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1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

  • 1.  1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 23, 2021 10:38 PM
    Hi All,
    This is a 1st draft of a Resolution.  Have at it....

    I will close edits at 5:00 ET on Sunday.

    Can I get guidance from COL about what to do?  Does this need to be put on your agenda?  I'm ccing Chair Joe Thompson with this draft as a heads up.

    What should be my next step before submitting it to Resolution Committee?

    Jennifer

    --

    Jennifer C. Boettcher

    MLS and MBA

    Business Information Consultant

    at Lauinger Library

    Georgetown University


    We will still be providing reference services online including chat, email, and text through our website at https://www.library.georgetown.edu/ask-us


    Of course, you can always contact me 


    boettcher@georgetown.edu


    202 687-7495 (it's being forwarded to my home phone)


    2021 Office hours:   by appointment


    Twitter@jenny.wombat

    Boettcher's Zoom Room

    Website / Blog Page


    Research:

    ZombieList for business history

    OpenData

    Federal Data Strategy


    ORCID: 0000-0003-4058-244X


    Co-Author of "Industry Research Using the Economic Census," (Greenwood, 2004)


    Honored with Vicennial Medal and 2010 BRASS Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship




  • 2.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 08:16 AM
    Hi, Jennifer! Great work. I'll take a look!

    There's a form for resolutions committee here: http://www.ala.org/aboutala/governance/council/resolutionwebform

    You'll also want to email the document: alaresolutions@ala.org





  • 3.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 09:16 AM
    Jennifer,

    thank you SO much for  pulling this together. Part of the reasoning behind the request I made to the Council list yesterday was because I'm in the middle of finishing a large grant request, and I simply didn't have time to dig in to start writing. I think you have made an excellent start, and I encourage everyone to take a moment and leave comment on the draft:


    Jennifer, what can we do to help move this forward?

    Stephanie Chase
    PLA Division Councilor





  • 4.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 09:31 AM
    Jennifer, great job pulling this together so quickly. 

    --
    Best,
    Paula S.W. Laurita
    NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Librarian
    Alabama Councilor to ALA

    "We have found that a library is not an end in itself, but a means to many ends." Charles E. Rush, 1939





  • 5.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 01:18 PM
    Hi Jennifer and Stephanie, et al.,

    Many thanks for a great resolution. I've added some edits; I show up as "Anonymous."

    Take care, Louis.

    Louis Muñoz Jr.
    "Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else." - Margaret Mead



    P. S. to all: Muñoz is correctly spelled with the letter "ñ."
    Press ALT + 164 or else Insert from Special Characters.
    (Mac users: Hold Option + n, then type n again.)
    Many thanks to all!









  • 6.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 01:29 PM
    Hello,

    I appreciate all of the work on the resolution so I'd like to add my thoughts now ahead of when this could be discussed at Council Fora and in Council where I will happily share them again if there's a need. 

     

    I am opposed to this resolution as written. Getting vaccinated is essentially a line and by asking to move up in the line I think about who we're being asked to move ahead of and who we're trying to shove in with. By advocating for all library staff to be eligible in phase 1b we would be slowing down the distribution of vaccines to others in higher need. The CDC website makes clear the reasoning behind it's phases. We are asking to move ahead of essential workers in the 1C phase, and slow down distribution in 1b which predominantly cannot work remotely and per CDC disproportionally represents the countries non-white workers.

     

    "While Blacks comprise 12% of all workers, they are overrepresented in public transit (26%), child care/social services (19%), trucking/warehouse/Postal Service (18%), and grocery/convenience/drugstores (14%); Hispanics make up 17% of the workforce but are overrepresented in building cleaning services (40%), trucking/warehouse/Postal Service (20%), and grocery/convenience/drugstores (19%)." -CDC

     

    If this resolution could be changed to support library staff working the front lines at libraries that are vaccination sites or COVID test sites moving to 1b I could support that. But as written it sounds a lot like "I want to talk to the manager."


    Thanks,

    -Amber Williams









  • 7.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 01:44 PM
    Amber, I totally agree with not wanting to inappropriately "jump the line." 

    In terms of how we advocate for all frontline library workers, I think it gets hard to parse and it might be strategically stronger to advocate for all library workers. Without such advocacy, it is likely to leave them in dangerous conditions due to public misperceptions of libraries as safe or empty spaces that have been exacerbated by this pandemic.

