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Volume 4, No. 12 • December 2007
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I want to be in the Spotlight!
The Politics of Politics
By Honora Eskridge
I was having lunch the other day with an administrator at our university. I have worked with this gentleman for a number of years and like him both personally and professionally. In the midst of everyday lunchtime chatting, he suddenly asked, "So who do you think will be our next President?" And I thought, "Oh boy. It's starting." Another election year is upon us, and soon my colleagues throughout the academy will have another excuse to talk about politics at work. MORE
Invaluable Service, Equitable Pay: New York Times Librarian of the Year Award Winner Carol Finch
Carol Finch is the Children and Teen Services Coordinator for the Burton Barr Public Library in Phoenix, AZ, and she was named one of the New York Times Librarians of the Year for 2006. She has been involved with her library's "Teen Central" project, which created dedicated teen space and programs, and a variety of reading programs, including helping her library serve as an "Every Child Ready to Read" test site. MORE
'Tis The Season to Be Working: Survey Shows Many Employees Aren't Taking Extra Days Off during the Holidays
(Editor's Note: The holidays are particularly stressful, but library workers experience stressors year-round. ALA-APA is encouraging library employees to participate in its Library Workplace Wellness online survey, an opportunity to share information about the availability of, and their participation in, work/life options in libraries around the nation. The online survey will be available through Dec. 14.)
MENLO PARK, CA--Santa's elves won't be the only ones working hard over the holidays. According to a recent survey, four out of 10 professionals will not take extra time off this holiday season, beyond employer-provided vacation days. Only 25 percent plan to take a week or more. MORE
New library brings fiscal tradeoffs:
With many cuts already made, will taxes rise or services drop?
By Brendan O’Shaughnessy, The Indianapolis Star (Indiana): December 3, 2007
Construction problems have left the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library millions in debt, and the library board looks to payroll to cut costs, limiting employee raises and benefits to keep its tax rate from increasing. MORE
Statewide Petition Launched In Support Of School Libraries And Information Technology:
Supporters Travel to Olympia to Hand-Deliver Petition to the Joint Task Force on Basic Education Finance
Spokane, Washington, November 19, 2007:
A statewide petition to provide Washington citizens a forum to voice their support of school library programs launched on November 15. MORE
Vote Adds To Library's Staff
By Alexandra Perloe, The Boston Globe: November 22, 2007
The Ashland Public Library (MA) will hire a part-time staff member after residents last week voted to spend $15,000 to fund the position. The appropriation, taken from the town's free-cash account, was approved at the request of library trustees during Special Town Meeting on Nov.
14. MORE
I want to write about Career Advancement!
A Book by Its Cover
By Julie Beth Todaro, Ph.D
In screening applicants for a job, one can never read too much about what to look for in an applicant's cover letter and application packet. I have included information on this human resource issue for both applicants and managers in articles in some form or another these past years, but a recent wave of retirements as well as new positions prompted me to revisit my list of "what I must see" and what "I would like to see" in cover letters and application packets from applicants who are finalists and/or make it to the interviewing stage. MORE
I want to write about HR Law & Regulation!
Who and What is the FMCS?
by Lisa Callaway, JD, SPHR, Vice President/General Counsel and Tom Jeffrey, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)
This year, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is celebrating its 60th year of service to the labor and management community in the United States. The agency was established as part of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, with the following mission: "The primary responsibility of the FMCS is to promote sound and stable labor relations through a variety of mediation and conflict resolution services." FMCS is an independent, NEUTRAL agency of the federal government, and its director is appointed by and reports to the President of the United States. FMCS services are supported by your taxes, and federal mediation services are provided for collective bargaining without additional fees.
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I want to write about HR Practice!
What Learning to Swim Can Teach You about Being a Better Leader
By Julius E. Rhodes
After watching my wife and son compete in various triathlons, I decided that the only thing holding me back from doing the same was my lack of swimming ability. For years I had convinced myself that I could not be taught to swim. I could even demonstrate this deficiency by "sinking like a rock" when I was in any body of water. I even prided myself on my lack of buoyancy, attributing it to lack of body fat (even though I have long since passed my days of athletic conquests where I truly did have a very small percentage of body fat). However, I knew that I had to give it one more try. Little did I know that there is a strong connection between learning to swim and becoming a leader. MORE
ACRL Releases "Achieving Racial and Ethnic Diversity among Academic and Research Librarians"
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announces the release of "Achieving Racial and Ethnic Diversity among Academic and Research Librarians: The Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement of Librarians of Color," a white paper commissioned by the ACRL Board of Directors working group on diversity. MORE
Important LIS Career Survey Underway: Where Are You Now?
Over 8,000 alumni from six North Carolina LIS programs are making their voices heard through a study funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington, D.C. The Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science (WILIS) project is exploring educational, workplace, career and retention issues faced by graduates of North Carolina LIS programs over the past 40 years. MORE
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want to write about Recruitment!
Mentoring in Libraries
By Melissa Ramos and Ravonne Green, Ph.D
New staff members can greatly benefit from mentoring programs in libraries. Both formal and informal mentoring can lead to increased job satisfaction and employee retention; satisfied, trained employees provide better service to library customers. It makes sense for library management encourage formal and informal mentoring among its staff. MORE
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want to write about Salaries and Pay Equity!
WAGE’s $TART $MART Workshops Teach Students Salary Negotiation
In late November, Women Are Getting Even (WAGE) completed its fall 2007 pilot of $TART $MART Campus Workshops to teach college women how to benchmark the salaries of the jobs they want when they graduate and how to negotiate for that salary. In all, nine colleges and universities participated involving over 300 women and 3 men of varying ethnic origins and income. MORE
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want to write about Statistics!
Librarian Salaries 2006: Beginning Librarian Salaries Improve
By Jenifer Grady and Denise Davis
A summary of the findings of the 2007 ALA-APA Salary Surveys will be published in our January 2008 issue of Library Worklife. To provide context for that data, this month we will examine trends seen in 2006.
In 2006 the ALA Librarian Salary Survey had a new title, a new name and good news for beginning librarians. In both public and academic libraries, beginning salaries had average salary growth from 2005 to 2006 that was as high as 18% in Very Large public libraries and 23% in 4-Year college libraries. For all six categories, the average salary was $56,259. MORE
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want to write about Support Staff!
Supporting Change in Libraries
By Marcy Simons
Today's libraries--large and small, public and academic--are forced to reevaluate their tools and services to remain culturally relevant. The alternative, we are told, is extinction.
What force compels such reevaluation? Technology has forever changed the way we process and disseminate information. But at the heart of the need for change are the needs of our users and the cultures of our organizations. No one knows this better than the frontline staff--the paraprofessionals, the support staff. MORE
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want to write about Work/Life!
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Hazard for Library Workers
By Christian Langer
Are you at risk for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? One in ten adults suffer from irreversible nerve damage caused by CTS. And library and information science professionals regularly engage in repetitive hand motions (typing, shelving, filing) that make them particularly susceptible to this condition. Nine years ago I developed CTS due to long hours of typing in a library. MORE |
