months, the driver shortage caused significant delays in fulfilling patrons\u2019 requests for books and other items<\/a> \u2014 known as holds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now carts are overflowing and stacks of unshelved books are crowding rooms at library branches across the city as workers continue to deal with the ripple effects of the shortage. As of late July, more than 110,000 items were heaped in branches around the city, according to the system\u2019s internal data.<\/p>\n

As a result, library workers have spent weeks finding \u201ccreative ways\u201d to store thousands of books returned by patrons <\/strong>as staff wait for delivery drivers to pick them up and take them to their next location, said Ramirez, who\u2019s part of the executive team of the union representing much of the system\u2019s staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the library system increased the number of drivers available in June, wait times for new holds have shrunk to two to three weeks, still higher than before the shortage introduced delays, Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

At a board meeting in May, library leadership acknowledged the staffing issue created weeks-long delays for patrons receiving holds.<\/p>\n

In an email that month, library officials told staff to use their \u201cbest judgment\u201d as they grappled with delays in fulfilling active requests and piles of books that needed to return downtown to the Harold Washington Library Center for processing.<\/p>\n

\"\"Harold Washington Library on March 10, 2026. The Harold Washington Library is the central processing center for the Chicago Public Library system. Credit: Crystal Paul \/ Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

In late July, library workers were told they could bypass sending books to the Downtown processing hub if they had enough items that belonged to another branch.<\/p>\n

That initiative comes as officials continue to struggle with stacks of items waiting to be processed and returned.<\/p>\n

More than 1,600 items were still taking more than a month to reach patrons in late July \u2014 though that was down from 24,000 in early June, according to internal data.<\/p>\n

Library workers said they\u2019re not only searching for space to store the returned items but also\u00a0struggling to keep track of where books are in the system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Sharon Porta, a once-regular patron of the Uptown branch, the continued snags \u201cmade a big difference\u201d in her reading routine, and books she put on hold for her grandkids were delayed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u2019s back to receiving items more regularly, like those books for her grandkids, but she called the delays \u201cjust baffling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Troubles Tracking Books<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the driver shortage, library staff could usually answer patrons\u2019 questions about items by logging into the system\u2019s catalog, determining where the item was and offering an estimate of when it might arrive at their branch: usually about a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, because of the backlog, library workers say they can\u2019t always find where an item is or gauge when it will arrive.<\/p>\n

\"\"Emma Ramirez, a library clerk, stacks books waiting to be taken to the Harold Washington Library Center at the Bezazian branch of the Chicago Public Library in Uptown on July 28, 2026.<\/p>\n

When patrons return an item, librarians scan it to begin the process of routing the item back into the library\u2019s system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once scanned, the item appears in the internal library catalog as \u201cin transit,\u201d which often means it\u2019s on its way downtown to the Harold Washington Library Center to be processed. From there, it will eventually be sent back to its home library, where it will be available for checkout again, Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

But for months, thousands of those \u201cin transit\u201d items were actually sitting in piles on library branch tables and floors, still waiting to be picked up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Library users can put those items on hold \u2014 and some have done so over the last few months \u2014 but then the waiting game begins again since the books may still have to be located, processed and delivered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have a stack of 10 copies of the same book that are all \u2018in transit,\u2019 but it\u2019s kind of impossible to know for sure where an item is,\u201d Ramirez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patrons have likely endured longer waits for their requested items for much of the year.<\/p>\n

Through June, the library filled roughly 18 percent fewer holds than during the same period last year. The steepest drop came in May, when the system filled 40 percent fewer than a year earlier, city data shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many patrons waited more than a month this spring to receive their requested books.<\/p>\n

In late April, more than 8,400 items requested by patrons took more than 30 days to reach them, and by early June, it was up to more than 24,000.<\/p>\n

After increasing the number of delivery drivers, the library took a chunk out of that number, reducing it to around 1,600 items in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

\"\"A Chicago Public Library truck drives through the South Loop on July 30, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, with delivery drivers primarily focused on shuttling requested items, the pileups of outgoing books at library branches were getting worse.<\/p>\n

In late May, more than 60,000 items across the city were waiting to be scanned and processed, according to internal data obtained by Block Club. That number hit its peak in late June, at nearly 130,000 items. And as of July 20, more than 110,000 items were still in processing limbo.<\/p>\n

