Library Worklife

Volume 3, No. 6 • June 2006

ALA-APA News

ALA-APA Has a New Name!

The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) Board of Directors, at its spring meeting, decided on a new informal name for the organization. The legal/official name of the organization remains the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association, but the informal name, which will be used prominently in all media, is now ALA-APA: the Organization for the Advancement of Library Employees. ALA-APA’s Council has requested a name that explains the missions of the organization almost since its inception in 2002. “The ALA-APA exists to be a vigorous advocate for America’s librarians and library workers, but its name doesn’t convey its relevance, purpose, or vitality. This tagline captures the ALA-APA’s missions while reaffirming our commitment and promise,” said Board member Patricia H. Smith.

In 2005, the Board asked the library community to suggest names that encompassed the organization’s dual missions of offering certifications for library staff in specialized fields and to advocate for the status of - and better salaries for - library workers. A jury selected three entries. After carefully considering financial and other implications of a legal name change, the Board decided on a different approach, the creation of an informal name incorporating an explanatory tagline.

Board member Jim Rettig feels that "this addition makes the ALA-APA’s important missions clear to all library workers and to all who value and support library workers. As the ALA-APA’s programs and successes grow, so will its importance in the library world and beyond.”

The informal name will be incorporated into ALA-APA’s logo, Website, stationery and promotional materials over the next year.

The Board of Directors thanks all those who were involved in the process of rethinking the name of ALA-APA.

ALA-APA Programs at the American Library Association Annual Conference in New Orleans in June 2006

Affordable Health Care, Salary Negotiations, Advocacy Training, Certifications, Managing in Libraries with Unions, and our special guest, Evelyn Murphy, author of Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It are just a few of the programs ALA-APA will bring to New Orleans.

Saturday, June 24

10:30 a.m.–noon—Benefits: Past, Present, Future American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
This session will look at which benefits have typically been and are currently being offered in libraries and what benefits groups are looking at for the future.

1:30–3:30 p.m.—Better Salaries and Pay Equity Advocacy Training Mary Berman, Robert Bellinger
Learn the latest advocacy techniques, hear about successful salary/pay equity campaigns and create your own advocacy campaign theme.

4–5:30 p.m.—Certification Overview: What’s In It For Me? Christine Lind Hage, Eva Poole, Jenifer Grady
Welcome library workers who are interested in becoming certified, institutions and consultants who want to be providers, and division representatives who want to launch a program!

4–5 p.m.—Open Mike on Salaries in Libraries
Join us for a discussion on the topic of library workers salaries: what’s happening with salaries; what needs to be done; what ALA-APA can offer; and how you can make a change by taking part in committee activities.

Sunday, June 25

7:30–8:30 a.m.—Networking Breakfast
The winner of the SirsiDynix-ALA-APA Award for Promoting Salaries will be honored at this breakfast. It is also an opportunity to network with colleagues who are interested in unions.

10:30 a.m.–noon—Getting Even: How Library Staff Can Get Paid Fairly
Evelyn Murphy , author of Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It, will suggest how library employees can mobilize to get paid fairly.

1:30–3:30 p.m.—Affordable Healthcare Options Jim Brown
Selection of topics covered: rights and protections; purchasing private health insurance; government-subsidized plans; negotiating hospital bills; and pharmacy cards.

1:30–3:30 p.m.—Getting What You’re Worth Salary Workshop Mary Pergander
This interactive session will give you the opportunity to learn the principles of salary negotiation during your interview and your promotions and engage in mock negotiations.

1:30–3:30 p.m.—Ignored Too Long: the Benefits of Managing a Library with a Union John Buschman, Steve LaBash, Dorothy Warner
This panel will examine library management fundamentals that union environments encourage or require.

Monday, June 26

8–10 a.m.—FLSA, FMLA, and Other HR Acronyms: What You Need to Know Mark S. Ruderman, Esq.
Exempt vs. Non-Exempt--Mandatory vs. Voluntary— Overtime vs. Comp Time—To terminate or not to terminate—to eat or not to eat—these are just some of the questions addressed.

