Dear Library Friends,
Some of you might be following the
recent events at the Westland Public Library, where five out of the eight
full-time librarians on the adult services staff were abruptly "let
go" on March 3rd. The explanation given for this unprecedented
move was “restructuring” of the library. As a librarian who worked at Westland
for many years, I was concerned to learn about this turn of events, so I went
to the library's next board meeting where I found out the head of the department
had also just resigned, bringing their number down to only two people. Although the board
president tried to stop me, I recorded most of the meeting here (it has already
had 12,000 views): https://www.facebook.com/
The reason for this sudden "restructuring" decisions do not hold water (it is not even in alignment with the library's fiscal year budget which is July-June). It is alarming for two reasons. First, the removal of 5/8 of full time librarians at once and with no notice seems to be a blatant attempt to disrupt unionization activities currently underway after several years of court cases involving unionization of library staff. Second, because the unvested retirement funds of these librarians will likely be returned to the general fund and will help to break ground on a $3 million building expansion currently being planned. The coincidental nature of this timing seems suspicious and begs for investigation.
Regardless of the motives for firing the adult services librarians, we know that the community served by the Westland Public Library deserves better. With the dismissal of these librarians, a number of critical programs have been cut off with no transition plan -- all teen services, homebound delivery to seniors, job seekers’ labs, computer, smartphone, and tablet classes, book clubs, and the adult literacy program. Neither is there anyone to take over for the staffers that maintain the library website and social media communications (their Facebook page is currently down). Moreover, the Westland Public Library Board intends to replace these full-time degreed librarians with non-degreed, part-time staff which could potentially jeopardize future state funding and QSAC ratings.
The librarians in Westland are committed to the community, and we as librarians and information professionals know that libraries are more than buildings, books, and computers—professional librarians are vital to strong libraries that provide excellent service to their communities. We must stand in solidarity together and demand answers about why these librarians have been dismissed with no warning.
The board president attempted to
explain their reasoning behind these cuts. However the many citizens and former
Westland librarians (including myself) were not convinced. Please take a moment
to read my summary of the meeting here: https://www.facebook.com/
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to learn how to get involved in helping these 5 librarians.
Otherwise
you can share your displeasure with the Mayor
of Westland, William Wild, who appoints the Library Board. You can call his office at: (734) 467-3200, email him at http://www.cityofwestland.com/
If you would like to share my video on
Twitter, the link is available here: https://twitter.com/
Thank you everyone,
Kristy Cooper
Former Head of Technology Services and Web Librarian at the Westland Public Library (2007-2013)
YA Author at kristycooper.com