Volume 1 • No. 7

I want to be in the Spotlight!

Dead Wood: Staff Who Won’t Work and Don’t Get Fired
By Dr. Charlaine Ezell

The Extra Edge
Staff is a library’s most important asset and the most expensive. So what happens when staff becomes a liability? These can be dead wood, staff members who once were good employees but are no longer. MORE

I want to write about Career Advancement!

What’s Your Learning Style?
By Vicki Burger

How can your learning style influence your job satisfaction? Some management and education gurus believe strongly that learning style influences the way we learn and retain new information. Because of this, the learning options that your organization and direct supervisor provide can influence your new skills development. MORE

I want to write about Salaries and Pay Equity!

Working @ your library^®: For LOVE or MONEY? Advocacy Video Is Here!

The crowd-pleasing ALA-APA video, Working @ Your Library: For Love or Money, debuted at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Orlando. It was shown in many forums, including an advocacy program hosted on Sunday by Advocacy Subcommittee and at the ALA-APA Board of Directors meeting. But the highlight was seeing it on the big screen, before the viewing of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911. MORE

Library Worklife Update

If you are currently receiving Library Worklife, it is because you have become an individual subscriber or you are an employee of an institution that is a member of the American Library Association. ALA-APA appreciates your support and welcomes your participation in the growth of newsletter.

All of you now have a login and password to access Library Worklife. It is included in the email you were sent to alert you to this issue. For individuals, the login and password is the same as when you log into the ALA Web site. For institutional members, you will share a login and password that can be used institution wide. If you have any problems, please call Jenifer Grady at 800-545-2433, ext. 2424. MORE

I want to write about Statistics!

Public Libraries Survey

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) publishes data collected through the Public Libraries Survey by the Federal-State Cooperative System. The most current issue of Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 2001 has some relevant information for salary and benefit data seekers. MORE

I want to write about HR practices!

Moving Towards Strategic HR in Libraries
By Jeanne Goodrich

We all know that we can't deliver our library services without our employees. We know that the largest budget item (easily 55–85%) in our operating budgets goes for personnel costs: salaries, wages, benefits. And, we know that managing people is time and energy consuming. As with so much else we do, it's easy to get bogged down in the details of HR work and forget that our great investment in people is for a greater purpose: providing the library services the library's customers need and desire. MORE

I wanto to write about Support Staff!

Special ALA Dues Categories

ALA members voted to pass the special membership category for support staff. The bylaws were amended to include a dues classification for support staff for $35. Members will be able to take advantage of this new dues category on September 1. MORE

LSSIRT announcement

ALCTS/RUSA/LSSIRT—The ALA Membership Committee and Council approved an extension of the Membership Initiative with ALCTS/RUSA/LSSIRT for a package cost of $59. MORE

ALA Insurance Informational Brief

Your ALA membership allows you access to special insurance programs. ALA is now offering its members various types of insurance coverage. Underinsured or uninsured coverage is provided through Marsh Affinity Group Insurance and is available for individuals or families. There are several programs offered to ALA members, depending on their location, including: Customized Major Medical; Short-Term Medical; Dental Insurance; Catastrophic Major Medical; Long-Term Care; Term Life Insurance; and a Disability Income Plan. Plans are available to supplement existing insurance or to provide coverage where none exists. Insurance is only offered within the United States only and plans vary from state to state. MORE

I want to write about Work/Life!

Beat the Work/Life Balance Conundrum with a Quality of Life Context
By Burt Woolf, Principal, Center for Quality of Life

The Work/Life Balance Conundrum

I don't like using the term “work/life balance” to describe the relationship between my personal and professional worlds. For me, the word “balance” suggests an “either/or” relationship between my personal life and professional work—as if when I'm at work, I'm not in my real life; and when I'm not at work, my job somehow disappears from my consciousness. MORE