The Baldwin County Public Library Cooperative board fired all employees last week, delaying essential library services.

The cooperative’s board held an emergency call May 22 and fired everyone “effectively immediately,” according to Baldwin County Administrator Roger Rendleman. He told AL.com he doesn’t know “exactly what’s transpired” or the reason for the terminations.

Public records indicate the public meeting was called “to discuss [the cooperative’s] future.” Six positions were eliminated.

The cooperative provides library support services throughout Baldwin County such as a joint catalog system, interlibrary loan, book courier service and the bookmobile.

Local library operations at individual branch locations will continue as normal. Rendleman said he spoke with library directors Friday and his main priority is to “make sure we get these joint services back running.”

Rendleman said the board, not the county commission, made the decision and that funding from the county to the cooperative will continue. He said the only actions the county was working on was ensuring the cooperative’s 501c3 status was set up properly.

“It’s important to note that the Baldwin County Commission has not taken any action to discontinue any support to the library cooperative, however Commission staff is actively investigating the circumstances surrounding this decision. Most importantly, Commission staff is working with member library directors to mitigate the disruptions in joint library services,” the county commission stated in a news release.

Efforts to reach board members Wednesday were not immediately successful.