Library Journal Mobile
Log In  |  Register          Free Newsletter Subscription
Subscribe to LJ Magazine

After Complaints, Meetings But Still Tensions in King County

-- Library Journal, 6/5/2006

After union workers voted "no confidence" in Bill Ptacek, the director of the King County Library System, Issaquah, WA, Ptacek said he'd be in "listening mode." He's heard an earful. More than 100 members of the library staff protested outside the KCLS headquarters last week, and Susan Veltfort, president of Local 1857 of the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, described workers' feelings of disrespect and low morale. Ptacek, who earlier had met with the union's executive council, said, "We had a good discussion, and we agreed we needed to start meeting on a regular basis, and try to find ways to work together."

Ptacek continued to defend one of the contentious issues, the clustering plan, in which staffers are assigned to a cluster of (usually three) libraries, and are rotated one day a week to one of the them. "As we grow, we can look at this pool of staff...for expanded hours," he said. While other libraries use clusters, he wasn't sure how many had adopted a plan in which staffers rotate. "There's nothing like KCLS, we're so big and so busy," he said. "Our goal is to be able to have this library organization flexible enough as we meet changing demands." The library board, he said, is committed to clusters for a year and will evaluate it after that. As for the Friends groups, nearly 20 of which have expressed dismay with library management, "I guess we've got to rebuild relationships with some of those folks," he said.

Veltfort told LJ that having "monthly joint labor-management meetings is not only long overdue but something we tried to negotiate in the first place." She said, "We remain skeptical that Mr. Ptacek is serious" about addressing the union's concerns. As for the clusters, "We have grievances we're working our way through that discuss moderations of the system," she said. "We're fine with a cluster, but not if staff has to work in different locations than they were hired at." She said that staffers wanted Sunday hours filled by those who volunteer for service, rather than being mandated to work on Sundays.

Talkback

We would love your feedback!

Post a comment

» VIEW ALL TALKBACK THREADS

Related Content

Related Content

 

By This Author

There are no other articles written by this author.

Sponsored Links




 
Advertisement
Sponsored Links

More Content

  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Photos

Blogs

  • Cheryl LaGuardia
    E-VIEWS

    July 3, 2009
    Another Bing Convert
    I’ve been playing with Bing (Microsoft’s new search service) ever since learning about i...
    More
  • Norman Oder
    In the Bookroom

    June 30, 2009
    After Cataloging Delay (and Some Questions), NYPL Puts Exposé of Museum on the Shelves
    So, did the New York Public Library (NYPL) face pressure not to purchase Michael Gross’s new b...
    More
  • » VIEW ALL BLOGS RSS

Photos

  • Design Institute 2007
    December 11, 2007 at Chicago's Harold Washington Library Center:Design Institute 2007
  • Learning Gardens
    New York's GreenBranches program links the library to the street.
  • Green Picks: LBD May 2007
    Want to reduce your library's carbon footprint? Join the Cradle-to-Cradle revolution. Helen Milling shares the green products her firm is using.
Advertisements





LJ NEWSLETTERS

Click on a title below to learn more.

LJ BookSmack
LJXPRESS
LJ ACADEMIC NEWSWIRE
LJ REVIEW ALERT
CRÍTICAS
©2009 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Use of this Web site is subject to its Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Please visit these other Reed Business sites