Book Riot: Library workers face lay offs and difficult decisions as institutions fail the test of supporting most vulnerable employees

An article posted last week to Book Riot has detailed the trials that some of the library field's most vulnerable workers have been facing amidst the global coronavirus pandemic.

As the article details, staff at libraries across the country are facing furloughs, being forced to work without adequate supplies or guidance, and in some cases being transferred to pandemic response work they are not trained or prepared for.

Some library worker advocates have begun tracking library layoffs and furloughs brought on by the pandemic in a shared Google Document located here. They are also encouraging the spread on social media of the hashtag #protectlibraryworkers. Organizers are also encouraging people to support library workers through the work of the HALO (Help A Library worker Out) fund.

Advocates for library workers argue that, with budgets already set for libraries at the beginning of the fiscal year, forcing library workers to decide to work in potentially dangerous environments or take paid time off (which many of the lowest paid library staff across the country do not have) or, worse, laying off or furloughing staff amidst this pandemic is both shortsighted and wrong.

Reminder: SCSU pettition drive for retrenched librarians and professors

There is still time, if you haven't already, to add your voice to the petition from St. Cloud State University's Faculty Association to rescind the retrenchment (layoffs) of librarians as well as professors in the philosophy and theater department.

You can read the petition's statement in full at the petitions sight, but the closing paragraphs are well worth quoting at length:

We are here to bury the notion of disposable education, to show the administration of this university that our faculty, our staff, and our students are not disposable commodities that can be churned out.

We are here to call for transformative education, the education our local and global communities need. We call upon this administration to rescind their retrenchment decision and reaffirm their commitment to critical thinking, creativity, and the pursuit of knowledge. We call upon all of you to demand a transformative education for yourselves and others.

You can show your solidarity here:  https://www.change.org/p/scsu-president-robbyn-wacker-stop-faculty-layoffs-at-st-cloud-state-university

SCSU FA Action Committee launches petition against retrenchment

As readers of the Union Library Workers Blog may already know, St. Cloud State University has retrenched (i.e. laid off) 8 tenured positions including 4 library workers at the University.

Supporters of the retrenched workers are being asked by the SCSU FA Action Committee to add their names to the petition directed to SCSU's President and Provost asking the university to rescind their decision to retrench these positions.

Guest Post: Show solidarity with library workers under attack at St. Cloud State University

The following is a guest contribution from a Union Library Workers blog reader:

Since the previous post on August 30, St. Cloud State University has decided to move forward with the retrenchment of eight faculty, including four of the university’s remaining 12 faculty librarians. Official letters have been distributed to the faculty being laid off in the library and in the Philosophy and Theatre departments. (In order to lay off faculty at the end of the academic year in mid-May, the university is contractually obligated to inform them by the 15th workday of the semester, in mid-September.)

As the  “St. Cloud State University Faculty Association Response to Administration on Retrenchment” indicates, SCSU administrators still have not answered many questions about how they decided to retrench four librarians, including “What formula or metrics were used to reach the conclusion to retrench four faculty from the library? Given that the library does not use the same process as academic departments to determine productivity ratios, how did Administration arrive at their decision? How does this decision fit into a larger vision and strategic plan for the institution?”

Each of the units/departments with faculty being laid off had the opportunity to provide a written response to the administration’s “considerations” for retrenchment. All of these responses can be found in the Faculty Association response linked above. The SCSU University Library faculty’s response addresses the problematic and ill-informed arguments on which the library retrenchments were justified.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who responded to the request in the previous blog post. The many support letters received were inspiring and persuasive, but evidently the SCSU president and provost were not convinced. It’s time to make the case for sustaining an academic library to them in public venues.  

Public statements or resolutions (for a great example, see https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.mnlibraryassociation.org/resource/resmgr/arld/arld_scsuletter.pdf) , blog posts, articles, solidarity photos (such as https://twitter.com/Amy__Mars/status/1175121043335331841/photo/1) etc. are needed to continue to call attention to this disastrous attack on the library and to hold SCSU administrators accountable. One of the retrenched librarians is keeping track of all media coverage, blog posts, and public letters/statements (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YBmgOKm9SDWN3-HHz3osVtkvP7Sghylu/view?usp=sharing), so please read and share them, and make more of them!

