Strategies to improve the pay and status of library workers will be the focus of the "Assembly and Open Microphone on Low Pay in Libraries." The forum will take place Saturday, January 19, from 2 to 4 p.m., as part of the American Library Association's (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in New Orleans. Council will be considering the establishment of an affiliated professional organization, which can address these issues.

Organized by the Status of Librarians, and the Better Salaries & Pay Equity for Library Workers task forces, the program includes several speakers and an open microphone for people to share their experiences, successes and strategy ideas for improving library worker status and salaries.

According to Tom Wilding, chair of the Status of Librarians Task Force, he will be looking for input on the group's recommendations. A Web site will be up shortly with a list of issues, inviting people to comment. "The hearing was intended to get input on our options for actions, and it seems very natural and good to have the Better Salaries Task Force there, too," he said.

"The issues of salary and status are priorities for the profession," said ALA President-Elect Maurice J. (Mitch) Freedman. "This assembly is part of an overall effort to build and share resources and inspiration for America's library workers so we can be better advocates for ourselves and our colleagues on these vital concerns."

Speakers will include Wilding; Freedman; Better Salaries and Pay Equity Committee Coordinator Patricia Glass Schuman; Vicki Gregory, author of Library Journal's annual salary and placement survey articles; and library activists from New Orleans Public Library will be on hand to tell the success story of the newly organized city workers.

The assembly will take place at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, located at Poydras and the Mississippi, in Grand Salon, Section C-18. For more information, please contact Jenna Freedman at jfreedman@iona.edu or Kathleen de la Pena McCook at kmccook@tampabay.rr.com, and see the Freedman Task Force's Web Site at http://www.mjfreedman.org.

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