Putting Pay First

There is nothing new about people who work in libraries, most of them women, getting paid low salaries.

But there is a new movement to make that change, and it is beginning to deliver results. Two years ago, during his run for president of the American Library Association (ALA), Maurice (Mitch) Freedman brought up the issue of low library salaries, and then, when he took office, he created the Better Salaries and Pay Equity Task Force (BSPETF) in order to deliver action beyond the rhetoric.

Seemingly overnight, what had become a nagging downside of library work was reenvisioned as a problem to be solved for the profession. Beyond a raising of awareness that the issue calls for personal responsibility and action by all library workers, meaningful financial impacts are starting to be seen.

The biggest problem, now and during earlier efforts to raise salaries and achieve pay equity, is the economy. Lack of money is no excuse for (wage) discrimination. Even the current economic downturn is not reason enough to end efforts to raise salaries and achieve pay equity.

The new effort to improve pay expands on some historical precedent. Several ALA units have attacked the problem over the years—notably the Ad Hoc Commission on Pay Equity (CPE), formed in 1984, and the Committee on Pay Equity, which grew out of the commission in 1986. ALA also was a charter member of the National Committee on Pay Equity, a nonprofit coalition formed in 1979 and the only organization dedicated solely to this issue.

But Freedman revived the issue and energized it as never before. A longtime library activist, Freedman attended the CPE preconference in 1986 (as one of only four men there). He served on and chaired the Committee on Pay Equity and in 2000 watched as his daughter Jenna Freed-man was offered less than a living wage for a job as a starting librarian in New York City. Then, when Freed-man ran for ALA president the next year, his platform included "Pay equity and better salaries for all library workers." When elected, he formed the BSPETF and made his presidential initiative the "Campaign for America's Librarians," which scans well but was emphatically intended to include all library workers.

The task force objective was to make the library world's case loudly, clearly, and effectively to the general public and to decision-makers:

• Librarians have advanced, specialized degrees and are experts in the area of managing and making available information in an increasingly complex technological world.
• Librarians are leaders, and libraries knit communities together. In adverse times, librarians are often on the front lines of their communities and campuses, defending freedom of speech and equal access to information.
• Library salaries should be commensurate with the salaries of other professionals with equivalent educational credentials and levels of responsibility.

Skeptics—from longtime ALA-watchers to front-line library staff—doubted that this group could make a difference, as others had tried before. Since influencing change can take many years, it is premature to expect extensive information about the impact of the task force's efforts. However, there have been some tangible results already.

First, public awareness has been raised about the importance not only of libraries but of the people who work in them. More and more people are conscious of the concept embraced by the late Father Timothy Healy, president of New York Public Library, who noted, "The most important asset of any library goes home at night—the library staff."

Secondly, library workers at the grass-roots level began to feel energized and empowered to make their case for better salaries. In just one example, Duxbury Free Library, MA, workers cited the Campaign for America's Librarians on January 8, 2003 when they picketed the library, carrying signs touting such slogans as "Love Your Library: Support the Library staff." Head of Circulation Carol Jankowski says Duxbury library workers unionized in order to improve salaries and benefits, after learning that circulation staff earned less than custodians. To date they have been unable to negotiate their first contract, and the town has filed for mediation.

Former president of the California Library Association, Anne Turner says that Freedman and the tool kit served as backup for a fair compensation campaign in California, now in its second year. A pay equity study produced by the campaign last year raised the consciousness of many people, Turner says, and served to clarify the issue (see "California Makes the Case for Pay Equity ," LJ 10/15/02).

Medical Library Association (MLA) staff member Carla Funk, who attended task force training, reports that MLA will have a compensation session at its annual meeting in May in hopes that chapters will present sessions at their fall annual meetings.

The task force tool kit also helped Montgomery Community College Director David Orenstein raise the salaries of many of his staff (see "Fair Pay Is an Issue for Managers, Too ," p. 45).