Retweets (and original tweets!) are also very helpful. Follow the hashtag #SaveSCSU_Library for news and updates on solidarity actions to promote and participate in. Tag @stcloudstate, @DrRobbynWacker, @SCSU_Library, and @rhuisman in tweets asking tough questions. SCSU people and those familiar with the situation here are encouraged to suggest relevant questions in the comments on this post.

Guest Post: Appeal for support for SCSU library workers

The following is a guest contribution from a Union Library Workers reader:

St. Cloud State University recently announced that it intends to lay off (retrench) four faculty librarians (out of a total of twelve still working in the library after years of positions lost through attrition), along with three faculty from the Philosophy Department and one from Theatre. (See a post about the retrenchments in Philosophy here: https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2019/08/philosophy-and-tenured-faculty-jobs-under-threat-at-st-cloud-state-university.html)

The four librarians the administration is proposing be laid off are all tenured and have worked at SCSU for more than 11 years. The only two permanent, full-time library employees (not counting student workers) who are people of color are among those targeted for retrenchment. (Retrenchment happens in seniority order.)

The SCSU administrators behind this decision do not appear to understand the role or value of a modern academic library (and they are clearly not listening to the librarians at their own institution).

The university’s “considerations” for targeting the library can be found on page 41 of this document: http://www.scsufa.org/minutes/2019-2020/19-20%20MC%20Minutes/MC190815packet.pdf.

Here’s a quote:

“Because faculty and students are the primary users or library services, a corresponding decrease in the demand for library services has resulted. This decreased demand is evidenced in a number of ways. The total number of reference inquiries decreased 20.5% from FY18 (3,022) to FY19 (2,401). The circulation of print books decreased (90%) from 163,000 in 1993 to less than 16,000 in 2016. Spending on print resources, due to diminishing demand, decreased 94.6% from FY13 ($154,933) to FY18 ($8,242)**.”

This justification looks exclusively at library services that have declined, and ignores all of the services that have increased or been newly implemented over the same period. (Yes, circulation of print books is down, but electronic resources… hello?)

Library colleagues and supporters, please email the SCSU administration and debunk this obsolete picture of an academic library that is focused on circulating print books and reference desk transactions.

address to:

SCSU President Robbyn Wacker rrwacker@stcloudstate.edu 

SCSU Provost Daniel Gregory ddgregory@stcloudstate.edu

and CC:

University Library Dean Rhonda Huisman rkhuisman@stcloudstate.edu

SCSU Faculty Association President Frances Kayona fakayona@stcloudstate.edu 

Thank you!

**Because of severe cuts to the library’s budget for the past several years, there has been NO regular budget for print monographs for the past three academic years because all available funds were used up by existing e-resources subscription commitments. (Doesn’t it seem like the dearth of new print materials might have something to do with dwindling circulation?) The $8,242 that was spent on print resources in FY18 was money scrounged up at end of the academic year, and in no way correlates to demand.

Michigan Librarian Describes Union Busting

Westland, Mich. — Workers World newspaper recently interviewed one of the public employee librarians who won a fight for union representation in Westland, Mich., a suburb of beleaguered Detroit...

article by Randi Nord

http://www.workers.org/2017/07/17/michigan-librarians-win-struggle-vs-union-busting/#.WYZSpTbeKRs

Concerns over Lay-Offs at University of Manitoba Libraries

The union representing library workers at the University of Manitoba has expressed concern after a quarter of the library's staff have been let go since the beginning of the year. According to the union president, this reduction in staff will make it difficult for the library to continue to serve their community during the upcoming academic year. The university president has argued that the increasingly electronic nature of library services has lessened the need for librarians. The library workers are represented by the Association of Employees Supporting Education Services.

Mass Lay-offs at Argentina's National Library

Two hundred and fifty workers at Argentina's National Library, a quarter of its current staff, have been laid off. It is expected that many of the library's services, including publishing and digitization projects, will not be able to continue operating with the reductions in staffing.

Library Closures and Lay-Offs in Kirklees

Despite the efforts of Unite Community in petitioning against lay-offs and closures in Kirklees Council, cabinet ministers there have approved a plan to close two of the council's twenty-six library locations and possibly eliminate 88 full-time equivalent positions. Only eight of the remaining libraries will be staffed by librarians and funded by the council. The other sixteen libraries will rely on volunteers and a single council employee at each location. All mobile library services have been eliminated.

