By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
As Great Bend Public Library Director Maribeth Shafer presented before the Great Bend City Council last week, she noted the importance of literacy. Shafer added that 20% of the nation cannot read and 54% of the nation reads under a sixth grade level.
Stressing the importance of libraries, the Great Bend library has made moves to cut costs.
"We have cut our hours from 61 hours a week to 50 hours a week," said Shafer. "We have reduced our staff from 19 fulltime equivalent to 11.625, or 10 fulltime and three part-time staff. We're working with some companies for reducing our insurance costs for employee benefits. We've worked on energy conservation. We have been able to save 2,000 kilowatt hours per month."
The library is requesting a $20,000 increase to their budget from the City of Great Bend in 2026. Funded at $650,000 this year, Shafer asked for a 3% increase to get their total funding to $670,000.
"The increase will cover a raise for our employees," said Shafer. "In 2025, our employees did not have a raise. We know the city employees did. We just want to use that as a comparison."
Great Bend Public Library is one of five outside agencies that requested more funding from the City of Great Bend in the 2026 budget.