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

[James Lenze]

While I am disheartened by Westland’s decision to so drastically reduce their professional staff, and feel deeply for those directly affected, I do not believe Westland has jeopardized their state certification.  They let 5 adult and teen services librarians go and the Dept. Head resigned.  They still have (I believe) 3 youth services librarians, and 2 adult services librarians.  The current guidelines only call for the director to be an MLS degreed librarian.  The other “librarians” may be level 3 certified (4 yr. college degree + Beginner’s Workshop).

The Board president seems more than a bit naïve though to expect that service will return to normal after replacing 5 full-time librarians with 3 part-time library assistants.  Library service in western Wayne County took a big hit when the Westland Board approved this “reorganization” plan.

James B Lenze, Director
Garden City Public Library
jamesl at gardencitymi.org

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

From: Christine Hage<mailto:christine.hage at rhpl.org>
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2017 4:47 PM
To: Kristy Cooper<mailto:kristycooper1 at gmail.com>; michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] 5 Wesland librarians suddenly "let go" under suspicious circumstances

Also they might be jepordizing their state certification. As a Class VI library they are required to have I librarian for every 20,000 people I believe.

Christine Lind Hage,
Director, Rochester Hills Public Library
Councilor, United for Libraries
500 Olde Towne Road
Rochester, MI 48309
258/650-7122




On Mon, Mar 13, 2017 at 2:45 PM -0400, "Kristy Cooper" <kristycooper1 at gmail.com<mailto:kristycooper1 at gmail.com>> wrote:

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<tel:(734)%20467-3200>, 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<http://kristycooper.com>