[Brian Croxall]

Colleagues, I’m one of two professional-issue Delegate Assembly members representing the category “Libraries and Archives.” I wanted to open a discussion about whether there are any issues that the Forum members would especially like to see brought to the DA. What concerns are on your (collective) minds?

When I have information about the itinerary and issues that the DA will discuss, I will share them here. In the past two years, the DA has particularly been busy with considering the ways in which graduate education is fraught with inequities and power imbalances. This has occupied a significant portion of the discussion during the meetings, alongside regular business.

Also, if anyone has general questions about the Delegate Assembly or the MLA’s governance, I would be happy to answer them. I’ve been on the DA for three years now, and prior to that I served for four years on the MLA’s Executive Council.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Brian Croxall.

[Cheryl E. Ball]

Hey Brian– How about asking the MLA if they would propose a statement of support for open-access research in the humanities? 😉

[Lisa Marie Rhody]

Hi Brian,

Thanks so much for raising this issue. I’m deeply sympathetic to the issues relating to graduate study, but given this focus group, I feel like we should raise issues related to labor equity, expectations, and job safety for librarians. I think it would be helpful for MLA to have a statement of solidarity that demonstrates our organization’s concerns for librarians and archivists during the ongoing health crisis. This statement could be inclusive of: affirming that libraries remain “open” even if services are not in person; agreement not to pressure librarians or library staff to return to work before conditions are safe; and solidarity in our support of job security and resisting layoffs of part time and contingent library staff as a cost-saving measure. Do you think that something like this might be possible?

Thanks for forwarding your request!

Best wishes,
Lisa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lisa Marie Rhody, Ph.D.
Deputy Director of Digital Initiatives
Director, Digital Humanities Research Institute
Director, Digital Fellowship Programs
Affiliated Faculty, Masters in Digital Humanities, Data Analysis & Visualization,
Liberal Studies, and Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Ave., Room 3300.01
New York, NY 10016
lrhody@gc.cuny.edu<mailto:lrhody@gc.cuny.edu> | @lmrhody | she/her
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[André G. Wenzel]

PMLA prices rose this year by a significant amount for Institutional subscribers. It may not rise to the level of the DA and it has been an issue for us in this year of budget cuts.

[Brian Croxall]

Sarah, that’s definitely something I can mention. I certainly remember you addressing this question in past years as the organization moved toward an exclusive relationship with EBSCO.

[Brian Croxall]

Cheryl, this is a good idea but one that wouldn’t be able to be done this year giving the timing on motions/resolutions. I wonder if there’s a standing committee of the MLA that might take the lead on such a thing. Still, it’s something I can work to surface.

[Brian Croxall]

Lisa, these are great ideas. As with Cheryl’s, this is going to be impossible to do as a motion, but it’s something that we could propose that the Executive Council consider in the coming year. Some sort of statement about labor equity and protections during the pandemic would seem apropos.

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