Comments on: Library Considering Closing Crozet, Scottsville Branches https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/ News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001. Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:05:22 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.3 By: Cville Eye https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36200 Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:05:22 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36200 @the boss of me, Cecil doesn’t spike and yours are ineffective. Cecil exchanges ideas and experiences. Although, as you say, anybody can conjecture, nobody makes good public policy doing so. That’s why just anybody shouldn’t be in the position to establish public policy. And I really hope, from your attitude displayed here alone, that you’re not in that position either. If you are so concerned about filling in the library’s gap between funding and it’s proposed budget, why don’t you and other like-minded people send them a check? There’s nothing stopping you. Are you saying “conjecture” is a big word? Also, where is the spell checker on this blog?

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By: the boss of me https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36199 Sat, 23 Jan 2010 06:47:03 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36199 Since the definition of conjecture is “to conclude or suppose from grounds or evidence insufficient to ensure reliability,” you, we, or anyone else may conjecture about anything you/we/they please. Misusing big words doesn’t help to make your case any more than failing to attend to the warnings of the spell check feature on this blog does.

I’m still seeing Mr. Soroka as having had the last word. Well, Cecil did have a few extra spikes to drive home.

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By: Cville Eye https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36196 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:36:03 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36196 Both of my statements are correct. We just don’t know if they apply to this specific situation. Are there employees that are overworked in our library system? Have their jobs become too stressful? Are there employees who have quit because of being overworked and under too much stress in our library system? We cannot conjecture that if the library system does not get the oney it wants, employees will be over loaded with work, become stressed out, quit, or continue to work in what many people would describe as an inhumane system. I inferred from the article that this may have been the opinion of the three trustees appointed by Albemarle County but it does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the library’s board or John Halliday. I’m not sure if those three trustees are qualified to speak for management. What should be happening at this point of the budget process for the library is going through the fact-finding process in order to present fact-based options rather than take an attitude of “all or nothing.” This is certainly not the first time the library has not received its request and it may not be able to get it for a number of years. Sale prices of homes have dropped considerably and, if our real estate assessors do their jobs honestly, the assessed values should drop appreciably and that source of ocal revenue should also drop.

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By: Cecil https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36195 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:00:22 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36195 “if the employee doesn’t like it, then he should find employment elsewhere. The library is not obligated to him and he is not obligated to it. If there is a shortage of people qualified to work in the library in central VA, then I’m sure he can find employment in other library systems where he’ll be happy.”

Thank you for that, Cville Eye, because it helps to prove my point, and disprove your earlier reasoning — employees WILL leave if they find the conditions too stressful for the pay. Which means that an organization that currently has its doors open but which is internally highly stressed might not be able to maintain operations under those conditions indefinitely.

See, earlier you wrote

“if they haven’t hired the person and they haven’t shut their doors they probably can do without that position”

and my follow-up to that pointed out how your logic fails. The fact that an organization is operating at Point A in time does not prove that it can operate at Point B in time. As you yourself say, employees can quit if they feel overstressed and undercompensated. If they do quit, then when Point B in time rolls around, they might close their doors.

So you see how your syllogism is flawed, yes?

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By: Cville Eye https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36193 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:25:20 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36193 i don’t want to know your real name. What difference would it make. I don’t want to know you communicnts contact information. If I want to know, all I have to do is go into the library and ask the people that I know. And no, I’m not telling you my real name. It’s none of your business. So stop asking.
“The whole point (which you’re ignoring) is that employees might -not- be -asked- to work overtime, but might do it anyway, out of fear of reprisal or because they believe strongly in what they do.” If it applies to employees of this library system, then I’ll leav e it at this: if the employee doesn’t like it, then he should find employment elsewhere. The library is not obligated to him and he is not obligated to it. If there is a shortage of people qualified to work in the library in central VA, then I’m sure he can find employment in other library systems where he’ll be happy.
BTW, mathematicians usually base their conclusions up definition, axiom and theorems (the facts). You seem to be content to base your opinion on incomplete information, a bunch of maybes.

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By: A. Soroka https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36191 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:15:01 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36191 @Cville Eye

The whole point (which you’re ignoring) is that employees might -not- be -asked- to work overtime, but might do it anyway, out of fear of reprisal or because they believe strongly in what they do. I’m not sure what a degree in library science has to do with anything. I’m a professional in a library and I studied math. I’ll be happy to send you contact information for my communicants if, off-board, you’ll forward me yours, with your real name. Unless you can tell me how many are “enough” for you to take them seriously, the number doesn’t really make any difference, especially since I have no reason to suppose you will do anything with the information.

