I want to be in the Spotlight!

Time to Review:

How Public Libraries Lured Funding, and You Might, Too

By Mary Anne Craft

(Adapted from the book The Funding Game, Rules for Public Library Advocacy,The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Maryland and London, England, 1999)

The impetus for creative and innovative library funding goes back to the New York financial crisis of the 1970s. Administrators at the New York Public Library adapted the cost-efficient, effective techniques honed by community organizers: tapping volunteers to intercede with public officials; creating events for council members to meet voters at the library; phoning council members to invite their presence at lectures; and setting up letter-writing tables for library users to send messages telling council how much the library meant to them. MORE

ALA-APA Programs for the People at ALA Annual Conference

Toot Your Own Horn

Donna Cardillo

Monday, July 13, 8:00 - 10:00 am, MCP W-178b

Donna Cardillo, RN (www.dcardillo.com) is a nurse, career development “guru,” professional keynote speaker, author, consultant, and columnist. She knows that librarians, like nurses, don't get the status and credibility they deserve, so she'll tell us how to change that!

Love the Work, Hate the Job

David Kusnet

Monday, July 13, 10:30 am -12:00 pm, MCP W-178b

Why do more and more Americans express dissatisfaction with their jobs while their work has become more intellectually challenging and less physically exhausting? Hear David Kusnet, author of Love the Work, Hate the Job, tell the stories of workers fighting less for better pay and benefits, and more for respect and a say in the future of their business. MORE

Library’s Budget Plan Has Raises

The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA): June 5, 2009

The proposed 2009 operating budget for the East Baton Rouge Parish Library includes $1 million dollars to fund 16 new positions and to increase current salaries by an average of 15 percent. MORE

House Passes Paid Parental Leave Bill

By Jason Miller, FederalNewsRadio: June 5, 2009

In the late evening of June 4, 2009, the House of Representatives voted to pass the Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act (H.R. 5781). The act would grant civilian agency employees four weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. Paid leave would also be allowed to foster parents in the initial period of foster care. MORE

I want to write about Career Advancement!

Professional Hat Rack:

The Ever-Changing Roles of an Academic Librarian

By Melinda F. Matthews

Librarians might find themselves changing hats or wearing more than one hat throughout their careers as librarians within the library. At University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) library, I and my colleagues have traded and accepted many roles many times. Academic librarians step outside their job descriptions and comfort zones. Perhaps most unique to academic librarians (particularly those classified as faculty) is the expectation to publish. Any librarian that writes a book, an article or a book review on the subject of library and information science or any subject is an author. But many hats are familiar to librarians from all types of libraries. What are some of the other roles that I and my colleagues have adopted? MORE

ALA-APA Programs for the People at ALA Annual Conference

Engaging Excellence Through Leadership and Mentoring

Julius Rhodes

Friday, July 10, 3:30 - 5:00 pm, Hilton Lake Huron

Leadership is essential in our roles and it is different from management. However, in addition to leadership, we need to be able to grow a demand for the opportunities we have within our associations as a means of perpetuating our profession, and mentoring is a prime way of achieving this objective. The program will examine the critical leadership behaviors that need to be consistently displayed, and the impact of mentoring (internal and external) on elevating the profile of the profession. MORE

I want to write about Certification!

Certified Public Library Administrator Program Graduates Three, Adds 11 Candidates

CHICAGO - The Certified Public Library Administrator Program (CPLA) Certification Review Committee (CRC) granted certification to three CPLA® candidates who are now officially Certified Public Library Administrators. In addition, the committee approved 11 new candidates in its spring review. CPLA® now has 12 graduates and 122 candidates representing public libraries of all sizes across the nation. MORE

ALA Accreditation—Employers Speak

Join us at ALA’s Annual Conference 2009 in Chicago for an open forum on accreditation. The panel made up of representatives from academic, public, school, and special libraries, and discussion will focus on how library and information studies accreditation affects the personnel choices and hiring policies of employers in the field. MORE

ALA-APA Programs for the People at ALA Annual Conference

What Does Certification Have to Do With Me? Am I Missing Something?

Jenifer Grady

Saturday, July 11, 9:15 - 10:15 am, Hyatt Regency McCormick Conf Ctr 21b

Voluntary certification through the Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSCP) will redefine how you think about yourself by expanding your perspective and your skill sets beyond your immediate place in your library. MORE

I want to write about HR Law!

Details Regarding the New COBRA Subsidy

Angela Adams, CEBS, SPHR, Sr. HR Specialist

Reprinted with permission from the Management Association of Illinois’s Web site, www.hrsource.org. The article was posted in May 2009.

