Spotlight

• The History and Future of the American Library Association Pay Equity Committee

  By Casey Schacher

  For almost two decades, the ALA Pay Equity Committee has worked to secure fair pay for library professionals. Created in 1986, its main objective is to advance ALA efforts to end unfair compensation practices that discriminate against women. Through education efforts and networking, the committee has motivated library workers across the nation to take control of their professional destinies. Even as the committee prepares to officially dissolve over the next year, it continues to make its mark … Read the rest

ALA-APA News

• Put it in Writing @ your library®

  On April 12 (and 13), 2005, several libraries across the country will be hosting writing seminars.

  College of San Mateo Library
  1700 W. Hillsdale Blvd.
  San Mateo, CA 94402
  650/574-6524
  Contact:
  Lorrita E. Ford, Director, Library and Learning Services
  650/574-6569
  fordl@smccd.net

  County of Los Angeles Public Library, East Los Angeles Library
  4837 E. Third St.
  Los Angeles, CA 90022
  323/264-0155
  Contact:
  Carolyn Kobayashi
  Adult Services Coordinator
  County of Los Angeles Public Library
  (562) 940-8521 (voice)
  carolynk@gw.colapl.org

  College Hill Library
  3705 … Read the rest

• Announcing the first Canadian library support staff survey!

  LTAIG, the Library Technicians and Assistants Interest Group of the British Columbia Library Association, conducted an informal survey of the educational and work experiences of Canadian library support staff. In 2003, the LTAIG Committee conducted a survey of BC library support staff. Feedback from the participants has shown how useful the survey is in providing information on educational experiences, salary and work responsibilities. In this year’s survey, they encouraged and welcomed responses from library support staff and students across Canada.… Read the rest

• ALA-APA Focus Groups at Annual Conference

  Have you found yourself asking, “What can the ALA-Allied Professional Association do for me? I work in a (fill-in-the-blank) library/position and there’s nothing than can be done about my salary!”

  Test your assumptions by attending a focus group at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago in June. ALA-APA may already be doing something for you, but you are invited to make suggestions for how ALA-APA can serve you better. There are two opportunities to voice your opinion: Friday, June 24th, … Read the rest

Career Advancement

• Volunteer Editors and Columnists Wanted!

  ALA-APA is seeking volunteer editors and regular columnists for Library Worklife: HR E-News for Today’s Leaders. This electronic publication reaches thousands of libraries and library workers each month, delivering high quality content in the following areas:

  • Career Advancement
  • Certification
  • HR Law & Regulation
  • HR Practice
  • Recruitment
  • Salaries & Pay Equity
  • Spotlight
  • Statistics
  • Support Staff
  • Maintaining the Work/Life  Balance

  Volunteer editors would be expected to secure a minimum of four and maximum of six manuscripts/articles for only one category of the … Read the rest

• Attention New Librarians and Career Changers

  Identifying and Conveying Transferable Skills

  By Julie Todaro, Dean of Library Services, Austin Community College, Austin, TX

  All too often professionals are both educated for and continue to “train” for and develop competencies (knowledge, skills/abilities, attitudes) specific to one type of library or information environment or one size of library or information environment. The reality is that library and information professionals should be aware of, and familiar with, all types of libraries and library issues. In addition, in today’s workforce, … Read the rest

HR Practice

• Tax-Deferred Plans Offer New Option for 2006

  By Paula M. Singer and Jeri E. Hurley, The Singer Group, Inc.

  Most employers are rightly focusing on benefits these days, particularly health benefits, as the costs for plans continue to increase by double-digit percentages. It is important that libraries, while thinking about the entire benefits package offered to employees, don’t forget to spend some time thinking about pension plans. Many public-sector library employees are able to join a state-provided pension plan. In addition, library systems qualify for 403(b) plans … Read the rest

Recruitment

• ALA/ALA-APA webcast to explore how salaries affect library recruitment

  Get your (virtual) seats now for the program that will provide more than anecdotal evidence of the connection between salaries and recruitment. The American Library Association (ALA) and the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) will mark National Library Workers Day with an April 12 live interactive webcast featuring research, resources and real-world examples of how salaries impact library recruitment activities. The program, called “Making the Connection: How Salaries Affect Recruitment in Libraries,” will take place from noon to 1 … Read the rest

Salaries

• Please Sir, Could I Have Some More?

  Public Librarians and Salaries

  By Tracey Simon

  In the mid-1970s, when I told my parents I was considering becoming a librarian, they shuddered; to them, it was a one-way ticket to impoverished spinsterhood. Since they held the purse strings to my education, I surrendered my ambitions. Thirty years later (and married), I obtained my MLS and became a librarian after serving as a marketing coordinator for a non-profit enterprise. The change came with a difficult-to-swallow $14,000 pay cut. I also … Read the rest

Support Staff

• From FISH! to PEEP: Instituting a Recognition Program in the Midst of Budget Cuts

  By Marcy Simons

  This article is Part II of a series on using FISH! Philosophy at the Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame (IN). The first article appeared in the February issue of LW (2, no. 2).

  With the successful implementation of FISH! within the Stacks Management department, we were all ready to make believers out of the rest of the library, and then the economy took a downturn.

  Spring of 2003 brought rumors and innuendo of large budget cuts … Read the rest

Work/Life

• Worklife Questions for You

  The writers of Library Worklife: HR E-News for Today’s Leaders are interested in your answers to these questions for upcoming articles:

  1. How do balance your work and school schedules and responsibilities?
  2. What are the benefits of having and/or being a mentor?
  3. What is/was your favorite second job?
  4. What strange things do you keep in your desk drawers?

  … Read the rest

• Can Rewards and Recognition Program Make a Difference?

  Many would say, “Yes!” Find out why by viewing the webcast called “Five Undeniable Reasons Why You Should Use Employee Reward and Recognition Programs in Your Library,” presented by Andrew Sanderbeck, founder of the People~Connect Institute.

  http://www.dynix.com/institute/seminar/index.asp?sem=20041105.… Read the rest

HR Law

• Tick, Tick, Tick.

  NCLB Requirements for Paraprofessionals in School Libraries

  By Sharon L. Comstock

  While the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is not new, a deadline is looming for many of our support staff in school libraries who are identified as “paraprofessional” in school districts nation-wide. With the 2005-2006 school year, aides and assistants in school media centers will need to have achieved minimum standards of qualification to retain their positions, or be in breach of the NCLB. What this means for … Read the rest