Support UC Librarians

UC librarians have been in negotiations with the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) since December '07, in an effort to agree a new contract. Nearly 20 years of staff reductions and the most meager of salary increases have left UC librarians with a greater workload, dwindling resources, and far behind their counterparts at other institutions in terms of pay. UC cannot continue to short-change its libraries and librarians without detriment to its educational and research mission. We say it’s past time for UCOP to adjust its priorities and make good on its ‘commitment’ to address academic and staff pay inequities.

WHAT WE DO

UC’s more than 400 librarians play a critical role in supporting and contributing to the University of California’s mission to teach, conduct research, and provide public service. Librarians perform activities that enable UC to meet the needs of its faculty and student communities, such as:

Building and preserving academically pertinent library collections
Negotiating with companies to provide high-quality academic research databases and printed materials, containing scholarship not available through Google
Teaching information-seeking and evaluation skills to help students engage more critically in their UC courses
Contributing to professional library associations by publishing research and presenting at conferences
Connecting with local communities to engage with high schools and provide other forms of public service to the general community

CURRENT CONDITIONS

UC librarians maintain a high standard of professional service; however, decisions by UC administrators have contributed to demoralizing and deteriorating conditions, for example:

Salaries that lag far behind California’s state university and much of the community college system
Pay increases that are consistently below the cost of living
Hiring freezes and reductions in staff that result in increased workloads
Difficulty in keeping new hires and attracting quality applicants
Larger student enrollments without corresponding growth in staff
Reduced time for professional development and research

Although UC librarians must meet the standards of “academics,” UC administrators have denied full academic standing to librarians and are attempting to reduce benefits and increase the cost of retirement and health-care plans.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

SIGN THE PETITION

Administrators have a consistent record of running UC on the cheap, at the cost of a quality education and the services necessary to provide it—this while student fees in the past six years have increased:

66% for graduate students
69% for undergraduates.*

Librarians and their union—the UC-AFT—are fighting against these trends and for major improvements in their negotiations with the University of California.
To lend your support, sign our petition. You can use the suggested wording or better yet, create a custom message. We are collecting your supportive comments to present to officials who count: UC President Mark Yudof; Chair of the State Senate Committee on Education, Gloria Romero; the UC Regent representative to the California Postsecondary Education Commission, Bruce Varner; and the chancellors of the ten UC campuses. Demand that UC live up to its educational commitment by fully staffing its libraries and fairly compensating its librarians!

DOCUMENTATION

Salary—
Librarians Not a Priority at UC