In February 2009, President Obama signed the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). Among the numerous provisions in this law is a requirement that employees and their dependents who were or are involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009, be offered the opportunity to continue their health care coverage at a subsidized rate. While we have covered the general provisions of this subsidy in other articles, here are some of the detailed questions we have received on the HR Hotline. MORE

ALA-APA Programs for the People at ALA Annual Conference

Medicare for All

Dr. Quentin Young

Sunday, July 12, 10:30 am -12:00 pm, Hyatt Regency McCormick Conf Ctr 12d

Single-payer national health insurance is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health financing, but delivery of care remains largely private. The U.S. health care system is outrageously expensive, yet inadequate, spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations and leaving 47 million completely uninsured. This program will introduce the philosophy of Physicians for a National Health Program, which defines, researches and supports single-payer health insurance. MORE

I want to write about HR Practice!

Planning for Your Successor:

Lessons from Our Predecessors

By Raphael Daoud Jackson

Planning for one’s successor is, arguably, a practice as old as the most fundamental form of human society: the tribe. Appropriately, some of the most inspiring succession advice I’ve found is hundreds of years old. It is helpful, when planning for the future, to draw on the wisdom of the past. MORE

Professionals for the Public Interest Goes Public

On Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 19 national and global organizations including DPE launched Professionals for the Public Interest: Associations and Unions Defending Professional Integrity (PftPI).

The press conference brought together leaders of professional associations and unions, who stressed the importance of professional integrity to professionals and the public. The event marked a culmination of more than two years of DPE outreach. MORE

I want to write about Recruitment!

Developing a Model Advising Program at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama: Part I

By Irina Stanishevskaya, Emily Tish, Dusty Folds, Jamie Fowler, Sarah McGhee, Mary Ann Plant and Madeline Sims

As a part of the curriculum assignment for LS 590-990, Issues in Librarianship: Project Management, a team of seven students was assigned to design a model advising program for the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) at The University of Alabama. The purpose of the project was to develop an academic advising program at SLIS that would encompass all elements for a comprehensive advising process. Library Worklife will publish the full paper in two parts. This first installment describes the group’s effort to create communication channels; their consultation with the SLIS Director; their discussion with University of Alabama faculty; and their evaluation of existing information and services. MORE

I want to write about Salaries!

ALA-APA Programs for the People at ALA Annual Conference

There is a Union Difference

Lydia Morrow-Ruetten, Nina Manning, Carol Thomas, William A. Thompson

July 11, 1:30–3:00 pm, Hyatt Regency McCormick Conf Ctr 23

This program will highlight the difference in union and non-union support staff salaries found by the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO using ALA-APA data.

Networking Breakfast

Michael Torres, Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, AFSCME

7:30–8:30 am, Hyatt Regency Chicago Wrigley

The winner of the Sirsi-Dynix - ALA-APA Award for Promoting Salaries will be honored at this breakfast. MORE

I want to write about Statistics!

One-Third of Working Moms Are Burned Out as They Struggle to Provide for their Families, Finds CareerBuilder’s Annual Mother’s Day Survey

President of Personified and Mother of Three Offers Tips for Achieving a Healthy Work/Life Balance

CHICAGO, May 5, 2009 – Quality time with family is the most important “to-do” on moms’ lists this Mother’s Day. In fact, some working moms report struggling to find work/life balance as they take on additional hours and second jobs in tough financial times. Thirty percent of working moms, whose companies have had layoffs in the past 12 months, are working longer hours and 14 percent of working moms have taken on second jobs in the last year to help make ends meet. One-third (34 percent) reported they are burned out. This is according to CareerBuilder’s annual Mother’s Day survey conducted from February 20 to March 11, 2009, among 496 women, employed full-time, with children under the age of 18. MORE

I want to write about Support Staff!

Massachusetts Library Association Paralibrarian Section:

Makin’ It Happen

By Allison Sloan daSilva

In Massachusetts we voted to call ourselves “paralibrarians.” At the 2003 Section Annual Meeting at the Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) Conference, we approved this new name by only one vote. I like to think the deciding vote was mine (though, of course, 51% of our members could claim the same distinction). MORE

Empowerment Conference Information in LSSIRT Newsletter

The June issue of the Library Support Staff Interests Round Table Newsletter, highlights programs to be held during the Empowerment Conference (p. 5). MORE

I want to write about Work/Life!

Where Originality Meets Productivity:

What Every Library Employee Needs to Keep In and On Their Desk

By Melissa Mallon

If one thing defines us as library employees it is our workspaces. And though our institutions may differ, our workspaces may vary in size (think a tiny shared cubicle vs. a coveted individual office) and our office equipment may be unique to our positions, there is one common item that can be found in every workspace: a desk. In most office environments, an employee’s desk can be viewed as a sanctuary. It is your very own space; an area you can do with what you like. The desk is especially appreciated in a shared office area where an employee has limited wall space to assert their preferences and personality. Although the very nature of the office desk is one of individuality, patterns tend to emerge in every library. MORE

Editors: Jenifer Grady, Jamie Bragg

Index of all articles from volume 1, no. 1, though volume 6, no. 5.

FOLDA (Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action) offers a list of respectful and appropriate words regarding the diversity of the deaf community. These terms may be used to promote library accessibility and the availability of quality resources.