Task force members, knowledgeable in the workings of ALA, built on previous ALA advocacy campaigns, such as Library Advocacy Now and the Campaign for America's Libraries, and included salary issues in the new Campaign to Save America's Libraries. Within a matter of months, smaller task force working groups were putting on programs and training, making connections with other organizations and producing products.

The biggest single project—which serves as a foundation for some of the task force's other work—is the publication of the "Advocating for Better Salaries and Pay Equity Toolkit." With sections written by many task force members and coordinated by Margaret Myers, formerly head of ALA's Office for Library Personnel Resources, the tool kit is user-friendly. It urges library workers to speak out for themselves in the same way they speak out on issues such as intellectual freedom on behalf of library users. It includes straightforward advice on how to present the message and make the case for better salaries, how to answer tough questions, and where to get help. Now in its second edition, the tool kit is available in print from the ALA Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) or online. ALA has sent out more than 1200 print copies upon request, and another 400 have been distributed at conferences.

A working bibliography, developed by another group, includes materials about recruitment, competencies, the changing roles of library workers, and determining the value of library workers, plus information about specific actions taken by library groups to raise wages; it is also available online. These resources served as the background to the tool kit.

The tool kit informed a nationwide network of advocates for better library salaries through "Train the Trainer" sessions at the 2002 ALA annual conference in Atlanta and 2003 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Almost 100 people have attended the training, intended to prepare them to take their skills to regional, state, and local levels. The training workshop will be repeated at the 2003 ALA annual conference in Toronto.

Library support staff are represented on the task force by Gene Kinnaly, a non-MLS senior cataloger at the Library of Congress. His working group has provided input for the tool kit, kept the entire task force aware of support staff concerns, and pressed to have the annual ALA salary survey include support staff. Kinnaly, who considers the task force "everything I'd like to see from ALA," is particularly gratified that other task force members often express the support staff perspective even before he has a chance to speak.

Aware that relatively few library workers are able to attend national conferences, a working group created two electronic discussion lists, MONEY-TALKS and BETTERPAY (strictly for those who have had task force training).

MONEYTALKS, with more than 500 subscribers, has been highly successful at identifying salary and pay equity issues and has spawned an ALA Council resolution to establish a Fair Pay Week (or possibly Fair Pay Day) for Library Workers. A program entitled "MONEYTALKS Live!" will be held at the 2003 annual conference in Toronto.

The discussion list has been extremely popular. MONEYTALKS "eliminated once and for all the taboo on speaking out about our economic lives," says task force member Cathy Bremer, San Francisco PL. "But it also brought the 'U' word [for union] out of the closet."

In fact, the foremost accomplishment of the union working group is its contribution to the tool kit, which includes contact information for and links to unions, FAQs on unions in libraries, and a sample neutrality agreement.

This group's work also led to the formation of the Library Advisory Committee of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Similar committees within AFSCME—such as the nurses and corrections groups—provide support for workers in their fields, including lobbying on issues of concern in their professions and organizing workers nationwide.

Task force member Diane Fay, president of AFSCME Council 93 and a former Boston PL employee, stressed that AFSCME should show that it could address the needs of library workers. She took her idea to international union president Gerald McEntee's assistant Lee Saunders and to McEntee himself. In late 2001 they agreed to a Library Workers Caucus, which was held in 2002 at the AFSCME International Convention. Task force member Ray Markey, president of the New York Public Library Guild, the largest library unit in AFSCME, is the chair of the committee.

Markey, who expects the Library Advisory Committee to lobby for both library workers and libraries, says, "To have one of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO establish this committee is a major step forward." The committee's top priority will be to try to organize library workers into unions, he adds. It will also coordinate and share information to help library workers get better salaries and work to convince library workers to join ALA.

The union working group also has connected with Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which reported on the relative pay and benefits of union and nonunion library workers. The group hosted a breakfast at the 2003 ALA Midwinter Meeting and will host a similar breakfast in Toronto and present the program "Organizing for Better Salaries."

