[Michlib-l] 5 Wesland librarians suddenly "let go" under suspicious circumstances

[Kristy Cooper]

Dear Library Friends,



Some of you might be following the recent events at the Westland Public
Library, where five out of the eight full-time librarians on the adult
services staff were abruptly "let go" on March 3rd. The explanation given
for this unprecedented move was “restructuring” of the library. As a
librarian who worked at Westland for many years, I was concerned to learn
about this turn of events, so I went to the library's next board meeting
where I found out the head of the department had also just resigned,
bringing their number down to only two people. Although the board president
tried to stop me, I recorded most of the meeting here (it has already had
12,000 views): https://www.facebook.com/kristy.cooper.71/videos/
10210959179687172/



The reason for this sudden "restructuring" decisions do not hold water (it
is not even in alignment with the library's fiscal year budget which is
July-June).  It is alarming for two reasons. First, the removal of 5/8 of
full time librarians at once and with no notice seems to be a blatant
attempt to disrupt unionization activities currently underway after several
years of court cases involving unionization of library staff. Second,
because the unvested retirement funds of these librarians will likely be
returned to the general fund and will help to break ground on a $3 million
building expansion currently being planned. The coincidental nature of this
timing seems suspicious and begs for investigation.



Regardless of the motives for firing the adult services librarians, we know
that the community served by the Westland Public Library deserves better.
With the dismissal of these librarians, a number of critical programs have
been cut off with no transition plan -- all teen services, homebound
delivery to seniors, job seekers’ labs, computer, smartphone, and tablet
classes, book clubs, and  the adult literacy program. Neither is there
anyone to take over for the staffers that maintain the library website and
social media communications (their Facebook page is currently down).
Moreover, the Westland Public Library Board intends to replace these
full-time degreed librarians with non-degreed, part-time staff which could
potentially jeopardize future state funding and QSAC ratings.



The librarians in Westland are committed to the community, and we as
librarians and information professionals know that libraries are more than
buildings, books, and computers—professional librarians are vital to strong
libraries that provide excellent service to their communities. We must
stand in solidarity together and demand answers about why these librarians
have been dismissed with no warning.



The board president attempted to explain their reasoning behind these cuts.
However the many citizens and former Westland librarians (including myself)
were not convinced. Please take a moment to read my summary of the meeting
here: https://www.facebook.com/kristy.cooper.71/videos/10210959179687172/



Please feel free to contact me if you would like to learn how to get
involved in helping these 5 librarians.



*Otherwise  you can share your displeasure with the Mayor of Westland,
William Wild, who appoints the Library Board.* You can call his office
at: (734)
467-3200, email him at http://www.cityofwestland.com/Home/Components/
StaffDirectory/StaffDirectory/66/416?alpha=M, or send him a tweet @MayorWild
<https://twitter.com/MayorWild>.  Let the mayor know that librarians are
important, and that Westland needs them and the programming and services
they provide to the community.



If you would like to share my video on Twitter, the link is available here:
https://twitter.com/kristycooperYA/status/841010987318812672



Thank you everyone,



Kristy Cooper

Former Head of Technology Services and Web Librarian at the Westland Public
Library (2007-2013)

YA Author at kristycooper.com
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