"Do more with less!"

The Workload Problem

There are three (interrelated) general causes for the burgeoning workload of academic librarians: diminished resources for universities at large, including reductions of library staff ; an increasingly managerial or corporatised style of governance at the highest levels; and an explosion in the complexity and sheer quantity of the work to be done, largely due to the expansion of the role of information technology. The result for librarians is a syndrome of increasing pressure to "do more with less," a familiar mantra of policy-makers. In practical terms this means, for instance, serving proportionately more time on the reference desk, covering collections responsibilities for a greater number of
subjects, or cataloguing more books per day.

Excerpt from: Canadian Association of University Teachers Association

You Have Rights! Librarians and Unions

Don't miss this audio conference on Tuesday April 25, 3pm ET, noon PT
Site License: $68.00 cdn. + gst

The majority of Canadian librarians are represented by unions but they are often unfamiliar with the collective bargaining process and what, exactly, their rights are as union members. Other librarians may be interested in becoming negotiators at the table but need to learn the practices and pitfalls of negotiating as well as the benefits to be gained by negotiating for their own group. Find out more about what is needed to improve your working conditions and benefits in the negotiating process.

The Benefits

Role of unions/collective bargaining and their benefits to librarians in defining working conditions

1. How to define the key items for collective bargaining for librarians such as ranks, pay scales, promotion/ tenure, leaves and other benefits
2. Librarians at the negotiating table: find out where do you fit? What do you do to get what you want?
3. Who Should Participate?
Academic, public and special librarians are most likely to need the expertise this session is providing.

Key Topics You Will Explore
-Key items for collective bargaining for librarians
-What do you do to become a negotiator, where can you train?
-Collective agreements; positives and pitfalls in being part of one: what are the disadvantages of being a librarian in the bargaining process
-Bargaining strategies for librarians in the new millenia; looking ahead to the future


Linda Winkler has been a librarian at the University of Regina since 1975 and has been involved in negotiations at the University for three collective agreements. From 1991 to 1994 she was a member, and later Chair, of the Librarians' Committee at the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), the parent organization for the University's union located in Ottawa. During this time Linda took training in collective bargaining with CAUT. In 2005, she was the librarians' representative to the advisory committee for the university's negotiating team in the current round of negotiations at the University of Regina.

source: reproduced from the Education Institute

Threat to the professional librarian.

It has been CCL's experience that lectures proposals such as the one described below somehow do not make their way into library conference schedule lineups. Why? Is it because there are too many more fascinating subjects out there? -- or is it that library associations, although ironically headed by librarians, do not provide a forum for discussion on topics of a purely professional nature? In our attempts for inclusion of our non-librarian colleagues in all things 'library', have we not inflicted a great disservice on ourselves and the profession?

RENEWING PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIANSHIP: AN ACTION AGENDA
Dr. Bill Crowley, former State of Ohio (USA) deputy state librarian for library services and present professor with Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science, addresses the fundamental threat to the survival of the professional librarian...

Bill Crowley, Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Dominican University, has over twenty-three years of "real world" experience in the United States.

April 25, 2006 Equal Pay Day

Each year, the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day to raise awareness about unfair pay for women. It is observed in April to indicate how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year.

Librarians, a predominantly female occupation, earn less than other professionals with similar qualifications, experience and responsibility who work in fields that are predominantly male. This is certainly the case for all library workers.

source: Equal Pay Day