4–5:30 p.m.—Communication Skills for Managers David Orenstein
How to effectively communicate with and advocate for your staff.

Meetings

Standing Committee on the Salaries and Status of Library Workers

Working Groups: Saturday, June 24, 8:00 - 9:30 am
Standing Committee: Sunday, June 25, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Certification Committees

Certified Public Library Administrator Program Certification Review Committee: Friday, June 23, 2–5 p.m. (CLOSED)
Certification Program Committee: Saturday, June 24, 1:30–3:30 p.m.
CPLA CRC and CPC: Monday, June 26, 4–6 p.m. (portions CLOSED)

National Library Workers Day Stars Honored at ALA Annual Conference

The 223 National Library Workers Day Stars will be listed on a large poster in the Morial Convention Center, to be displayed for the duration of the Conference. There may be a few who you know! www.ala-apa.org/about/nlwdstars.html

Poverty Links For Librarians (www.hhptf.org)

The American Library Association Social Responsibilities Round Table (SSRT) has updated its Website on poor and homeless issues. The site was developed by John Gehner, a recent LIS graduate and chair of SRRT’s Task Force on Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty. This is a great resource for libraries, especially as they address policy-making challenges.

There are two important additions to its Web site (www.hhptf.org):

The new Resources section (www.hhptf.org/resources) compiles links to helpful documents, publications, and tools in the following categories:

featured links
books
community building
funding & grants
law & public policy
library services for poor people
periodicals
personal accounts
research aids
social exclusion
statistics
teaching aids

The new Organizations section (www.hhptf.org/organizations) features a variety of agencies, institutes, and nonprofits that assist low-income people and address poverty:

featured links
economic justice
government
homelessness & housing
hunger
law & public policy
library & info science
poverty research
social exclusion

The task force welcomes feedback and invites resource tips. For more information, e-mail jgehner@hhptf.org.

John Gehner, Coordinator, Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force

Call For Papers—Information For Social Change

The summer 2007 issue of the online journal Information for Social Change (ISC, ISSN 1364-694X) will focus on the urgent theme of library and information workers as political actors in times of war, civil war, military occupation, and social conflicts worldwide.

ISC seeks both contemporary and historical submissions that address such topics as:

Library and information provision during times of war, civil war, military occupation, and social conflict that provide insights and practical strategies for potential library and information projects in regions of conflict worldwide.
Profiles of library and information workers as participants and interventionists in conflicts, as political actors that offer some new possibilities for strategies of resistance, or that challenge networks of military or civil control worldwide.
Access to library and information provision and the information needs of oppressed peoples for empowerment and emancipation during times of war, revolution, or social conflict worldwide.
Dissemination of information about inside conflicts to the outside world. Here, ISC is particularly interested in explorations of how to protect the information provider in terms of privacy; confidentiality; freedom of opinion and expression; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; peaceful assembly and association; and protection from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

Note: ISC has a special interest in receiving, publishing, documenting, and giving memory to information about conflicts on which very little information has been recorded to date.

Anyone interested in contributing an article, thought piece, bibliography, review, or other work related to the expressed theme is invited to share their ideas with issue co-editors Martyn Lowe and Toni Samek.

The closing date for submission is December 10, 2006. Word limits are negotiable with Martyn and Toni.

For more information about ISC, see www.libr.org/isc.

Toni Samek, PhD
Associate Professor
School of Library & Information Studies, Faculty of Education
Chair, Canadian Library Association’s Advisory Committee on Intellectual Freedom
3-15 Rutherford South
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta CANADA T6G 2J4

Phone: (780) 492-0179
Fax: (780) 492-2430
E-mail: toni.samek@ualberta.ca
www.ualberta.ca/~asamek/toni.htm

For upcoming activities, see: www.ualberta.ca/~asamek/talks.htm#upcoming.

“A word after a word after a word is power.”—Margaret Atwood

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