Ten secretary of state's office employees will be looking for jobs this summer.
New Secretary of State Jason Kander is reorganizing his office operations, "to decrease administrative costs, in order to make available more federal and state funds for local libraries across the state," Kander spokeswoman Liz Abram-Oldham said in a Friday afternoon e-mail. "The reorganization impacts the library development and reference services divisions of the State Library.
"This change will not take effect until the start of the next fiscal year, so we will use the time between now and then to assist impacted employees find work, which may include future positions elsewhere in this office."
The next fiscal year begins July 1.
The Wolfner Talking Book and Braille Library is not impacted by the changes, she said, and will keep its current staffing level.
Kander was not available for an interview Friday afternoon.
Abram-Oldham said: "By reorganizing the State Library, we will be able to offer more grant funding to local libraries for a variety of purposes, including grants for purchasing library resources, improving technology, career development and the summer reading program. ...
"Along with providing as much grant funding as possible to counties, we also want to ensure that the mission of the State Library includes programs promoting education in libraries."
She said the secretary of state's office will continue working to determine "the best use of federal and state resources to positively impact Missourians and their local libraries across the state."