BS: Help some librarians (USA)

Subject: BS: Help some librarians
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 04:37 PM

No doubt you've relied on your local library staff to help you find a bestseller, locate a source for your report, or assist you with a litany of other requests. Their tireless dedication deserves recognition and respect, yet Indianapolis library staff members get neither:

When a majority of Indianapolis public library employees decided to form a union to address concerns about their workplace, the library board refused to recognize the union.

Will you take a minute to ask the library board to honor the library staff's union?

http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/library_in

So why do the library employees want a union? They said it best themselves:

    "As workers, we have silently bore the brunt of the pain brought on by years of excesses and bad management from leaders who allowed us no meaningful input in the choices that were made. We care very deeply about not only our workplace, but about the satisfaction of our patrons as well. We believe that when workers anywhere are devalued and treated unfairly, productivity inevitably suffers. Our patrons mean the world to us, and they deserve us at our best.

    W"e have two choices before us: Quit and leave, or stay and fight to make our library the kind of institution our patrons deserve and that we can be proud to work in. We have chosen the latter."

Support these workers in their brave decision to fight for the future of their library. Take action now:

http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/library_in

In recent years, the library employees have suffered through cutbacks: no more overtime pay for Sunday work, no annual cost of living raises, and no health benefits for retirees. They also have concerns about workload -- the library has a third fewer staff than it had 10 years ago!

The library's cutbacks have also meant reductions in services and check out delays, resulting in dissatisfaction among the library's users. The library employees know firsthand what frustrations and suggestions their patrons have, and have offered thoughtful feedback on how to address these concerns. But their input, just like their union, has gone unrecognized.

The librarians want a union to have a say in their workplace—for the benefit of the future of their library, the services they provide to their patrons, and for respect for their hard work.   

Respect for these librarians is long overdue. Tell the library board to recognize the library staff's union!

http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/library_in

Thanks for standing up for all of America's workers.

Liz Cattaneo
American Rights at Work
www.americanrightsatwork.org

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: Scoville
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 05:01 PM

Aack--I'm in library school right now. Hope I still have a job when I get out.


Message sent.

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 06:18 PM

As a library director -- well, that's one BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Seriously, the ability to unionize is determined by the laws of the State. In Idaho, city workers (except for firefighters and cops) can't unionize by State law. This includes all library workers (in city libraries, as opposed to county or district libraries. Library directors in city libraries do NOT work for the city but for the Board of Library Trustees and hence are not covered by that aspect of state law -- but unionizing management seems somehow, well, odd.

Indiana law...it's been several years since I worked in Indiana and the laws may well have changed.

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: skipy
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 08:18 PM

and who said libraians are boring?
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 12:11 AM

Fort Worth has had some real hard times in the past and the libraries were hit hard. In more recent years they've made back the staff and hour losses and built some new buildings. Libraries and Parks--two essential parts of the quality of life in any community, but usually the first to get hit when budgets are pinched. "You can't cut back police and fire"--well, actually, I bet you can. If you pay attention to what you're doing. But don't ever try to say it out loud in a public budget hearing. (What they really need to do is lose the extra managers!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 01:46 AM

the ability to unionize is determined by the laws of the State -
rum, very rum indeed.
Over here all citizens have the right to form unions guaranteed by the Constitution.
I'm a librarian and a union member, and it paid out. When government decided to raise weekly working hours to 42, we union members still kept the old contract and are still working 38,5 hours a week. And that is enough. When the pay must be raised we are ready to strike.

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: Scoville
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 10:25 AM

Man, I hear you on the managers, SRS.



Side note: we have ten people here this morning taking an archivists' certification exam. (I work in the archives of a med school library.)

Did you know that there is nothing in the world quieter than librarians being quiet? Holy cow. They even turn pages without making a sound. I had to close my office door because suddenly normal typing sounded like somebody throwing a drawerful of silverware down the stairs and I didn't want to disturb them.

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 10:37 AM

Libraries aren't as quiet as they used to be. My father was a reference librarian and was noted for "shhhhhh!-ing" people if they got talking too much. Nowadays in our university library we have dedicated quiet study areas and the rest of it is open to conversation. I'm okay with that. It's all of the food and sticky drinks they allow that I worry about.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 10:46 AM

My favourite library sign was a poster in the Westerly Library, Westerly, RI. It had a bear on it which said something about bringing books back by their due date. The tagline was what I loved, "Due Dat!"

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: Scoville
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 10:55 AM

Oh, our PUBLIC library is a madhouse. Mostly computers and full of loose children running around and talking too much. I work for a large university (private) library and it's like a mausoleum. The med students would never tolerate that level of distraction.

Subject: RE: BS: Help some librarians (USA)
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 12:31 PM

We try to keep the kids down to a dull roar, but the building was designed (by an architect) with "open" ceilings -- open to the metal ductwork and steel trusses in the "factory look." And the metal is painter "eggplant" or, as we call it, "dark purple."

The second floor is much quieter -- and on days without story hours the first floor isn't too bad either.