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Volume 2, No. 8 • August 2005
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I want to be in the Spotlight!
An Examination of the At-Will Employment Doctrine
By George K. Pitchford, Esq.
From time to time a fairly obtuse legal concept crosses the bridge between the law and reality and enters the mainstream. This usually occurs during the latest ‘trial of the century’, when some obscure legal point becomes the major focus of the media, and an everyday topic of conversation. I cannot explain how disconcerting it is as an attorney, when someone waiting in line for the bus clearly knows more about the use of DNA in criminal prosecutions then I did the day after my criminal law final exam because of the O.J. trial. MORE
ALA Member Demographics Still Needed
The ALA Office for Research and Statistics (ORS) Survey of Member Demographics is open until the end of September. The Web-based survey, which is only six questions and takes a few minutes to answer, is being conducted by a task force of t he ALA Committee on Diversity and the ALA Membership. By undertaking this member survey, ALA is taking a big step toward knowing itself and being able to describe itself to others. MORE
Loan Forgiveness Now Extends to Librarians Working in Low Income Area
Washington D.C. (July 21, 2005) -- Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva presented an amendment today during the House Education and Workforce Committee’s markup of H.R. 609, the College Access and Opportunity Act to expand loan forgiveness to highly qualified teachers in low‑income communities, bilingual teachers, librarians and child welfare workers. MORE
U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush Wants Kids to Get in the “Zone” of Information about Congress and Scholarships with Addition of New Student Section on His Web Site.
School may be out but students can log on and learn how a bill is created, where to find scholarships and how to stay safe on the ‘net.’ MORE
I want to write about Career Advancement!
How to Appraise Employee Performance: Catch Them Doing Something Good
By Christine Martin
Last month Library Worklife featured an article on how employees should prepare for performance evaluations. This month we look at what employers can do to make performance appraisals productive. MORE
An Introduction to Followership for Librarians
By Lore A. Guilmartin
"Leadership" was one of the catchphrases of the 1990s, taking the place of teamwork, cooperation, and collegiality (Smith 1994, 22). Unfortunately, the recent focus on leadership created an imbalance in the literature of human dynamics by largely ignoring the people who comprise the largest and most important component of any organization: Followers. As changing communication and information networks force library organizations to evolve, we can benefit from the application of followership principles in management as well as everyday performance. MORE
I want to write about HR Law!
Friend or Foe?: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Under Increasing Scrutiny
By Sharon L. Comstock
Planning to have or adopt a child? Attending the healthcare needs of an aging parent? Undergoing your own treatment for a chronic or serious disease? Are you a returning United States Service member and unsure of your rights to medical leave? The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protects you from losing your job or health care benefits in each of these cases. If you work for a federal, state, or local public agency (including education) or in the private sector with at least 50 employees (within a 75-mile radius), you are promised, by law, unpaid time off up to 12 weeks to address these issues if you have been an employee for at least 12 months (1,250 hours). The law provides a safety net for workers at particularly vulnerable times, and has become touchstone legislation in recognizing work-life balance. MORE
I want to write about HR Practice!
The Advantages of Employing Part-Time Professionals
By Paula M. Singer, PhD and Laura L. Francisco, PHR
Many employers, including libraries, are taking advantage of an increasing trend: using part-time professionals to fill a variety of positions they never thought could be successfully staff by anything other than full-time employees. Part-time workers are those employees working approximately 20 hours per week, in addition to employees who are job-sharing and doing shift work, independent contractors, and temporary workers. There are many groups of people looking for part-time professional work, including mothers returning to the workforce and retirees. Both of these groups can be a source of valuable workers if employers are willing and able to offer flexibility. MORE
How Employment Discrimination Is Like Food Poisoning
By Jenifer Grady
At the 2005 ALA Annual Conference, two noteworthy events happened. The first was that the ALA Office for Diversity and ALA-APA hosted a program called “ How Do I Know It’s Discrimination?: Recognizing and Resolving Discriminatory Employment Practices in Libraries.” The second was my contraction of food poisoning. As I prepared to write about the program, I realized that there are similarities between the two. MORE
I want to write about Recruitment!
Thinking Outside the Hiring “Box”
By Julie Todaro
Getting a job in today’s market – in the vast majority of situations - involves an application and interview process. Although most institutions have designed processes bound by guidelines and rules based primarily on federal and state law, there are a wide variety of differences in specific areas of the hiring process. Two major differences include the pre-interview and the interview process. In these hiring areas, institutions and organizations have the opportunity to gather more and, often, specific data on applicants, assess a match of candidates to the open position, and match the organizations needs to the best candidate. Often, interviews can have very unusual aspects and candidates need to be ready for what comes! MORE
I want to write about Salaries & Pay Equity!
Salary Negotiation Success: Putting (New) Knowledge into Practice
By A Delighted Library Director
A week prior to ALA Chicago, I had my second interview for a director’s job at a small academic library and was preparing myself to negotiate my contact if an offer was made. I was thankful for the session at ALA on negotiating your contract and the helpful advice from the presenters. MORE
I want to write about Statistics!
Association for Research Libraries Salaries Study, 2004–2005, now available
The annual ARL salary study is available for printing and download. The 109-page survey was compiled and edited by Martha Kyrillidou and Mark Young. MORE
Report on Mean Salaries for Librarians, 1982–2004, now available
The ALA Office for Research and Statistics has prepared a summary table of librarian salaries, net change, and comparison with Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates. MORE
I want to write about Work/Life!
Being Organized—Oh, the Irony
By Sian Brannon
Have you found that quite a few people who work in libraries, especially librarians, are extremely disorganized? I find it particularly ironic that this happens in institutions based on classification and order. The job responsibility doesn’t matter-secretaries, circulation clerks, supervisors, librarians-everyone needs to start being more organized. Organization leads to increased productivity (happier supervisors!) and less frustration (happier staff!) Basically, you can’t provide information if you can’t find it, so here are some steps to get you on the path to being an organized library worker… MORE
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