Virginia Library Association’s Paraprofessional Forum

By Jim Rettig, University Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond

Every spring the Virginia Library Association holds its Paraprofessional Forum. It regularly attracts 500 registrants, not all of them from Virginia. The Forum is a two-day conference for paraprofessionals with a keynote speaker, a series of concurrent programs, a banquet, etc. Last fall I contacted the organizers of the 2005 VLAPF and asked if I could be on the program for one of the concurrent sessions to do an update and information session on current ALA and ALA-APA activities. My offer was accepted. MORE

Coaching in the Workplace

Why It Matters

By Ruth Metz, Consultant, www.librarycoach.com, Portland, OR

Whenever I get the chance, I like to ask library employees to describe the work environment of their dreams. There is great commonality in what they say, no matter where they work. Consistently, they describe a work environment where... MORE

What Is the Living Wage Movement?

By Jenifer Grady, Editor

The previous two months of Library Worklife featured articles about the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and recent changes. The Living Wage Movement is a progression from efforts that led the legislative and judicial branches to set a standard for wages in the 1930s to citizens in the 1990s requesting that local governments assess for themselves whether that wage is sufficient. FLSA was enacted in 1938 and guaranteed a minimum, but not a living, wage. Living wage laws are primarily for subcontractors with cities, not those who are on the city’s payroll. Some apply only to certain categories of workers or to businesses that receive other types of local government funding, including tax abatements. Pittsburgh almost doubled the minimum wage for businesses that provide good or services to the city and for businesses that receive economic assistance. Few cities apply the living wage law to all workers. MORE

Online Academic Certificate Program in Library Information Technology at Lexington Community College

By Martha Birchfield, Professor, Information Management & Design, Lexington Community College (KY)

“It was a near-class experience," a Lexington Community College student wrote at the end of her first online undergraduate library science course. With five years of experience in distance education, we are seeing much greater acceptance of the idea that non-face-to-face, asynchronous education really can work and we are recognizing the value of education for library paraprofessionals. MORE

This Is the Last Free Issue for Individual ALA Members and Non-ALA Members!

If you don’t want to miss future issues (and your organization doesn’t get Library Worklife), subscribe NOW! MORE

Annual Conference Programs

ALA-APA is hosting several exciting programs at ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL, June 24th through June 30th! MORE

Cleveland Public Library Update

A panel of three fact-finders will hear library and union positions and decide on how to resolve disagreements. The library and union have appointed members to the panel and the third will be chosen by both groups. The panel will review written arguments and then allow both groups to present questions, updates and responses. Deborah Hajzak, Chapter President of the SEIU 1199, explained that the panel may accept the library’s proposal, the unions, or shape a compromise between the two. MORE

Scholarships from the New York Black Librarians Caucus and University of Texas at Austin

Consumer health programs for public librarians from NN/LM

MORE

We’ve Got a Long Way to Go to Close the Wage Gap

In the May issue of Library Worklife, the survey asked you how long you thought it would take to eliminate the wage gap in the U.S. between men and women. Respondents were also asked whether it would take less, the same, or more time within librarianship.

Based on the perceptions of 303 readers, the outlook is less than sunny. MORE

It Pays to Be a Man in Most Jobs

By Genaro C. Armas, Associated Press Writer

June 3, 2004

Don’t Fear the Flair

By Gwendolyn Prellwitz, Program Officer for the Office for Diversity

It seems that by now everyone should know how important a comfortable work environment is to employee satisfaction and productivity. We’ve all heard the stories about those cushy corporate jobs with in-house daycare centers, weekly chair massages, casual day every day, and a professional fun coordinator on payroll. Amidst the stress of patron requests, I’m sure we’ve all longed for such perks.

But we might not realize our own power to make our work environments more pleasant and more productive spaces. MORE

Council on Library/Media Technicians (COLT) Annual Conference
Orlando
June 23–25, 2004

ALA Annual Conference
Orlando
June 24–30, 2004