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This paper examines whether there has been improvement in benefits coverage for non-standard workers since the Wallace Report in 1983. This study uses Statistics Canada's Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) 1999 data. Results show significant differences in the receipt of benefits among non-standard workers, suggesting heterogeneity within this group of workers in terms of benefits coverage. Regular part-time and temporary full-time workers receive fewer benefits than regular full-time workers. Temporary part-time workers have significantly less likelihood of receiving benefits than the other three groups of workers. Overall, results show that since the Wallace Report findings, there has been little improvement in benefits coverage for non-standard workers, and they continue to be relatively disadvantaged in comparison to regular full-time workers.

This article is the result of an introductory two-year case study project that investigated community libraries supported by the not-for-profit organization Libros Para Pueblos (LPP) in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Libros Para Pueblos (LPP) is a largely volunteer-run library organization based in the capital city of Oaxaca de Juarez. In order to analyse the work of LPP we used Mostert & Vermeulen's (1998) nine areas for evaluation of community libraries. Over the past 20 years, the number of libraries the organization supports has grown from two to more than 70 throughout the state. The work that has facilitated this growth is carried out by a small Mexican staff, along with an Executive Committee and a Board of Directors made up of Americans and Canadians living in Mexico. The work is both time consuming and demanding, but it is fuelled by a positive reading ideology that is a result of memories of childhood reading. This motivation is shared by a network of 11 Mexican Regional Volunteer Coordinators who train and support local library workers. The local workers are often doing their tequio, which is a social requirement of working for one or two years in public service. We argue that the success of LPP libraries is influenced by: 1) an organizational structure that mandates Mexican leadership at the Executive level and in paid staff positions; 2) initiation from local representative; 3) the unique and complex socialist community configurations of the Oaxacan region; 4) a community of retirees who volunteer at many levels; and 5) national and international donations.

Keywords: Bibliothèques communautaires, Mexique, Oaxaca, bénévolat, culture de la lecture, Community libraries, Mexico, Oaxaca, volunteerism, reading culture

This article presents a case study for transitioning library-led open-educational resources (OER) initiatives away from labor-intensive activities to a model where library personnel focus on project management responsibilities. This shift from labour-intensive activities, such as workshops and training sessions, led to more collaborative partnerships with faculty and students to produce OER projects. In particular, we focus on labour implications for the various stakeholders involved and the sustainability of these initiatives. We describe several initiatives undertaken by the Ohio University Libraries to encourage open educational resource adoptions and projects, including a grant-funded initiative to provide support services for faculty creating OER. That funding, which was awarded to enhance undergraduate education, has been used to support the development of five OER projects that have directly involved students in the creation of those materials. We provide an overview of the various ways in which students have become involved in OER creation in partnership with faculty and librarians and discuss the impact these partnerships have had on student-faculty-librarian relationships and student engagement. Among these projects are an Hispanic linguistics open textbook created using only student-authored texts, student-generated test banks to accompany existing OER materials for a large-enrollment art history course, and several other projects in which hired student assistants are helping faculty to develop content for open textbooks. This article helps to address a gap in the literature by providing transparency regarding the personnel, costs, and workflow for Ohio University Libraries’ OER initiatives and addressing potential areas of concern surrounding student labour.

Keywords: open pedagogy, open educational practices, partnerships, role of libraries, Pédagogie ouverte, Pratiques éducatives ouvertes, Partenariats, Rôle des bibliothèques

This paper reports on a survey of faculty members at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in Los Angeles, California, regarding their attitudes about libraries’ and librarians’ roles in the area of fake news. This study is a continuation of a previous paper that reviewed the origins of fake news and faculty perceptions of the concept. The survey results suggest that faculty members have differing views of how libraries and librarians can help them address fake news. Across disciplines, ages, and genders, faculty members’ views show little belief in the use of the library or librarians to help combat fake news. Notably, only lecturers seem to have a strong view of libraries and librarians playing helpful roles in dealing with the fake news phenomenon. These findings may have future implications for librarians who attempt to address fake news with either their faculty or their students. It may be necessary to develop broader outreach and awareness programs to change traditional conceptions of academic librarians and library services, which are often conflated.