Less tangible but no less real is the climate the task force has created. According to task force member Kathleen de la Peña McCook, professor at the University of South Florida School of Library and Information Science, Tampa, "The work of the task force has been of special help in library education by providing new librarians with a sense of hope." The task force's accomplishments and ongoing efforts are especially impressive since it has been working for roughly 15 months and faced some significant stumbling blocks.

First, there's the matter of time, perhaps the most precious resource for any ALA officer trying to fulfill campaign promises. Even with the best start, an ALA president has just over two years to get things done. Constraints on time and other resources also limit research and make it difficult to evaluate impact.

A highly visible, energetic campaign to raise salaries also may raise the expectations of library workers for a "quick fix," followed by disappointment and disillusionment when it is clear that there are no fast and easy remedies.

Given these barriers, how has the task force been able to get this key work done? First and foremost was Freedman's vision and inspiration in forming the task force and continually supporting it. He handpicked its members, with sensitivity to overall diversity and to representing all types of work done in libraries, and he particularly sought "people who really cared or were committed to salaries and working hard." He recruited former ALA president Patricia Glass Schuman, who is an expert at working within ALA, to chair the group.

Working group coordinators communicate and collaborate on projects, with all task force members taking part in an electronic discussion list.

First, it's vital that the momentum of this task force be continued under the ALA-APA and with the commitment of future ALA presidents. The task force has plans for some activities and programs and training for the 2003 annual conference in Toronto, as noted above, as well as suggestions for carrying on its work under the ALA-APA. The BSPETF wants to form some new working groups and tweak existing ones, to reach out to organizations outside the library world to communicate the commitment to salary and pay equity issues.

Training and involvement at the state and local levels must continue, via those who attended training workshops in Atlanta and Philadelphia and those who will attend the workshop in Toronto. The tool kit must be continually updated with practical tools, new resources, and new success stories.

New research should be encouraged, including mining for more salary data. While some research is being done on the value of library services through such means as cost-benefit analysis and outcomes evaluation, Myers notes that "there is little that shows the connection to how library workers add value to these services." Research could examine not just the economic benefits of the work of library staffs but also the cultural, social, and educational benefits related to the quality of life in communities.

A recent article about the lower pay of veterinarians compared with other healthcare professionals quotes a professor saying that vets "give away an awful lot—they have difficulty thinking of money and asking for it; many vets overlook their intellectual capital and what their time is worth." Myers suggests that the same could be said of library workers.

Even before research demonstrates the value of library workers, PR efforts could be built on the general love of the public for librarians, possibly using celebrities as in the ALA Read posters.

But it will take more than a task force, or even a number of them, to raise library workers' salaries and achieve pay equity. "Although ALA can bring its resources and national stature to address the issues, there still needs to be much work done at the local and state level by individuals, libraries, managers and boards, state associations, unions, and other employee groups," Myers says. "There is no one right way to address the issue; much depends on jurisdictional structures, funding sources, and who has decision-making power over job classifications and compensation for library workers."

"For too many library workers, a vow of poverty seems to be in effect, in small and rural libraries but also in some large cities with high costs of living and low wages for many essential library jobs," adds task force member Joan Goddard, Santa Clara County Free Library, CA. "Work to change this situation must take place at the individual library level, encouraged by state and national projects to help raise public awareness, gather information, and provide such information as surveys, job descriptions, and competencies language."

Let's acknowledge that the time is never right for such efforts, and let's get on with it—particularly with problems of recruitment (which even the White House is finding funds for), retention (which is every bit as important as recruitment), and the aging of library workers.

Let's not put other new librarians in the position that Jenna Freedman found herself. She took a low-paying library job only after the Internet start-up she worked for—at a very nice salary—declared bankruptcy; she has since gotten a better-paying library job. "I enjoy my library work more than anything I've ever done," she notes, "but if I hadn't been desperate—and if tech stocks hadn't crashed—I might never have used my MLS."

Every library worker needs to take personal responsibility for trying to solve the problems of low and inequitable salaries. In the words of Hillel, "If I am not for myself, who is for me?… And if not now, when?"