Since I don’t know who you are and I’m habitually disinclined to carry on anonymous arguments publicly, I’ll leave it there. You’re welcome to the last word.

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By: Cville Eye https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36182 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:24:01 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36182 @A. Soroka, I’m glad you acknowledge that your experiences at UVA may be different form those who work for JMRL. I once worked at Alderman.
Can you provide me with evidence that the JMRL staff are asked to work overtime? Also, just because someone has a degree in Library Science does not mean he is exempt from being paid overtime because is automatically classified as management or professional. Complaints to the Feds see to that. Your argument is anecdotal I know, but about how many staff members quit because ” they felt that responsibilities were piling up beyond any reasonable load?” I’m not asking for names or positions, of course.

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By: A. Soroka https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36179 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:14:15 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36179 @ Cville Eye

“As for overworked library staff. They do not get overtime andnd therefore do not work extra hours.”

This is simply wrong. I work in the University library system (in Alderman Library). Many of the staff here are “exempt” (cannot receive overtime pay because they are considered “management” or “professional” employees). Many, perhaps most work more than a normal 40-hour working week on occasion or frequently. Neither of us have any reason to suppose that JMRL staff are any less dedicated.

I can’t speak for people working at the Downtown Library right now but I know for a fact that in recent years, staff have quit work there because they felt that responsibilities were piling up beyond any reasonable load. I was given to understand that Library management was not to blame for this, that it was a matter of budgeting. Cecil’s description of the process seems pretty sadly accurate.

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By: Cville Eye https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36172 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:34:57 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36172 That sounds like it could be a good idea to have them in shopping centers to introduce then to Cville. I remember when Mr. Huja recommended to Council that they install two resembling a detached figure eight at Ridge/McIntire/Preston/Market/High but it didn’t go anywhere. I suspect that would have been a disaster, though.
The two people I know that work at the main library say they never have been asked to come in early or to work late so I don’t think the situration Cecil described fits the downtown library. In all of the years I have gone into that branch I have never seen anyone harried or stressed.
I once worked for a company that hired a consuling firm (recent college grads) to spend sometime observing the workflow of the employees and rewrite the job descriptions of almost everyone from mid-level down. We were aloud to apply for any of them or re-apply for the ones closest to ours. Surprisingly, staff was reduced the first year by 8% but more importantly we gained a new interest in our jobs because everytime had become stale and generally boring. I got to work with several other people than usual and learned quite a bit. In that case, taking on new duties renewed my interest in the job and helped my resumé considerably.

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By: Cecil https://cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36169 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:09:31 +0000 http://www.cvillenews.com/2010/01/19/jmrl-may-close-branches/#comment-36169 I see it this way: a salaried employee isn’t looking at a time-clock or breaks or overtime (salaried employees don’t get overtime–they just stay late), she’s looking at responsibilities. If she gets more responsibilities, after the organization has a talk about desperate times, temporary measures, everyone has to pitch in and help so the work will get done yadda yadda, then she’s a little more frazzled during the day, maybe she’s staying later every night, maybe she cuts her lunch break short. She can complain that she’s doing more than she was originally asked to do, and they’ll say “we’re sorry, but we’re all doing a bit more under these tough conditions” and then she can either quit or keep on. I worked as a salaried employee in an organization that was trying to cut costs, and the people who resisted taking on extra work and stuck religiously to their full hour for lunch and took breaks were clearly viewed as not the people to be advanced or rewarded. So you knew that if you wanted to be smiled upon, you would give up some of your own time (arrive early, leave late) to get the extra work done. I’m just saying that those working conditions take their toll, and to say that an organization that appears to be staying afloat with unfilled positions may not be able to maintain forever. You seemed to be saying that the mere fact that the doors hadn’t closed is sufficient evidence that there was no problem and the unfilled positions were therefore unnecessary.

I think Cville drivers could learn to negotiate roundabouts — we’re no stupider than DC drivers. I think people just have to get used to them. I love the fact that there’s a roundabout at Hollymead Town Center — if you enter behind Target, by CVS, you go through it. I think it’s kind of a cool way to introduce Cville drivers to roundabouts, by putting them in shopping centers (though I’m sure that wasn’t their goal). I’d love to see roundabouts introduced in shopping centers and in other areas where people are already driving a little more slowly and there isn’t as much traffic. I too wish Cville and the US in general would embrace roundabouts — no left hand turns! no sitting and idling at stop lights! no red lights being run!

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