07/11/2018
Your signature for the letter provided below can help you and your peers not have to struggle with piecing together temporary work!
Email from Maggie Hughes (Collections Data Archivist) pasted below as well as the google doc of the letter to sign.
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I’m reaching out to ask for your support regarding the ongoing issue of temporary librarians in UCLA Library Special Collections (LSC). We’re one of the largest special collections units in the country. Together as a team we work to build, preserve, and provide access to the outstanding special collections and archival materials in our care, and to lead and collaborate on programs and services that publicize and promote use of these collections across campus and beyond.
For the last decade, LSC has relied heavily on a staff of temporary archivists. Within the last two years, ten temporary archivists have been employed in LSC. The work these temporary archivists do is neither project-based nor grant-funded. From donor relations, to classroom instruction, outreach and events, creation of documentation and policy, staff trainings, data migrations, systems implementation, and workflow changes, this work is ongoing in nature and core to the day-to-day operation of the department.
And yet, UCLA Library continues to rely on temporary staffing appointments to do this work. Temporary positions cannot and should not be used to satisfy ongoing operational needs. The practice of hiring archivists on temporary contracts is singularly egregious at UCLA -- six out of the 13 temporary Librarians throughout the UC system work in LSC. Most institutions typically have one or two project archivists at most who are hired on grant funded contracts. This is a practice that negatively affects everyone involved -- the archivists, the profession, LSC and the UCLA Library, collections, donors, and our users.
Our union, UC-AFT, which represents both lecturers and librarians, has filed a grievance on behalf of the six temporary librarians alleging that the library has been misapplying the clause in our contract (Article 18) about temporary appointments. We’re asking the library to convert all temporary archivists to potential career Librarian positions, and to discontinue the unfair, damaging, and inefficient practice of hiring librarians in temporary roles to perform core duties and functions.
Please read our letter to Associate University Librarian Sharon Farb and add your name as a signature of support to end the misuse of temporary appointees in LSC. We’ve already received widespread support from within the UCLA Library, lecturers represented by our union, and colleagues at other campuses in the UC system. We’ve delivered the letter to Sharon and Library Human Resources (LHR) on June 25th and again on July 9th. As we move into the next phase of the grievance process, our goal now is to gather as many signatures as possible from colleagues across the country to demonstrate broad support for ending precarious employment for archivists here at UCLA. We will send an updated version of the letter to Sharon and LHR on Monday, July 23rd. Your support would mean a lot.
In solidarity,
Maggie, on behalf of:
Courtney Dean, former Processing Archivist (position contract ended as of 6/29/18)
Lori Dedeyan, Processing Archivist
M. Angel Diaz, Project Processing Archivist
Melissa Haley, Processing Archivist
Margaret Hughes, Collections Data Archivist
Lauren McDaniel, Visual Materials Processing Archivist
PS - Please share widely with archival professionals, librarians, scholars, and others in your network who are sympathetic to this cause.
June 11, 2018 cc: Virginia Steel, Norman and Armena Powell University Librarian Dear Sharon Farb, Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and International Collaborations, For the last decade, UCLA Library Special Collections (LSC) has relied heavily on a staff of temporary arc...