As the stacks of materials at Bezazian grew over the last few months,<\/strong> Ramirez said she and other workers tried to speed up the return process by rescanning some items to see if they had active holds. If they did, the workers could put them aside for delivery.<\/p>\n

Bezazian library workers also encouraged readers to check out books from the piles by putting popular or newer titles on a cart with the message, \u201cIf your hold is not here, consider checking out these books in the meantime.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Librarians at the Bezazian branch posted a note on some of the backlogged books encouraging patrons to check them out on July 28, 2026. Credit: Rachel Hinton\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

To deal with the issue on a larger scale, <\/strong>staff recommended in June that leadership approve overtime at Harold Washington\u2019s docks to deal with the pileup of returns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an internal email obtained by Block Club, staff said the upper dock, lower dock and third floor workroom at Harold Washington were \u201cpretty overrun with all the incoming items\u201d and recommended not sending extra trucks to pick up more items from branches \u201cuntil we can get some of that under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Library workers also recommended a temporary limit on the number of holds patrons can place to reduce the number of open requests.<\/p>\n

Top management denied that request, Ramirez said. Instead, officials told library staff to wait to pull requested materials. While that has helped reduce a pileup of active holds, the initiative has done less to curb the towers of outgoing items, staff said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBy waiting until the last minute, this shaves off a couple days where the item is visible to the patron as being \u2018in transit,\u2019\u201d Ramirez said in an email. \u201cIt does nothing to shorten the amount of time until they receive it.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Drivers, But Backlogs Remain<\/strong><\/p>\n

By the time Chicago Public Library officials acknowledged the driver shortage in May, the entire system was relying on just three drivers to deliver items to more than 80 branches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of late June, six motor truck drivers were carrying out deliveries, according to an internal email from Bryan Araque, the system\u2019s assistant director of facilities management.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s three fewer than the department had before the shortage. Drivers were running some delivery routes every other day until a seventh driver returns to the team, the administrator wrote.<\/p>\n

Officials did not say when that would happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it will take some time to return to normal circulation levels, we have made steady progress,\u201d Araque wrote.<\/p>\n

And the backlog of items still needing to be returned and processed may not return to normal levels until September \u2014 if overtime is approved \u2014 according to internal emails.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Workers say it\u2019s only the latest consequence of system-wide staffing shortages the library system has faced for more than a decade, starting when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel slashed the system\u2019s ranks in 2012.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Block Club published a story on the recent delays<\/a> in May, Patrick Molloy, the director of government and public affairs for the library system, wrote in a statement that library officials expected the delivery situation to get better in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials didn\u2019t expect \u201cdisruptions to summer reading participation or access to library services,\u201d Molloy wrote. \u201cThough some physical materials may take longer to arrive while the temporary delivery limitations continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t respond to follow-up questions. library officials have not responded to multiple requests for interviews or comment about the continued delays for reserved materials or the pileups in local branches.<\/p>\n

Porta usually places the maximum amount of holds she\u2019s allowed, but by summer those materials were taking longer to appear as \u201cin transit\u201d in her library account, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, in recent weeks, after delivery driver staff increased, the items she requested started \u201ccoming in like crazy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She would like to think library management is fixing the problems of the last several months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t understand how this happens,\u201d said Porta. \u201cI hope there\u2019s some sort of plan in place so it doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the delays might have discouraged some patrons from using the library altogether.<\/p>\n

In the first six months of the year, as wait times for requested items began to stretch, patrons placed 300,000 fewer holds with the Chicago Public Library compared to last year \u2014 around an 8 percent drop, according to the most recent city data available.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patrons have also checked out, renewed or downloaded 10 percent fewer books and other materials so far this year than they did last year.<\/p>\n

One patron told Ramirez that, because of the delays, she decided to buy books from a store rather than wait for the ones she placed on hold with the library.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bummer,\u201d Ramirez said. \u201cPeople really care about [the library] and value it, and so it\u2019s frustrating for me as an employee that the city does not seem to value us in the budget proportionally to the services that we provide and that the public appreciates.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPTOWN \u2014 It started with small stacks of books on tables in April.\u00a0 By May, the piles began…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":982549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,85586],"class_list":["post-982548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-the-watch"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117043570801253306","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=982548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/982549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=982548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=982548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=982548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}