ALUW Beginnings

1969 was an important year for many reasons. Nixon was inaugurated in January; Midnight Cowboy won Best Picture; men walked on the moon for the first time; the Stonewall riot in New York City started the gay rights movement; Sesame Street debuted, and the Internet (ARPANET) went online in December. The Seattle Pilots professional baseball team began play, student protests continued on campus, the "PIT" was dug for the Central Garage construction, and ALUW was organized. In June of that year, a powerful bomb blast rocked the administration building (now Gerberding) and nearby buildings, including Suzzallo. As far as we know, there was no ALUW connection to any of these events at the time.

The Washington Library Letter (979.705 WLL Special Collections) reported the beginning as follows:

"Librarians of the University of Washington voted to establish the Association of Librarians of the University of Washington at a meeting of the professional staff on March 20, 1969. Purposes of the organization are promotion of the professional interests and concerns of members as related to the Library, the campus community and the profession as a whole. Officers elected to serve during the interim period prior to the adoption of a formal organizational structure are: Helen D. Strickland and Betty L. Wagner, Co-chairmen; and Karyl Winn, Secretary. Gary Bettis, Hazel Evans and Doris Jones have been appointed to serve on the Executive Committee. Members appointed to serve on the Constitution and Bylaws Committee are Martha Austin, Carol Cleaves, Gary Middleton, Ruth Kirk, and Elizabeth Wilkins." -HDS/BLW-

One major factor in the founding of ALUW was the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Librarians. The Committee was discharged in January 1969 after presenting its report to the Director of Libraries.

In the June 1969 Library Letter this report appeared:

"The Constitution and By-Law Committee of the Association of Librarians of the University of Washington has begun its deliberations, and expects to be very busy in the next few months. As work progresses, the opinions of the membership on specific questions and proposals will be solicited, by questionnaire or in called meetings. However, the Committee wishes to encourage librarians at any time to make their views known, by letter to the chairman or by consultation with the Committee members, on any matter affecting the constitution and by-laws (purpose, procedures, membership, structure, etc.) Committee members are: Martha Austin, Catalog Division; Carol Cleaves, Acquisitions Division; Dale Middleton, Health Sciences; Elizabeth Wilkins, Law; Ruth Kirk, Reference Division, Chairman. -RMK-"

Eleanor Chase remembers this meeting occurring in the yet-unoccupied Engineering Library.

"The Association of Librarians of the University of Washington met the evening of June 17, 1969 in the Engineering Library for an informational session devoted principally to the University of Washington Library budget, librarians salaries and growth of the Library budget in relation to the University as a whole. The meeting was called in response to a petition addressed to the Executive Committee of the Association. Mr. Marion Milczewski, Mr. Kenneth Allen, and Mr. Merwin Moores spoke for the Library administration.

Statistical data sheets passed out at the meeting are available to Association members from Mrs. Karyl Winn, ALUW Secretary. Minutes of the meeting and a questionnaire will be distributed to the membership in the near future. -BLW-"

Andy Johnson remembers some early ALUW activities:

"My first recollections of involvement with ALUW date from the Fall of 1969, when I joined the staff here. At that time librarians had already been denied faculty status by the Faculty Senate and had been given Academic Status instead. One of the big issues we were discussing at that point was which retirement system we wanted to be under. The University had put us under TIAA/CREF but there was a large number of librarians who thought we should be under PERS1. Frankly, as a beginning librarian, it didn't make much difference to me as retirement seemed such a long way off! However, we stayed under TIAA/CREF, much to my benefit as I find now. The other big issue was the disparity in salaries between newly-hired people, such as myself, and librarians who had been here a long time. I was appointed to a committee to examine how serious the situation was. We did a thorough survey of the situation and found that over the years grave inequities had crept into the system resulting in newly-hired people having considerably higher salaries than long-time employees. The committee I was on proposed a scheme to equalize salaries across the board. Since this was 1970 and the state of Washington hadn't entered the post-SST slump yet, one-time money was obtained from the legislature to smooth out the salary curve.

The next big issue occurred the following year. The state was now in a major economic slump. Personnel were being cut and, for the only time in the 35 years I've been here, we actually laid off librarians. Three professional positions were eliminated. The other three slots, which were occupied, were selected on the basis of seniority. The ALUW Executive Board, of which I was secretary at that time, made its recommendations to the Libraries' Administration, which accepted them. In the end, no people actually lost their jobs as all of the affected people left voluntarily for other positions so the staff who wanted to stay here did. Back in those days ALUW meetings were well attended and the organization as a whole played an important role in the governance of the library. It kept emphasizing the fact that we weren't faculty and therefore needed to be named specifically as a separate group in bills granting raises to University employees. It took many years, but that goal has finally been reached."

Many of the work conditions or benefits we now take for granted were either championed, administered, or pushed by ALUW--staff development funds, flexible hours, travel funds, performance evaluations, and others. We could repeat what Margaret Tjaden wrote in 1973 after another campaign for faculty status:

"ALUW was established to provide the librarians with the chance to be involved in matters of interest to them and to make sure that the librarians are informed of what is going on that interests them. If it slips into bad habits, it may cease to fulfill its intended role and then lose its effectiveness and, therefore, its reason to exist. This must not be allowed to happen. ALUW is an effective force and it must continue to be such."

Written by: Dottie Smith

For more information on the early history of ALUW, please read Ross Nadal's article for the Workers & Unions of UW Web site.