I want to be in the Spotlight!

Spotlight on the SirsiDynix–ALA-APA Award for Outstanding Promotion of the Salaries and Status of Library Workers: Connie Vinita Dowell

Teamwork Paves the Way for Raises and Reclassifications Even during a Statewide Budget Crisis

By Veronica Chawla

The second installment of Library Worklife’s three-part series on the 2007 SirsiDynix Award winners, focuses on the accomplishments of the San Diego State University Library’s dean, Connie V. Dowell, and her courageous efforts to support her staff during the recent budget crisis that affected the State University system across California.

Through the impressive community she created; comprised of the San Diego State University Library Council, Senate Committee, union, administrators and staff, Connie took extraordinary steps to secure library personnel and increase salaries for personnel whose responsibilities had shifted. She reorganized the library; shifting departments, cutting numerous extraneous expenditures and reclassified employees in order to protect them from the ever threatening financial emergency. MORE

Lewiston, NY, Village Budget Expands Salaries, Benefits, but Disappoints Library

Nancy A. Fischer, “Lack of library funding dominates Lewiston, NY budget hearing,”
Buffalo News (NY), April 17, 2007.

Aaron Besecker, “Taxes to jump nearly 5%, Budget approved by 4-0 vote,” Niagara Gazette (NY), April 24, 2007.

On April 24, Lewiston’s (NY) Village Board of Trustees approved a $2.88 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The 5% tax increase will cover increased costs for medical insurance, workers’ compensation insurance as well as salaries. MORE

Finklestein (NY) Public Library Creates, Fills Positions; Minimizes Taxpayer Cost

Alice Gomstyn, “Finkelstein (NY) library budget may increase taxes nearly 3%,” The Journal News (Westchester County, NY), April 5, 2007.

Staffing increases are driving a nearly $366,000 rise in the proposed 2007-08 operating budget for Finkelstein Memorial Library.

Hiring two staff members accounts for the bulk of the proposed budget increase. Filling an assistant library director’s position would cost about $70,000, while a new network manager—who would maintain the library’s 135 computers, wireless network, videoconferencing center and security system—would cost $60,000. MORE

“We’re Moving in the Wrong Direction: Will Rising HR Costs Lead Tempe, AZ, Unions To Cut School Librarians?

Andrea Falkenhagen, “Tempe Union threatens budget cuts,” East Valley Tribune, April 30, 2007.

Colleen Sparks, “$1.7M cut suggested for Tempe (AZ) union; Staff members urge board to protect jobs, put students’ needs first,” The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), March 31, 2007.

Rising health insurance and retirement costs, together with declining enrollment, are forcing the Tempe Union High School District’s governing board to cut some expenditures for the 2007-08 school year. A million-dollar budget shortfall has librarians worrying about their jobs. MORE

Providence Public Library (RI) Braces for 20–60% Layoff

Daniel Barbarisi, “Providence (RI) Public Library issues pink slips to 60 as a precaution,” The Providence Journal, April 27, 2007

The Providence Public Library plans to send out layoff notices to roughly 60 employees next week, in what library leaders are calling a precautionary move in case the city and the library cannot reach a deal on funding for the next fiscal year. To comply with contract law, the library must send the notices out by Tuesday if it plans to lay off employees July 1. MORE

I want to write about Certification!

New CPLA Candidates and Courses Approved

The Certified Public Library Administrator Program (CPLA) Certification Review Committee (CRC) approved five candidates and one program course during the Spring 2007 review.  The new course in Marketing will be offered online by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Certified Public Library Administrator program is a voluntary post-MLS certification program for public librarians with three years or more of supervisory experience and ALA-accredited master's degrees in library and information studies. MORE

I want to write about HR Law!

LIBRARIAN Act of 2007 Introduced in Congress

WASHINGTON — On April 17, coinciding with National Library Workers Day, the Librarian Incentive to Boost Recruitment and Retention in Areas of Need (LIBRARIAN) Act of 2007 was introduced in both the U.S. Senate (S. 1121) and the House of Representatives (H.R. 1877).

