Yesterday I had the privilege to speak on a panel with Kristin Hoffman of University of Western Ontario and Marc Richard of McGill University entitled, "Academic Librarians on the Front LInes", at the "Academic Librarianship - A Crisis or an Opportunity?" symposium at the University of Toronto. We were each given 15 minutes to address the following questions: What are some of the first hand experiences of academic librarians working at institutions where academic librarianship is under threat?
The McMaster University academic librarians have formed a new association – the McMaster University Academic Librarians Association (MUALA) – and decided to unionize under the Ontario Labour Relations Act.
On February 10, the association filed an application for certification with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. The Board held a secret ballot vote the following week and a substantial majority of McMaster librarians voted in favour of certification
Rick Stapleton, was elected president of the new union.