Lauren Collister
To the delight of librarians everywhere, the historian Shelby Foote once said that “a university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.” As a librarian, I believe we are fundamental to the intellectual life of the university. I love helping researchers and scholars and instructors with their projects, and nothing gives me more satisfaction than knowing I helped make their work possible. It is this viewpoint that most strongly brought me to stand in solidarity with my faculty colleagues across the University.
Although our library provides the materials, resources, and expertise that so much academic work relies upon, the librarians themselves occupy an indeterminate “in-between” space. Some faculty issues, such as the prevalence of contract employment, affect us directly - most library faculty like me are hired on short-term contracts of one year, and we haven’t been able to hire any new faculty on our version of the “tenure” stream for years. Under my “Visiting” contract, it is not possible for me to serve as the Principal Investigator for a research study with the IRB, or even apply for a grant without special permission, even though I am trained, qualified, and excited to do all of these things.
Furthermore, while we have had some improvements in our salaries in recent days, library faculty and staff still remain among the lowest paid not only at Pitt but compared to our colleagues at other institutions. Some of my colleagues have to work second jobs.
Imagine what librarians could do for the University community if we were treated and compensated as though we were indeed the central hub that Shelby Foote imagined. The faculty union can help us not only with bargaining power for the conditions of our employment, but also by fostering greater and deeper connections to our colleagues across the University.
--Lauren Collister, University Library System
Although our library provides the materials, resources, and expertise that so much academic work relies upon, the librarians themselves occupy an indeterminate “in-between” space. Some faculty issues, such as the prevalence of contract employment, affect us directly - most library faculty like me are hired on short-term contracts of one year, and we haven’t been able to hire any new faculty on our version of the “tenure” stream for years. Under my “Visiting” contract, it is not possible for me to serve as the Principal Investigator for a research study with the IRB, or even apply for a grant without special permission, even though I am trained, qualified, and excited to do all of these things.
Furthermore, while we have had some improvements in our salaries in recent days, library faculty and staff still remain among the lowest paid not only at Pitt but compared to our colleagues at other institutions. Some of my colleagues have to work second jobs.
Imagine what librarians could do for the University community if we were treated and compensated as though we were indeed the central hub that Shelby Foote imagined. The faculty union can help us not only with bargaining power for the conditions of our employment, but also by fostering greater and deeper connections to our colleagues across the University.
--Lauren Collister, University Library System
