[OPLINLIST] Change agents...the staff and patrons make their case to the Board

[Epling, Jimmie (KDLA)]

Below is a follow up article to the earlier one about staff and patrons
not liking the changes in the Sacramento public library.  Did they make
their case before the Board?  

 

Jimmie 

 

Library workers lay into bosses: Patrons chime in, and board's chief
vows a response (In what one speaker described as a revolt among
Sacramento library workers, seven members of a committee spoke out
Thursday to the board that governs the library's 27 branches. Several
library patrons joined the committee of seven library workers, former
librarians and patrons in decrying library management practices. In
recent weeks, library staffers have collected 600 petition signatures
protesting management priorities. They raised concerns Thursday ranging
from staff's diminished role in choosing books to managers turning away
$50,000 worth of free books from publishers.)

Sacramento (CA) Bee. May 25, 2007

http://www.sacbee.com/302/story/193347.html

 

In what one speaker described as a revolt among Sacramento library
workers, seven members of a committee spoke out Thursday to the board
that governs the library's 27 branches. Several library patrons joined
the committee of seven library workers, former librarians and patrons in
decrying library management practices. In recent weeks, library staffers
have collected 600 petition signatures protesting management priorities.
They raised concerns Thursday ranging from staff's diminished role in
choosing books to managers turning away $50,000 worth of free books from
publishers.

            Dennis Blegen, a librarian at the Southgate Library, said
staff members have grown upset with their bosses' judgment. His
three-minute speech, like that of other speakers who slammed library
management, drew applause. "We tend to be people who don't rock the
boat," Blegen said. "In 25 years I have never seen a revolt of library
workers -- until now."

            Library board Chairman and county Supervisor Roger Dickinson
said the board could take no action Thursday because the issues raised
were not on the agenda. But he said the board hopes to hear responses to
specific concerns next month from library administrators. "We know you
are here because you care about these issues, and we will certainly
examine them seriously and respond to your concerns," Dickinson said.

            Two speakers, one a library manager and another from the
Library Foundation, spoke in support of administration. Disaffected
speakers touched on a wide range of issues, including criticism of
management's acquisition of 30 "Jackass 2" DVDs.

            Steve Crouch, an AFL-CIO business agent who represents
nearly 300 library employees, said shoddy security at libraries has
given rise to criminal incidents that leave staff fearful. "The
libraries in certain neighborhoods are becoming magnets for
troublemakers, gang members and pedophiles," he said. Rick Teichert, a
library manager, said leaders share safety concerns and included items
in the library budget for improvements, such as security cameras.

            Phyllis Ehlert, a former librarian, said the library has
turned away $50,000 worth of children's and teen books each year since
2004, without explaining the change to staff. Additionally, she decried
computer-generated lists of books that managers expect librarians to
discard. The lists are based on how often the books circulate, she said.
"A computer can't tell you to retain Mark Twain, Sophocles or
Dostoyevsky," she said.

            Blegen questioned the move to "centralized selection," which
removed book selection from library branch managers and put it in the
hands of central staff. Before the change, he said, he carefully
selected three children's books about the Wright Brothers. Afterward, he
said, the central staff sent a similar yet inferior Wright Brothers
tome. "So the taxpayers wasted $25," he said. "Multiply that mistake
dozens of times in the last two years."

            Belva Seaberry, a patron, questioned book and music
purchases that appeal to R-rated tastes. "Why can't you give the same
prompt and respectful consideration to the concerns of tax-paying,
library bond-voting, volunteering ... patrons?" she said.

            Teichert, who spoke in place of library director Anne Marie
Gold, said administrators had already been discussing some of the
concerns the speakers raised. "Many issues are things we have on the
radar screen and are beginning to work on," he said.

 

Jimmie Epling, MLS

Regional Library Consultant

FIVCO/Big Sandy Regional Office

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

P.O. Box 370, 122 South Main Cross St. 

Louisa, KY 41230-0370

V: 606.638.4797  F:606.638.0586

jimmie.epling at ky.gov

 

 

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