Addendum to Minutes
Additional Notes on Discussions
LAUC-I General Membership Meeting
Monday, 8 November 1999

Item 4 in Minutes. Discussion of librarian lecturer compensation plan (Judy Kaufman)

Discussion (informal notes taken by LAUC-I Secretary):

• Will Libraries ever say no can't teach because academic department won't pay?
  • JK: emphasis is insuring that on interaction between librarian and review initiator preceeds any decision; doesn't forsee Libraries ever saying no outright.
• Some librarians teach and see it as community service or research/creative activity; we need to consider how librarians as academics elect to spend their criteria 2-4 time.
  • JK: AdTeam interested in this policy prompting more discussion between review initiator and librarian being asked or proposing to teach so that the teaching activity gets incorporated into that librarian's review under the criterion on which all parties agree.
• When the librarian is the teacher of record, the academic unit for which that person is teaching gets credit for class and funds from enrollment in their budget. Librarian can use money recovered under this proposal to cover copying costs, web resources for course, and a lot of other things that the academic department doesn't end up funding for librarians acting as adjuncts.
• This proposal assures that money recovered goes directly to the library unit that is affected and not into some general fund. It allows the librarian teaching to feel they can go forward without burdening their colleagues. It also underlines for academic units that we are academics and emphasises our role as teachers.
• This proposal doesn't offset the amount of work the librarian is doing in essentially taking on two jobs; communication between librarian and review initiator is a key to the success of this policy.
• The proposal has a healthy element of raising professional status of librarians on campus; equates contributions of librarians teaching for academic units with those of adjunct professors.
• Fear expressed that it might actually have opposite affect and discourage academic units from making teaching opportunities available to librarians.
• How does this compare to practices elsewhere on campus when an academic unit wants to use someone from another unit to teach a course?
  • JK: Not really sure.
• There are practices of joint appointments, courtesy appointments, 0% appointments, though these mainly only happen for academic senate faculty.
• My instinct is that an academic department inviting a librarian to teach a course already has assessed the librarian's capability to teach this class and should be willing to reimburse, especially when funds can be used in direct support of the librarian's teaching of the class.
• JK: Will report back to AdTeam that LAUC-I is generally supportive of this proposal.
• Request made for AdTeam to update LAUC-I on how implementation of this policy is going at some point.
• Who communicates this policy to academic departments? The librarian? The librarian's supervisor? AdTeam?
  • JK: This probably will differ from case to case, depending on who is having conversation about possibility for teaching.
• If teaching done outside of a librarian's regular time, would the department head and the Libraries still need to be involved?
  • JK: It is appropriate no matter what for the librarian and review initiator to talk about all of that librarian's professional activities; the department head needs to be the person to decide what impact the teaching will have on the department.
• How are we going to keep track of this; to know where to find this policy when it is needed?
  • Payroll/Personnel will maintain the copy of record online and will let LAUC-I Secretary know where it ends up so that it can be linked to from the LAUC-I web page.

• Can university e-mail be used to communicate re: union activities?
  • JK: UC policy (unique among most U.S. university e-mail policies) allows incidental communication re: things like union as long as it remains incidental and isn't abused.
• Can I use campus mail boxes for distribution of union things?
  • JK: You can't use campus mail itself for distribution but can use mail boxes.
• Can unit members meet on work time to discuss implementation of this new policy?
  • JK: People can talk infomally among themselves, but can't have an offical university meeting. It would be a problem if you schedule and announce a formal meeting using university facilities for unit members to discuss terms/conditions of employment (e.g., unions).
• Who is covered (Unit vs. non-unit)?
  • Contract specifies criteria: most simply, librarians who are in supervisory position over other librarians come out of the unit (are non-unit).
• Is there formal notification if status changes after someone is hired?
  • JK: Yes, this is done by letter to the union representative.
    NOTE: There is a state agency, PERB (Public Employees Relations Board) that librarians can contact with questions regarding union matters and what options are regarding representation. The PERB phone number is (415) 439-6946.
• Is there a policy about alternatives to paying the dues to the union, such as a way to direct funds to charitable cause?
  • The original e-mail on this topic included a web site address for questions/alternatives. It is www.abs.uci.edu/depts/humrs/
• Can April Love (union representative) shed any light? Anything from Union on this?
  • AL: Has not had much in the way of communication from the Union Council on this. Will plan to set up a meeting where she can collect questions to take back to Union Council (LAUC-I members can also send questions to her via e-mail) for answers.
• How will unions determine what a 'fair share' fee is? We don't yet know what the fair share dues will be for non-members who are covered in unit. Who determines 'fair share' fee?
  • Probably some government agency based on looking at union books to determine how much is spent on members benefits. Perhaps it is PERB? Has not yet been determined.
• Do we have an idea the percentage of unit members within UC who are dues-paying members of AFT?
  • AL: 6% at UCI; Does not have UC-wide statistics, but will forward them to LAUC-I members.
• Will unions have two different service structures for union members and non-members? What benefits will non-union members get as a result of paying agency fee?
  • This has not yet been determined by Union.
• Statement was made that it would be appreciated if the Union would lay out for members what it has done for librarians during the past 15 years since the Union was voted in at UC. The Union should be more proactive in letting librarians know why they should become Union members and what they get in exchange for the dues payed. What does the Union plan to do with the rather large increase in funds it will get as a result of the legislation signed by Governor Davis?
• What kind of conversations are happening among UC lecturers who are also represented by AFT? It would be interesting to know what others are doing.
• Point of clarification was made that payment of this monthly 'fair share' fee by unit librarians does not automatically make them a member of the Union: they still must join if they want to be a Union member.
• Another point of clarification: Non-unit supervisors should refer unit librarian questions regarding this to April Love, the Union representative for UCI librarians, or to PERB (see telephone number listed above).