Librarian Positions to be Eliminated at Grimsby Institute

Grimsby Institute in North East Lincolnshire, England has announced plans to eliminate ten of its fifteen librarian positions in an effort to save money. Current library staff will have to apply for the five remaining permanent positions. The school's administration has stated that they will also make use of casual contract positions in creating a "dynamic environment to support online and blended learning".

Teacher-Librarian Positions May be Eliminated at Toronto Catholic School Board

The Toronto District Catholic School Board is proposing to eliminate all teacher-librarian positions in its elementary schools, as well as several positions in its secondary schools, in response to budget shortfalls.  The Ontario Library Association issued a letter to the school board, outlining the many reasons why teacher-librarians are vital to elementary schools and urging them to reconsider their plans.

Protest at Grand Rapids Public Library

Members of Grand Rapids Employees Independent Union staged a protest outside of the main branch of Grand Rapids Public Library on Tuesday in response to budget cuts and the proposed elimination of 18 positions. In response to statements by union members that the elimination of these positions will result in decreased quality of library service, the president of the library board expressed his hopes that library service will remain unchanged. The union had proposed alternative cost-cutting measures that were rejected by the board.

California Public Library To Be Run by Private Company

Moreno Valley City Council has approved a five-year contract with Library Systems & Services LLC to run Moreno Valley Public Library. All of the library's employees will be laid off and may have the opportunity to interview for their positions after the company takes over. Some of the current positions at the library will be eliminated.

Toronto Star Reporters Withhold Bylines

On March 6, bylines in the Toronto Star newspaper appeared only as "Star Staff". Dan Smith, Chief Steward of the Southern Ontario News Media Guild (CEP Local 87-M), said that a message was being sent to the publisher and board of the newspaper that the union stands with staff who have been targeted for layoffs, including Toronto Star librarians.

Canadian archives community devastated

The Canadian archival community received a stunning blow on Monday: the management of Library and Archives Canada announced that the National Archival Development Program (NADP) would be discontinued.  The NADP was a grant program that funded archives projects and temporary jobs across the country in archives of all sizes.  This means that several projects around Canada will be stopped in their tracks and many archivists will be let go or essentially laid off.  The consequences across the country will be devastating, not to mention the fact that the NADP provided entry-level positions to an untold number of up-and-coming archivists (including this here blogger).

In other bad news from Canada, 245 workers at Library and Archives Canada will have their jobs affected with over 100 of those workers laid-off.  This is part of wide-spread and crippling budget cuts across the federal government that are being imposed by Stephen Harper's Conservative government.  Tough times, indeed.

Nova Scotia school librarian update

Some good news out of Nova Scotia regarding the lay-off of school librarians that was mentioned previously on this blog.  Doug Stewart, a senior adviser for the Nova Scotia Treasury Board, has stated that the Chignecto-Central regional school board shouldn’t lay off its entire library staff so there is a possibility that at least some of the librarians will be kept in the system.  It's a glimmer of hope, but sometimes a glimmer is better than nothing!

Nova Scotia school librarians laid-off

In more news from Canada, public school librarians with the Chignecto-Central regional school board in Nova Scotia will be laid-off as of June 30.  This move will put 41 librarians out of work, all of whom are represented by the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU).  The move is the result of budget cuts but came as a surprise to the workers and the union.  However, the NSGEU is vowing to fight with the assistance of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

Gary Library update

AFSCME and the Gary Library have come to an agreement that sees 14 library workers laid-off and about $500,000 cut from the library budget.  AFSCME local official Ana Perez seemed pleased to get the scraps from management's table, saying of the meetings with the board committee: “That’s all we asked for was to let us participate.”  So AFSCME got to participate and still suffered the lay-offs that the board called for and a budget cut.  But that's ok, because AFSCME got a participation medal out of it.

Grand Rapids (MI) Library lay-offs

The proposed budget for the Grand Rapids (MI) Library will call for laying off 14 library workers (from a total of 165) to make up for falling property taxes.  This comes after the union representing library workers, the Grand Rapids Employees Independent Union, already made concessions to the city in light of budget cuts.  No word on what concessions management has made, likely because they have made absolutely none.

Harvard Library update

Harvard Library management has announced that it will form three joint councils with the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers to better plan and implement the proposed re-organization of the library system.  This move comes after protests by library workers, faculty, and students at Harvard University against management moves to unilaterally implement a "re-organization" that would leave many workers jobless.  However, the Harvard-based Student Labor Action Movement is wary and will still oppose all management attempts to lay off workers.