Keywords: fausses nouvelles, mésinformation, bibliothèques, enseignement supérieur, formation documentaire, Higher Education, Fake news, Libraries, Information literacy, Misinformation

Many educators across post-secondary institutions are learning about their colonial histories and the need to decolonize curriculum, learning materials, and teaching practice described in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action (2015). This qualitative study explored the meaning of decolonizing with a group of ten instruction librarians at a mid-sized Canadian institution. The project was conducted in the form of a learning program to offer the predominantly white settler librarian participants a chance to explore these topics. It provided an opportunity to document a learning process and a pathway to initiate change. A five-month learning program uncovered participant questions and interpretations of decolonizing drawing on transcripts of individual learning journals and a focus group as the data set. The program inspired a community of practice enabling the learning and unlearning essential to decolonizing. We report, from the perspective of two white settler librarians, on the meaning of decolonizing as an ongoing process that enables awareness of colonization, personal identity, and positionality and includes strategies librarians can use on the path to decolonizing teaching, collections, and spaces. Participant self-awareness surfaced a critical librarianship mindset where information is understood as a product shaped by cultural, historical, social, and political forces, and where we acknowledge that academic libraries and their information sources and systems are not neutral and empower specific voices.

Keywords: community of practice, communauté de pratique, decolonizing, décolonisation, maîtrise de l'information, information literacy, learning program, programme d'apprentissage, positionality, positionnalité

2022 has been a year of overlapping crises. The so-called “Freedom Convoys” paralyzing Canadian communities, the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cause excess death and disability, the war in Ukraine, the intensifying effects of climate change, and increasing inflation have all signaled that we find ourselves in a new era, one that can be described as authoritarian capitalism. In this article, we view the restructuring of Canadian universities as yet another facet of authoritarian capitalism, which uses overlapping crises to further proletarianize library labour and fully subsume it into the “learning factory.” Using Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson’s theorization of the politics of capital’s operations, we examine the library restructuring processes taking place at four Canadian universities: Alberta, Brock, Laurentian, and OCAD. We view the reorganizations taking place there as efforts on behalf of university administrators to use the intensification of global forces of capitalism to exploit academic librarian labour. Ultimately, we argue that Canadian librarians are witnessing both formal and real subsumption in Canadian universities, precipitated by the overlapping crises outlined earlier. As a result, we insist that librarians need to develop a politics of struggle to build collective consciousness and action in the face of authoritarian capitalism.

Keywords: autogestion, capitalism, capitalisme, collective bargaining, labour, négociation collective, réorganisation, reorganization, travail, self-governance

