Blog Posts

Local 1482 Votes on Motion

6/26/2024

On June 24, 2024, after thoughtful debate members of Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482 voted 34 to 16 (with 4 abstaining) to adopt the following motion:

Local 1482 will defend Brooklyn Public Library workers who are perceived to support Palestinian liberation in their personal expression and/or during workplace activities. We protect BPL workers from retaliation for expressing and acting on their commitment, aligned with the professed social justice values of DC 37, AFSCME and ALA, to fight for a more just and equitable world. This statement will be posted on the Local's website and distributed to the membership in whatever way the Executive Board sees fit.

General Membership Meeting on June 3rd

6/3/2024

There is a General Membership Meeting for Local 1482 scheduled tonight, Monday, June 3rd at 7:00 pm. It will be held virtually over Zoom. The agenda and login information is found below. Apologies if you are receiving this information on Tuesday morning via an email update. We understand it is out-of-date, and we look forward to your being able to participate in future meetings and actions:

General Membership Meeting
Monday, June 3, 2024
7:00 pm
This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. The meeting agenda and login information is found below:

Local 1482 Brooklyn Library Guild
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

AGENDA
1. Guest Presentations
- Danny Tovar - DC 37 Housing Unit
- Juan Fernandez - Local 154
2. Open Forum
3. Minutes
4. Treasurer’s Report
5. President’s Report
6. New Business

Join Zoom Meeting: bit.ly/Local1482June2024

Or dial in: 929-205-6099 (NY)
Meeting ID: 815 3526 4938
Passcode: 234251

Services for Camille Francis

5/28/2024

Below is information about the memorial services for union member Camille N. Francis. Our hearts are broken at her loss. Please send blessings and strength to her coworkers at Paerdegat Branch, to her friends across the library, and to her family.

Services
Guarino Funeral Home,
9222 Flatlands Avenue,
Brooklyn, NY 11236
Date: Friday, May 31, 2024, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Repast
Grace Reform Church
1800 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Following the service

Burial
Rosehill Cemetery
Linden, NJ
Date: Saturday, June 1, 2024,

Donations and expressions of sympathy mailed to:
Renee Francis
83 Kenilworth Place
Brooklyn, NY 11210

Expressions of sympathy may be mailed to:
Coleen Grant
1352 E 105 St
Brooklyn NY 11236

Library Workers From Underrepresented Groups Are Invited to Participate in a Research Study on Work Routines

5/19/2024

Local 1482 Vice President for Librarians Rakisha Kearns-White is on the advisory team for a research project being conducted by the University of South Carolina’s School of Information and Communications. The Public Library Routines Project (PLRP), aims to uncover problematic routines in public libraries and learn how they impact staff; find out how staff cope with these routines; and discover successful workarounds that would become the basis of professional development workshops for public library administrations.

Members of the PLRP advisory team are inviting public library staff from across the country to participate in our research of routine work. If you work in a public library in any capacity (librarians, custodians, clerical, safety officers, maintainers, TRS, IT, etc.) and you are from a group that is underrepresented in the profession (e.g., staff of color, LGBTQIA+ staff, staff with disabilities, staff with chronic conditions, and staff with mental health challenges), we especially want to hear from you. READ MORE

Here's the 411:

What’s a Routine? Routine work is. . . well . . . routine! These are the things you do regularly, and you do it mostly the same way each time. This might include shelving, processing holds, programming, working the reference desk, assisting patrons with technology or HR paperwork.

What’s wrong with Routines? While there is nothing inherently wrong with routines, this work might introduce barriers that are particularly problematic for staff with certain identities, e.g., staff of color, LGBTQIA+ staff, staff with disabilities or chronic conditions, staff with mental health challenges. As the routine is repeated and becomes more familiar, it can easily hide and “normalize” these barriers.

What is PLRP? PLRP is a 3-year IMLS-funded research project that looks at these problematic routines, what library staff do to work around them, and what libraries can do to better support staff efforts.

What will you do? You will be asked to keep an audio diary of your experiences in routine work and sit for a 45-minute interview. Everything will be done virtually.

Will anyone know that I participated? Your participation in this research study is entirely confidential. This means that no one outside of the project team will know that you participated. In published project documents, we will remove your name and any information that could potentially link you to your participation in the study.

What do I get out of it? There are no direct benefits to you, but you will receive a $30 gift card at the conclusion of the study.

What if I change my mind? You are free to leave the study at any point and receive a prorated gift card.

I’m interested. What now? Complete THIS FORM to indicate your interest in participating in the study and complete a brief demographics survey. This survey will be used to screen participants and ensure a diverse sample. If you are selected to participate, the next step is a 25-minute virtual meeting with the project team that will further explain your involvement and answer any questions you may have. A project team member will contact you if you are selected to participate. Check out the project WEBSITE HERE. For questions, contact the PI, Darin Freeburg ([email protected]).

Budget Advocacy Read-In & Storytime on May 19th

5/15/2024

Click on either image to get a printable PDF of the event flyers in English and Spanish

If the people can't go to the library on a Sunday, the library must go to the people!

Join community members for a family-friendly storytime outside of the Brooklyn Public Central Library. Before budget cuts in 2023 forced Sunday closures, libraries in every borough hosted Sunday storytime every weekend. Like community groups across the city, we'll be making up for the social services cut by Mayor Adams, hosting storytime and craft activities, and writing letters to Adams to call on him to fully restore the library budget.

