Many of our bargaining proposals on salaries, benefits, and workload will apply to all of us in the Faculty Association, but we also seek to ensure that protections offered in the Collective Agreement recognize the vitally important work of librarians and archivists within the University, and build in parity with other bargaining unit members whenever possible. For this round for Librarians and Archivists, we are focused on selection committee processes, recruitment and selection procedures and processes, and clarifying and expanding our criteria for appointments.
The first of our proposals relates to our continued efforts to expand and refine the language which was added to the Collective Agreement two rounds ago, to better define the types of work we are responsible for. This time we have proposed to broaden the description of scholarship for librarians and acknowledge important Indigenous scholarly activity. We are also clarifying how important self-directed work and scholarly contributions are to hiring and confirmation processes.
Continuing with another longstanding theme, we have proposed administrative leaves for Heads in every round of bargaining since Library Heads language was added to the agreement in 2012. This time, we have revised our previous proposals and are proposing that Heads in the Library be granted a relatively short (four-month) reintegration leave at the end of their terms, in cases when they will be moving into a librarian position. This will give Heads some breathing room after their term(s) and give the incoming Head some space to establish themselves with their unit colleagues. As with admin leave for faculty Heads, reintegration leave should provide a reasonable re-boot for Heads transitioning back to a librarian role to focus on their professional activities and scholarly work and to (re)integrate with their disciplines before they take up their new duties.
We have also proposed to streamline the selection committee process and better align the procedures for selection committees with those in Part 4 of the Collective Agreement. This change parallels the improvements that were made to the Standing Review Committee in the last round of bargaining. In our proposal, the Head will chair the Selection Committee and write the recommendation letter. The proposal aims to clearly establish the Head as the lead of a unit’s hiring, simplify the work of selection committees and create synchronicity with the SRC process. We are also proposing streamlining the composition of selection committees for term positions, to reduce this significant workload burden.
Increased internal opportunities for job mobility have been a longstanding request for our Librarians and Archivists, and the Library administration has consistently expressed interest in this as well. Our current processes allow for internal transfers and hires, but in a somewhat haphazard and ad-hoc fashion. We are proposing to standardize and universalize the practice of internal postings, to create opportunities for internal mobility by starting recruitment for new or vacant ongoing positions with the librarians and archivists already employed in confirmed positions at UBC Library. This would be a valuable and sensible investment in career and professional growth for librarians and archivists who have already learned UBC’s collections and systems and demonstrated their worth to the Library. To make sure the system is fair, all internal candidates holding confirmed positions who apply for a Head or librarian position would be reviewed by the committee and the usual selection committee procedures would apply. If an internal search is unsuccessful, the position would go on to be posted externally.
And finally, we have proposed the introduction of joint appointment language specific to Librarians and Archivists modeled on Part 4, Article 5 (c) to ensure procedural fairness for librarians with joint appointments.
The UBC Library is a key partner in UBC’s core academic missions, and its Librarians and Archivists are the central brain of the library system. These simple improvements will repay UBC’s investment in its own knowledge capacity.
