TOMORROW (Thursday 2/16) 5:30pm
Lamont Library, 11 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
- Library workers present Occupy Harvard a Valentine’s Day card
The No Layoffs Campaign will picket outside of Lamont Library, the undergraduate library where Occupy Harvard has set up its temporary, targeted occupation, to call attention to the University’s draconian policies.
Harvard’s libraries are still reeling from the staff cuts of 2008. That the library “restructuring” involves buyouts & layoffs has come as a shock to many who say that their departments are already incredibly understaffed.
The Harvard administration has announced a plan to restructure the library system that will make libraries “more efficient” which will include a “smaller workforce.” The jobs of hundreds of staff currently employed by the libraries are threatened; measures include cuts and restructuring by “voluntary and involuntary means.” High unemployment rates make finding a new job nearly impossible, especially for older workers, who are being incentivized to leave “or else.” Harvard’s endowment grew 21% last year, to $32 billion, and the library operating costs represent only 3.3% of the annual budget.
Support the union of clerical workers and nonunionized Harvard employees, including our research librarians!