With only three years on the job at the New York Public Library, Senior Librarian Melissa Scheurer fears she is a likely layoff target.

“I thought it’s time to start preparing a new resumé,” said Ms. Scheurer, when she received management’s March 12 memo about possible layoffs.

The memo said NYPL would be forced to lay off 110 workers if municipal unions didn’t agree to $600 million in productivity savings and benefit givebacks. Ms. Scheurer’s anxiety grew worse in April when she learned that the mayor’s “doomsday” contingency budget called for another 157 layoffs.

Because of a hiring freeze in effect since 2000, Ms. Scheurer is low on the seniority list. “I know it basically works out that the last person hired is the first fired,” she said. “I don’t think it will be easy to get another job, and that’s pretty scary,” said Ms. Scheurer. She is well aware that libraries nationwide are struggling with service cuts and layoffs as cities and states confront budget crunches.

If she loses her job, Ms. Scheurer figures that she would have to move in temporarily with her mother or sister. “I live paycheck-to-paycheck,” said Ms. Scheurer, who is single.

Future budget and staff cutbacks, she said, would devastate services further.

“It just keeps getting worse,” she said. “Overall, the staff people are just about at the end of the line with everything — the cuts in the library, the war, the cuts across the city.”

At the New Amsterdam Branch in lower Manhattan, where Ms. Scherer works, services and working conditions have already deteriorated markedly, noted Branch Manager Lynn Taylor, a Local 1930 vice president.

The materials budget — including books and videos — has been cut in half. The library canceled the purchase of eight new personal computers for the public. And like many branches, New Amsterdam no longer has six-day service.

Although circulation is down, the public must wait longer to check out material. The rugs, floors and public bathrooms aren’t cleaned as often. And 60 boxes of unprocessed requested books are piled up in the staff lounge.

“It’s hard for me to even imagine,” said Ms. Scheurer, when asked about the possible impact of the potential 267 layoffs.

— GNH