    I wonder if we can take lessons from current public statements and letters such as this one from the Massachusetts Library Association: https://www.masslib.org/resources/Documents/Official%20Statements/Letter%20to%20Governor%20Baker%20to%20Add%20Library%20Workers%20to%20Phase%202%20of%20Vaccination%20Plan.pdf







  • 8.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 01:46 PM
    Thanks for your insight.  Others have made this point so we changed one of the resolve to 

    asks the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to classify library workers who have direct contact with the public as Phase 1b essential workers;  


    --

    Jennifer C. Boettcher

    MLS and MBA

    Business Information Consultant

    at Lauinger Library

    Georgetown University


    We will still be providing reference services online including chat, email, and text through our website at https://www.library.georgetown.edu/ask-us


    Of course, you can always contact me 


    boettcher@georgetown.edu


    202 687-7495 (it's being forwarded to my home phone)


    2021 Office hours:   by appointment


    Twitter@jenny.wombat

    Boettcher's Zoom Room

    Website / Blog Page


    Research:

    ZombieList for business history

    OpenData

    Federal Data Strategy


    ORCID: 0000-0003-4058-244X


    Co-Author of "Industry Research Using the Economic Census," (Greenwood, 2004)


    Honored with Vicennial Medal and 2010 BRASS Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship







  • 9.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 01:48 PM

    Thank you Amber for your thoughts. When I read this resolution I felt the same way.

     

    Another thing to note is that state and local (county/parish) governments have vaccine deployment plans which differ from the CDC guidelines. There is no federal control of this process. The CDC can only provide guidelines.

     

    For example, in my state of Montana, the Governor changed phase 1b and 1c criteria. 1b includes our Indigenous population who have been hit very hard. We have an Indigenous student who lost THREE family members in 90 days. I will gladly wait in line for this reason.

     

    Thank you,

     

    Ann

     

    --

    Many Indigenous peoples, including the Apsáalooke (Crow), Niimiipuu (Nez Perce), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Lakota), Piikani (Blackfeet), Seliš (Salish), Shoshone, and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Northern Cheyenne), have traditional claims to the lands upon which Montana State University (MSU) physically sits. Indigenous histories and perspectives inform my work.


    Ann Dutton Ewbank, PhD
    Associate Professor and Department Head
    Director, School Library Media Certificate Program
    Department of Education
    College of Education, Health and Human Development
    Montana State University
    (406) 994-5788

    http://www.annewbank.com 
    ann.ewbank@montana.edu

     

     

     






  • 10.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 08:42 PM
    I totally agree with Ann Ewbank. Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services has held public hearings about each of the various tiers - after 1a

    The state;’s allocation committee did deviate from the CDC regulations on more than one occasion with reasons they felt were valid for our state.

    One thought is to perhaps suggest that chapter councilors go back to their state associations to see if there is interest in adding library personnel as essential workers.

    Our indigenous population is serviced under a different system - The Alaska Native Health Service [not the exact name] but the numbers in rural parts of the state are off the charts.

    The state also out seniors 65 and older ahead of essential workers in 1b.

    Yes, it is important to protect library workers but I don’t feel that an overall general resolution will do us much good. This is a “local” issue.

    Ann Symons
    Councilor at Large
    Began as Alaska Chapter Councilor




  • 11.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Jan 24, 2021 09:29 PM
    Ann,

    How is the vaccine supply chain in AK? My county is just beginning 1b this week and it will probably stretch into March. For 1c we're looking at late April and phase 2 probably two months after that. We're not getting doses very quickly and I wonder if other primarily rural states are having the same experience.

    Ann

    Sent from my iPhone





  • 12.  RE: 1st draft of a Library Workers and Library in response to COVID-19 and they need to Library Workers to be Prioritized in Vaccines

    Posted Feb 01, 2021 10:01 AM
    Hello all, just sharing this info in case anyone missed it:

    Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) Submits Comment to CDC Requesting Prioritization of Librarians For COVID-19 Vaccine

    FYI: https://www.cosla.org/News/ArtMID/473/ArticleID/81/COSLA-Offers-Public-Comment-on-Vaccine-Prioritization-of-Librarians

    Best,
    Ray

    ------------------------------
    Raymond Pun
    Instruction and Research Librarian
    Alder Graduate School of Education
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------