Library Worklife

Volume 3, No. 9 • September 2006

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ALA-APA News

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Ask a Working Woman Survey—AFL-CIO

www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/women/wwsurvey2006.cfm

The header for this survey reads: Working women know the importance of a good job in a just economy.

Where our pay keeps up with prices.
Where lawmakers listen to working people-not just big corporations.
Where one big medical expense doesn’t wipe out a family’s life savings.

This survey is our chance to be heard as working women.

Responses will be given to every U.S. representative and senator as well as state and local officials around the country on Labor Day.

The Ask a Working Woman survey is sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the largest organization of working women in America, and Working America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

The survey asks about the top concerns of working women and labor related laws that women would like to see.

Also, AFL-CIO has a non-union affiliate for workers and retirees called www.workingamerica.org/wa_splash3.cfm.

Gathering at the Waters

Joint Conference of Librarians of Color

The Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) is the first-ever national conference to be held and sponsored by the five caucus associations of color at the same time in the same place. It will be held October 11-15, 2006, in Dallas, Texas, at the Adams Mark Hotel.

The five caucus associations are affiliate members of the American Library Association (ALA) and their liaison to ALA is through its Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS). The five caucus associations have each held their own national conferences in the past. The 2006 joint national conference is co-sponsored by the American Indian Library Association (AILA); the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA); the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA); the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Provide Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. Conference proceeds will be divided equally amongst the five groups for their scholarship endowments.

ALA-APA will be presenting two programs: It’s Time for a Change: Improving the Salaries of All Library Workers on Thursday, October 12, at 10:45 am; and What Can Certification Do for You? on Friday, October 13, at 2:00 pm.

Keynote Speakers

Loung Ung—A survivor of the killing fields of Cambodia, one of the bloodiest episodes of the twentieth century, Ung has devoted herself to justice and reconciliation in her homeland. The World Economic Forum selected Loung as one of the "100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow." Her best-selling memoir, First They Killed My Father: a Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, (HarperCollins 2000) was the recipient of the 2001 Asian/Pacific American Librarians’ Association award for "Excellence in Adult Non-fiction Literature" (APALA).

Juan Williams—Along with being senior correspondent for NPR, Williams is also a political analyst for the Fox News Channel and a panelist on Fox News Sunday. He is the author of Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary and Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, among other books. His newest book, Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America and What We Can Do About It, Williams argues that black America has lost its way, and that it is critical that African Americans reclaim the traditional virtues that have sustained them in even the darkest hours. During his twenty-one-year career at the Washington Post, Williams served as an editorial writer, op-ed columnist, and White House correspondent. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez—Author of the Best-Selling Novel The Dirty Girls Social Club, Playing with Boys and, most recently, Make Him Look Good. Time magazine has named Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in America. Latina magazine named her a Woman of the Year and Hispanic Business magazine has twice named her among the 100 most influential Hispanics in the nation. Alisa’s first young adult novel, Haters, will be released in the Fall.

Bertice Berry, Ph.D.— Berry is a motivational speaker, sociologist, and former standup comedian. She is also the author of four works of nonfiction and three previous novels, including Redemption Song, The Haunting of Hip-Hop, Jim and Louella’s Homemade Heart-Fix Remedy and, most recently, When Love Calls, You Better Answer. She lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Cynthia Leitich Smith—Smith is an award-winning author of Indian Shoes, and Rain Is Not My Indian Name. She is a member of faculty at the Vermont College M.F.A. program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Cynthia looks forward to the release of a picture book, Santa Knows (Dutton, 2006) and a young adult gothic fantasy novel, Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007). She makes her home in Austin, Texas; with her husband, author Greg Leitich Smith.

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NCES Definition Does Not Include Librarians

Although, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) used a new breakout of expenditures for its report on public elementary and secondary education for the 2003-04 school year, this has not realigned school librarians with the instruction category they desire. Previously, the breakout was: instruction, support services and noninstruction, which placed librarians and library aides with support services. The new breakout is instruction and instruction-related, student support services, administration and operations. Librarians and library aides are still considered instruction-related, though the Common Core of Data combined the instruction and instruction-related expenditures in several tables. Librarians and library aides continue to be classified as support services (2220) in the Handbook for Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems Classifications of Expenditures http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/h2r2.

Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Board OKs Union Vote

On August 17 th , the IMCPL Board of Trustees meeting the board passed a resolution that establishes a process by which IMCPL workers can choose an employee organization.

http://indylibraryunion.org/

West Virginia Libraries Struggle with Funding

By Bob Schwarz, The Charleston Gazette (WV), August 12, 2006

[J.D.] Waggoner [Executive Director of the West Virginia Library Commission] wants to help Richwood with just a small part of that $800,000 special projects money, but he doesn’t want to proceed without some sort of OK from lawmakers [to fund issues such as the fact that] small rural libraries continue to lose employees who hold master’s degrees in library science, Waggoner said. That recently happened to the McDowell, Mason and Taylor county library systems.

“Some have advertised at less than $25,000,” Waggoner said. “Some have hired at $25,000. That won’t cover the debts on your student loans.”

The Kanawha County library system has as many people with library science master’s degrees as all the other public libraries combined, Waggoner. Libraries without a properly degreed person must operate under the supervision of larger library systems that do. Read the full article (may be fee based).

Library Gets Bigger Budget

By Jacqueline Cochran, Daily World (Opelousas, LA), August 9, 2006

In a gesture of support for the city’s ongoing library woes, Opelousas Mayor Anna Simmons and all six city aldermen gave money that was supposed to go toward a proposed raise for themselves to the Opelousas Public Library following a plea by library chairman Estelle Perrault for help with rising operation costs.

As for the approved 50-cent-an-hour plus 2.5 percent pay raise for city employees—which workers have expressed their unhappiness with—those employees left Tuesday’s meeting with the promise they were “next in line” for more money. Read the full article (fee based).