Election Section

The staff at the Berkeley Public Library recognizes that the library faces budgetary constraints and must make difficult decisions on staffing and services. Unfortunately, library management has made unilateral decisions on what services are important and what should be cutback without consulting either library staff or the users of library services. These arbitrary decisions have eroded staff morale and aggravated relations with the library user community. As long-time library staff, we want to propose a set of principles that could guide decisions about maintenance of library services and the staffing to ensure them:  

• Books, CDs, DVDs available on the shelves (not sitting in the sorting area) brought to you by enough shelvers to get the job done, and done safely, preventing repetitive strain injuries. The elimination of one library management position could pay for 12 15-hour-a-week shelving positions. 

• Each branch library tailored to the service needs of the surrounding neighborhoods. In Berkeley, the communities served by the different branches are somewhat different and therefore shouldn’t be subject to a generic franchise approach to library staffing. 

• An up-to-date, reliable computer network for staff and public before introducing unproven technologies that do not enjoy community and staff support. Recently, the computer network that allows you to access our collection and allows us to serve you by checking out and ordering books, has been out of order for weeks at a time. Despite repeated requests, library workers do not even have a connection to the Berkeley City Intranet so we can give you up-to-date information on city government and services. And unlike most Berkeley coffee houses, the public library does not have wireless Internet access (WiFi). We are spending a lot to introduce RFID when we have not met more basic technology needs. 

• Library employees that have enough time to interact with you, whether it be to check-out your books, answer your information and reference questions, find that song you can’t quite remember, or help your child find another compelling book about trains. Those long lines at the circulation desk and at the reference desk are a stressful hardship and can be alleviated by allocating more staff to the frontlines, and less to management and administrative posts. 

• Opening the Central Branch again on Sundays. We see this as essential, because you are working people and families that often can’t visit the library during the week. You pay taxes and want access. The elimination of one Library Management position could pay for Sundays. 

Berkeley Public Library staff, who work directly with you, want to be part of the process to make sure your library functions as best as possible, even during hard times. There are difficult decisions to be made balancing new services while maintaining our beloved library traditions.  

We ask you to support our union’s proposal to resolve our differences through “Interest Based Bargaining.” This is a form of contract negotiation where a facilitator helps management and staff find common interests to achieve common goals. It’s a way for all voices to be heard, a way to return to a climate of harmony and collaboration that will heal the library community.  

We need your help. Please write to your councilmember and to the Board of Library Trustees. And, please come to the library board meeting this Wednesday, April 27, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center, at the corner of Ashby and Ellis. 

Jane Scantlebury is a reference librarian at the Central Library. Andrea Segall is an art and music librarian at the Central Library.