10.29.09
Unemployed? Special ALA Membership Rates Do Exist
How do you maximize the value of membership in the American Library Association during tough financial times? I’ve had several discussions with ALA staff recently, prompted by communications I’ve received from non-members who are exasperated by the employment prospects in the field or frustrated about just exactly how they are supposed to pay membership dues when they are unemployed or afraid of losing their jobs.
While ALA has member retention rates that are the envy of the association world, it does trouble me and many members of the ALA staff that the benefits of membership are not obvious to all library professionals. If they aren’t, however, I have to believe that it isn’t because they don’t exist, it is more likely because we haven’t communicated them as effectively as we should.
Do you know, for example, that ALA has a special membership category at $46 for non-salaried library employees who make less than $25,000 a year or are unemployed? I’m committed to making American Libraries a better communicator of the benefits of membership in ALA, but in the meantime, here is a link to membership at reduced rates, which also includes the $46 rate for support staff and retirees.
ALA does important work. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be here. But ALA is its members, and we the staff and member leaders need your support, at whatever rate you can afford, in order to do that work. If you can afford zero dollars, your moral support matters too. I’m curious about what else ALA should be doing to strengthen its value to members who are going through a job crisis, and I welcome your comments.
Nina said,
October 29, 2009 at 6:02 pm
A problem I and a number of my newly unemployed colleauges are facing is going from specialized jobs to a market that wants jack-of-all-trades. Experts in cataloging and reference and technology and services to more than one age group. A market in which even librarians whose MLS’s still have wet ink on the diploma should have 1-2 years of supervisory experience.
Seminars and conventions beckon but cost hundreds if not thousands — did we mention we’re unemployed? — with no certainty that a two-day program will make a difference compared to real-life experience. However, if ALA and state chapters offered similar continuing education programs that were more reasonable at least we’d feel more comfortable about taking the chance. Or perhaps some do and we’re unaware. What I’ve see either means travel or the online component focuses on what librarians can do for their community (as it should) but not what librarians can do to help themselves. What can/should we do help level the playing field and is there somethng ALA offers that we’ve missed?
Viki said,
November 4, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Why do divisions not offer reduced rates for under- and unemployed librarians?
Mary Foster said,
November 4, 2009 at 6:47 pm
As a retired library person, I want to support ALA. I do not need the paper copy of the magazine. How about a discount to members who are willing to receive only online American Libraries Direct?
Thanks, Mary:)
Rob said,
November 4, 2009 at 8:10 pm
A major problem with claiming the non-salaried member rate is that you lose your seniority when it comes to continuous years as an ALA member. Until I renewed at the non-salaried rate this year, I had been a member for 29 continuous years. So when I retire, I no longer qualify for continuing membership. It’s a major disincentive to renew, period.
Joan E said,
November 4, 2009 at 9:34 pm
As I complete my MLIS this school year and have an interview for a Library PAGE job @ 16 hours a week, (and barely above min. wage), I applaud the effort to make ALA membership affordable. Thank you for supporting your future librarians during this economic crisis. I hope to join the ranks of the professional staff soon and intend on being prepared when the opportunity arises. Your reduced rate will greatly increase my chances of success. Thank you!
John Chrastka said,
November 5, 2009 at 10:22 am
@Rob,
My apologies, but you have gotten some bad information about ALA Continuous Years somewhere along the way. Every unbroken personal membership regardless of type ‘counts’ toward one’s continuous years. If there is a break in the membership, then there is a break in the membership, of course. But otherwise ALA membership across a work life - from student, to regular and then retired (or any other carrier or volunteer path) - when paid on time and without a break is clocked as continuous membership. And, for any member who has 25+ years of continuous membership, upon their retirement that individual is entitled to free lifetime ALA membership as a perk of all those years of unbroken support.
I’m sorry that this was muddled. Can you email at jchrastka@ala.org and I’ look into your situation? After 29 years, I want to make sure that if you qualify for the free lifetime membership be can get that going for you….
-John
John Chrastka
ALA Membership Director
John Chrastka said,
November 5, 2009 at 10:32 am
@Mary Foster - I can help if you email me at jchrastka@ala.org directly. We can always suspend distribution of any publication….
@Vicki - Divisions and Round Tables set their own dues and need to hear from members when the structure needs modification. And just for the record, PLA and RUSA, as well as SRRT, have a non-salaried rate. LITA will soon. The full schedule of personal member dues is at http://www.ala.org/ala/membership/typesmembership/personalmembership/pdfmembership.cfm
janice said,
November 5, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I’ve decided not to renew at the non-salaried level because at this point in my life even $46 is too much. I work two part-time librarian jobs that together still don’t make up more than 40 hours/month. I would never be able to afford an ALA conference out of town and neither job pays for anything other than going to the exhibits anyways. I appreciate that you offer this level of membership but frankly it doesn’t do much for me at this point in my career.
Kim said,
November 15, 2009 at 4:04 pm
I’d like to not get American Libraries as a print publication. That would save costs. I never read the print publication anyway, and have to recycle it when it comes every month. The membership is too expensive, and it goes up once the librarian declares him or herself as a professional. Salaries, however, don’t go up. The cost of the conference is too expensive for most of us to attend more than infrequently, as the conferences are always held in very expensive cities.
Once the librarian has joined ALA then there are the professional divisions which I think are worth becoming a part of. I wouldn’t rejoin ALA if it weren’t for joining my division, i.e. more money. I generally can’t afford to join at the exact time my membership is due. There is a disconnect between ALA and the rank and file regarding what we who work in the field actually make.