The review was announced in September after staffing pressures came to a head, but it was suspended after library services director Bernie Hawke retired at the end of last year.
The Dunedin City Council is recruiting for a new director and the review is to resume after an appointment is made.
"We continue to support staff in the meantime," a council spokesman said.
"We acknowledge any review process can be unsettling for staff, but the aim remains to support our people by finding ways to reduce the pressure on them while looking to the future for Dunedin Public Libraries."
In July last year, Public Service Association (PSA) library union delegates raised what they described as serious concerns about staffing levels and the ongoing effect on morale and welfare.
The lingering effect of Covid-19 was one factor and there was particular concern about the lack of coverage for nights and weekends.
"Unfilled positions leave teams short-staffed, lacking leadership or even just the power to reach decisions, which are all stressful for those left to stretch themselves ever more thinly to cover widening gaps in services," PSA members said in an email to council chief executive Sandy Graham in September.
Ms Graham said in an email in September a video presentation by PSA members was "powerful and clearly speaks to issues that need resolution".
The review had wide-ranging terms of reference and included looking into rostering and all library position descriptions, but job losses were not envisaged.
Asked for an update this week, union delegate Malcolm Deans said staffing was still tight, but the appointment of two more relieving staff at the Dunedin City Library on a temporary basis had alleviated the pressure somewhat.
The union asked for representation on the review committee and this was eventually accepted by the committee, he said.
The PSA had about 95 members in Dunedin Public Libraries.
Mr Deans said the union would be in a stronger position to represent the library staff’s interests when the new review committee reconvened.
It was stated in the review’s terms of reference the final report was to be completed ahead of the council’s 2023-24 annual plan deliberations.
Deliberations are just a month away.
Covered within the scope of the suspended review were "all front and back-of-house functions and operations at Dunedin Public Libraries, including customer services, collection services, collections development, heritage collections, lending services, youth services, digital services ... administration and business support, hours of operation, physical environments ... and operations of community libraries".
The council spokesman said the findings would be considered by the council as soon as possible, "but the position of library services director is a key part of this process, so we need to make an appointment before resuming the review".
