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Spotlight
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Trailing or Trail-Blazing? One Librarian Weighs Her Baggage and Follows Her Spouse
Recently, a newlywed asked me for life advice. She plans to attend library school, and her husband is pursuing a doctoral degree in the humanities. Together they are considering where to apply for graduate school, and they are looking ahead at dual-career opportunities and challenges. Over twenty years ago I found myself in a similar situation. Somehow I had managed to fall in love with a graduate student pursuing a degree in German medieval literature. I had … Read the rest
ALA-APA News
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2 percent pay raises considered by library
Allen County Public Library employees may receive a pay raise of up to two percent. County officials will decide on this and other issues before they finalize Allen County’s 2012 budget. The library officials also plan to increase the library’s regular contribution to its employee retirement program (from 11.75 percent in 2011 to 12.5 percent in 2012).… Read the rest
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Rahm wants to know what you think; phone survey | Mayor seeks opinions on public officials, what to cut, school taxes
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plans to reduce a $636 million budget deficit may include closing libraries. A telephone survey, funded by Emanuel, asked voters whether they would have “some concerns, serious concerns or no concerns” if the city “cuts subsidies for libraries, reduces hours and potentially leads to some libraries closing.” Other questions measure voter concern over outsourcing public services to private firms, and cutting funding for police and fire … Read the rest
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Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library System receives increased funding over last year; $59M budget approved for metro-area libraries
Metropolitan Library System commissioners approved funding for 30 new positions. The $59.3 million budget also funds a market-adjusted 2.5 percent salary increase for staff, and staff are also eligible for performance raises of up to 3 percent. Library officials will open a new branch this year, and are also considering expanding services in many of the 17 current branches.… Read the rest
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Hacienda Heights librarian fighting against privatization
Hacienda Heights (California) librarian Cindy Singer has mounted a campaign against the privatization of library services. The campaign is preemptive; there are currently no proposals to privatize libraries in her county. Singer supports California Assembly Bill AB 438, which would impose certain requirements on local governments intending to outsource library services. As specified in the bill’s language, these requirements would include
publishing notice of the contemplated action in
Career Advancement
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In Good Hands: A Summary of ALA-APA’s Annual Conference Program “Making a Positive Lasting Impression”
Editor’s Note: This article is the third of Howerton’s summaries of ALA-APA Programs for the People offered to conference attendees at the ALA Annual Conference 2011 held in New Orleans.
Want to polish your professional image? On Sunday, June 26, Amy Arnold, Julius Jefferson and Kris Johnson advised attendees on how to portray oneself in a professional, capable manner. Julius Jefferson opened the conversation by discussing the growing need to demonstrate our value to those we serve; … Read the rest
Recruitment
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Growing Leadership: Bringing the Career College Library Firmly into the ALA
In a previous article published in Library Worklife I explained the value I believe career (for-profit) college libraries bring to their schools. But for librarians in these schools to maximize the value they bring to their institutions, it is crucial that we expand the leadership and professional development opportunities for those librarians. I think that what any librarian from a traditional college or university would say to a career college librarian is that without solid leadership a library … Read the rest
Salaries
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ALA issues RFP for national salary survey
CHICAGO – The American Library Association (ALA) seeks proposals to conduct a national Web-based salary survey for the 2012 edition of the ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian – Public and Academic. The survey is sent to directors and human resources staff in a random sample of both public and academic libraries.
The contractor will be responsible for distributing the survey to the sample in early 2012, collecting and analyzing the data and preparing the data for print and database use. The … Read the rest
Statistics
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Merit Pay Most Often Used in Compensation for Public and Academic Librarians
A Report from the 2010 Librarian Salary Survey supplemental questions
In addition to providing compensation data in every Salary Survey: Librarian – Public and Academic, ALA-APA also collects and publishes supplemental data on different topics. The second and third supplemental questions in the 2010 survey request data on compensation strategies used by libraries.
The survey was sent in January 2010 to a sample of 957 public and 715 academic libraries, using a proportional sampling procedure. By … Read the rest
Work/Life
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Reducing Work Related Stress – 3 Tips to Try Everyday
Let’s face it . . . stress is an unfortunate by-product of any job. Stress-induced headaches, moodiness and fatigue can put employees on edge. My transition from eager entry level librarian to enthusiastic library manager brought its share of stress, and along the way the following tricks have helped me weather stressful situations. These are not medical or psychiatric practices, but rather attitude adjustments I have tried firsthand.
Laughter
Irate patrons? Marathon meetings? Whether you work … Read the rest
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