REGISTER HERE

Updates: Unions and Workers advocate for Library Funding & DC37 Moves Temporarily

5/12/2024

We are taking this opportunity to share two pieces of news with our members.

City Library Unions Speak Out Against Budget Cuts
The Chief, a New York based newspaper that focuses on municipal workers, recently published an article that addresses the impact the Mayor's proposed budget cuts will have on staffing and maintaining services. Titled Cuts Could Trim Libraries' Saturday Service, the article notes that if enacted, the cut will eliminate Saturday service at at number of locations and will force the libraries to continue not hiring to fill vacancies.

The presidents of the three library local unions were interviewed in the article, including President George Sarah Olken of Local 1482. President Olken spoke about the consequences being closed on Sundays has already had on library workers and library users. Also interviewed was Lauren Comito, a member of Local 1482 and the executive director of Urban Librarians Unite.

DC37 to Temporarily Move Headquarters
DC 37 has announced that effective May 20th, its headquarters will move from 55 Water Street to a temporary service center located at 420 W 45th Street in Manhattan. In the Fall, DC37 will re-open at 125 Barclay St in a new state-of-the-art facility.

Also on May 20th, the Audiology Center will resume operations at the DC37 Health Center located at 115 Chambers Street.

Please look here for hours for the temporary service center, as well as phone contact information.

Keep NYC Libraries Open: Join us Sunday, April 28th!

4/23/2024

Dear Library Workers,

Please join us anytime from 11 AM to 2:30 PM on April 28th for a city-wide day of canvassing to Keep NYC Libraries open. Organized by library unions and Urban Librarian Unite, we'll be speaking with neighbors, defending universal 6-day service, and advocating to keep our libraries fully, safely staffed.

If city budget cuts are not restored, some libraries will lose even Saturday services, which workers will be reassigned to cover for understaffing across the system. Communities with closed branches miss their beloved library workers. Together we can fight back!

You can join library workers from all three systems at any of these three branches: Bedford in Brooklyn, Melrose in the Bronx, or Broadway in Queens. RSVP here!

Services for Kareem Thompson

3/7/2024

Please find below information about the funeral services and reception for Kareem Thompson.

Kareem was loved by patrons of all ages and coworkers across the borough. Our hearts go out to his fellow branch members at Mill Basin, and to his close friends and family.

Data Breach FAQ

2/23/2024

Following meetings in January with Custodians, Special Officers, Maintainers, and IT staff, throughout February, Local 1482 reps have been meeting with union members in Librarian and Clerical titles (including TRSes). We hope you will register for one of the last (for now) lunchtime Zoom meetings next week:

https://bit.ly/Local1482Feb2024

One issue we discussed is the data breach that affected union members' personal information. By now, you should have received two pieces of mail: one letter from Delta Dental as well as an Frequently Asked Questions flyer from DC 37. A PDF of the FAQ provided by DC37 has also been posted here on the Local 1482 website

In brief, a third-party vendor used by Delta Dental was hacked. In response, Delta was legally obligated to hire Kroll to provide members with two years of credit and identity monitoring. The service is free and will provide some insurance against the misuse of your data, including up to $1 million identity fraud loss reimbursement.

We recommend signing up!
Visit https://enroll.krollmonitoring.com

The letter from Delta Dental includes a member number for you to use to sign up for the free service at the address above. You must enroll by May 8, 2024. If you don't have the letter, no problem, Kroll can look you up. You can call the Kroll Call Center at 800-693-2571 Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m. EST.

If the data of dependents on your account(s) was also affected (for example, of your children) you should receive separate letters with member numbers to sign them up too. Likewise, you can call Kroll for more information.

Local 1482's next General Membership is April 8th, 2024, at 7pm. We will be joined by someone from DC 37's Health & Security Department to answer questions about the breach and to share updates about changes and improvements to our health benefits.

Election Results for Executive Board offices

12/6/2023

The results of this week's election of officers to serve on the Executive Board for the upcoming term are in. The officers are listed below and can also be found by clicking the Executive Board link on the Local 1482 website. Congratulations to all who won their seats, and many thanks to all who ran and offered to serve the membership and the union

On Thursday, December 7th a membership meeting will be held virtually over Zoom to provide more information about the election results and to swear in the Executive Board. The meeting is scheduled from 7:00-9:00 pm. The login information for the meeting is as follows:

Zoom Link
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89318615338?pwd=rS6RBwzHc2oedDQeGJB1qZ1RCl4Ned.1

Meeting Id: 893 1861 5338

Password: 1945

Local 1482 Election Results
President
George Olken

Librarian Vice President (Uncontested)
Rakisha Kearns White

Vice- President Clerical (Uncontested)
Ann Joseph

Blue Collar Vice President (Uncontested)
Henry Gonzalez

Treasurer (Uncontested)
Paul Otto

Recording Secretary (Uncontested)
Catherine Skryzpek

Corresponding Secretary (Uncontested)
Karen Simon

Librarian Representative (3)
Janelle Welch
Maura Johnson
Heyrling Oropeza

Clerical Representative (4)
Anthony Illiano
Kay Jordan
Lissette Hurtado
Lisa Pryce Brown

Special Officer Representative
Jose Ruiz

Maintainer Representative (Uncontested)
Haafiz Ahmed

Custodian Representative (Uncontested)
Darlene Crowder

Miscellaneous Representative
Tierra Blanchard

DC 37 Delegates (4)
Abigail Garnett
Alexa Orr
Ann Joseph
Janelle Welch

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