Spreading the word
Sent via Joan Goddard and Karen Schneider on CALIX-L ... originated from Mitch Freedman. If you have ideas, post them below ... I left out the contact emails for the people involved, but if you leave a comment with your addy attached, I'll forward it to you with all the contact info:
January 21, 2004
Dear Colleagues,
Please forgive any duplication.
We need your input for a 12-minute video and related training materials
to promote improved compensation and pay equity for librarians and
library workers. We would like to hear your anecdotes, war stories, and
examples that highlight important aspects of the issue, such as:
* amusing or illustrative examples of a patron's unsuccessful efforts to
find information via Google, and how a librarian ("the ultimate search
engine") saved the day
* anecdotes demonstrating aspects of library work that are valuable to
the community but aren't reflected in compensation
* stories about dangers and other unique challenges on the job that
the general public might not expect library staff to face
* the level of pay of librarians and support staff relative to other
occupations, and the cost of supporting a family; documented examples of
poor pay for librarians and/or support staff
* stories about struggles to gain and protect even modest salary
levels
* any other suggestions, information or examples that demonstrate the
high value that librarians and library workers provide to their patrons,
in contrast to the level of salaries that they are paid.
Please feel free to forward this message to any list or people who might
be able to contribute.
The comments from the other affiliates, the various other roundtables,
the type of library and type of work divisions lists, and the
chapters/state association lists would be especially helpful, too, but
we didn't have e-mail privileges for them. Also, if any lists or
individuals who should have been included were omitted, please forward
this message to them, as well as the aforementioned roundtables,
divisions, chapters/state associations, and affiliates.