This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for Perkins student loan forgiveness, which will encourage individuals to become and remain librarians in low-income schools and public libraries. MORE

I want to write about HR Practice!

Healthy Eating at Work: Balancing Nutrition and Workplace Demands

By Christine Martin

Editor’s Note: We hope that Human Resources staff will make healthier workplaces a priority, if you have not already. This article has rich resources at the end that are worth a look.

Warm weather usually makes us more active and often inspires thoughts of weight loss. But old notions of crash dieting so we can look good in swimsuits are long gone. Instead, a health alarm has gone off. Obesity rates among American adults have doubled since 1980 (from 15 to 32 percent) and 66 percent of us are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Not surprisingly, the CDC says that bringing the nation’s obesity rate back down to 15 percent by 2010 is a “national health objective,” especially since, according to www.everydaychoices.org, a Web site sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association, two-thirds of Americans die from heart disease, cancer, stroke or diabetes, all of which are associated with being overweight or inactivity or both. MORE

I want to write about Salaries & Pay Equity!

CSU Faculty-Status Librarians May See 20.7% Raise

On April 3, California State University (CSU) reached a tentative agreement with the California Faculty Association. The agreement provides all CSU faculty, including library workers with faculty status, base pay increases of 20.7 percent over a four-year period, as well as step increases for those eligible, making the package worth 24.87 percent. Union members are expected to vote on the final contract May 1-3. The base salary increases (“General Salary Increases”) will raise the average salary for a tenure track faculty member from $74,000 to $90,749 and the average salary for a full-time, full professor with tenure from $86,000 to $105,465 by the end of the contract period. MORE

Financial Inequality in Higher Education: AAUP Releases Annual Report on Faculty Salaries

Washington, D.C. — Although inflation is down and full‑time faculty salaries are finally back up, financial inequality in American higher education continues to grow. That is one of the central findings of “Financial Inequality in Higher Education: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2006–07,” which was released by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) on April 12. MORE

I want to write about Statistics!

Public Libraries’ Investment in Public Relations: As Seen Through the ALA-APA Salary Survey—Non-MLS: Public and Academic

By Metta Lansdale

If residents are unaware of a public library’s services, they cannot take advantage of those services, and return on investment (ROI) necessarily suffers. This return on investment (ROI) is critical to public libraries; a demonstrable ROI allows library advocates to explain why and how the library is so important to the community it serves. For these reasons, public libraries are increasingly finding their investment in public relations functions a critical aspect of routine library operations. This article explores positions in public libraries related to public relations functions—Public Relations Officer, Graphic Artist, Web Content Administrator and Volunteer Services Coordinator—and attempts to compare the relative value of these positions among libraries who report having them. MORE

“My Community Loves Its Library and Staff.” DOES IT? HOW MUCH?

By Donald S. Elliott, Glen E. Holt, Sterling W. Hayden and Leslie Edmonds Holt

Library leaders often claim that their communities love the library, especially its staff. In flush economic times, such claims go uncontested. But when cynical taxpayers, tight-fisted politicians or conservative donors say “Prove it!” or “How much?” today’s library leaders can respond. They have an analytical tool to demonstrate in dollars just how much users value their library, its staff and the services they provide. That analytical tool is cost-benefit analysis (CBA). MORE

I want to write about Work/Life!

National Library Workers Day: How Did Your Library Celebrate?

National Library Workers Day worked because you did! Not only did ALA-APA receive twice as many Stars submissions than last year (a record 593!), we also received dozens of emails describing ways that libraries around the nation celebrated employee contributions on Tuesday, April 17. Below are ways many libraries chose to make merry. MORE

National Library Workers Day Statistical Wrap-Up

By Jamie Bragg

There were 593 Stars this year (223 in 2005), not counting the 26 ALA Stars.

Fifty-two percent of nominees work in public libraries, 27% in elementary/middle/high schools, 19% in colleges and universities, 2% in other (special, government) libraries. ALA-APA President Leslie Burger selected twenty stars to receive NLWD t-shirts. MORE