Objective – As a follow-up to the first 2013 survey, the Visible Minority Librarians of Canada (ViMLoC) network conducted its second comprehensive survey in 2021. The 2021 survey gathered detailed information about the demography, education, and employment of visible minority librarians (VMLs) working in Canadian institutions. Data from the 2021 survey and the analysis presented in this paper help us better understand the current library landscape, presented alongside findings from the 2013 survey. The research results will be helpful for professional associations and library administrators to develop initiatives to support VMLs. Methods – Researchers created online survey questionnaires using Qualtrics XM in English and translated them into French. We distributed the survey invitation through relevant library association electronic mail lists and posted on ViMLoC’s website, social networking platforms, and through their electronic mail list. The survey asked if the participant was a visible minority librarian. If the response was “No,” the survey closed. Respondents indicating "Yes" were asked 36 personal and professional questions of three types: multiple-choice, yes/no, and open-ended questions. Results – One hundred and sixty-two VMLs completed the 2021 survey. Chinese remained the largest ethnic identity, but their proportion in the survey decreased from 36% in 2013 to 24% in 2021. 65% were aged between 26 and 45 years old. More than half received their library degree during the 2010s. 89% completed their library degree in Canada, a 5% increase from 2013. The majority of librarians had graduated from University of Toronto (25%), followed closely by University of British Columbia (23%), and Western University (22%). Only 3% received their library degree from a library school outside North America. 34% of librarians earned a second master’s degree and 5% had a PhD. 60% of librarians had less than 11 years of experience. Nearly half worked in academic libraries. Most were located in Ontario and British Columbia. 69% of librarians were in non-management positions with 5% being senior administrators. 25% reported a salary above $100,000. In terms of job categories, the largest group worked in Reference/Information Services (45%), followed by Instruction Services (32%), and as Liaison Librarians (31%). Those working in Acquisitions/Collection Development saw the biggest jump from 1% in 2013 to 28% in 2021. 58% of librarians sought mentoring support, of whom 54% participated in formal mentorship programs, and 48% had a visible minority mentor. Conclusion – 35% more VMLs responded to the 2021 survey compared to the 2013 survey. Changes occurred in ethnic identity, generation, where VMLs earned a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) or equivalent degree, library type, geographic location, and job responsibilities. The 2021 survey also explored other aspects of the VMLs not covered in the 2013 survey, such as librarian experience, salary, management positions, and mentorship experience. The findings suggested that the professional associations and library administrators would need collaborative efforts to support VMLs.

The return of the Conservatives to power in Ontario, Canada in 2018 saw major attacks on the province’s K-12 education system, centering on increases to class size and mandatory e-learning courses for students which, taken together with other budget cuts, amounted to the elimination of thousands of teaching and support staff positions, as well as threats of privatization. These policies provoked widespread resistance from education workers, who as union members and grassroots activists conducted extensive outreach to build public support, engaged in job actions, and participated in the largest strikes in Ontario for decades as part of the campaign for “No Cuts to Education.” The start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 ended the movement. This article assesses the victories and defeats of this key struggle in defense of public education. It considers the strategies and tactics of provincial and local union leadership and activist members, in which the battle with the provincial government for the alignment of public support was widely recognized as being of decisive importance. The author uses autoethnographic research as a local union leader, interviews with active union members, policy documents, union statements and media coverage to construct an historical account. This experience has relevance for studies of teachers’ resistance to the neoliberalization of education, as well as social movement unionism and its challenges.

Keywords: teachers' unions, collective bargaining, strikes, public education

This study focuses on exploring, in the labour shortage context, the factors explaining employee retention in a Temiscamingue-Abitibi factory. A partial application of the Hopkins et collab. (2010) multidimensional personnel retention model was performed. The authors also looked into management practices aimed at employee involvement and loyalty, as well as in systems for managing high-performance work practices. More specifically, they were interested in the AMO (Ability-Motivation-Opportunity) model of Appelbaum et collab. (2000) aiming, through various interdependent practices, to strengthen skills, motivation and mobilization (Jiang et collab., 2012). It is research done according to a sequential mixed design (quantitative then qualitative). First, 50 employees were surveyed by a longitudinal questionnaire on their perception of various retention factors. Then, five semi-structured interviews were conducted with the organization managers on their human resources management practices. Integration of the quantitative descriptive results with the thematic analysis of the qualitative data indicates a general trend towards maintaining the employment link with the organization as well as satisfaction with the general working conditions and the psychological climate. This positive portrait is associated with HRM practices, according to a paternalistic strategy, promoting the sustained acquisition of skills, and the development and fulfilment of employees in various aspects. These practices have horizontal synergy and vertical coherence, with the strong values of the organization found in the views of the managers.

Keywords: Rétention du personnel, Ability-Motivation-Opportunity model, pratiques de gestion à haute performance, working conditions, modèle AMO, personnel retention, conditions de travail, managing high-performance work practices, climat psychologique, psychological climate