With the May posting of the position of Deputy Librarian of Congress, the Library reached another stage in the lengthy revision of its personnel procedures.
The posting and filling of key management vacancies is one goal of LC's new six-month plan for human resources. The period covered by the new plan began in May. The plan calls for accomplishing the following:
- Analyzing the need to revise LC's existing Affirmative Action Plan;
- Reviewing and implementing certain recommendations by LC consultants and others regarding the Affirmative Action Office and other personnel matters;
- Posting critical management vacancies such as that of the Deputy Librarian;
- Improving "targeted recruitment";
- Strengthening affirmative action training and development programs;
- Conducting a "diversity management" program;
- Making internal human resources improvements;
- Ensuring legality and equity in the hiring of experts and consultants; and
- Ensuring accountability in managerial performance.
Overall implementation of the six-month plan has been vested in a high-level team, which includes Dan Mulhollan, acting Deputy Librarian of Congress; Suzanne Thorin, chief of staff; Lloyd Pauls, acting associate librarian for Human Resources; Denise Banks, affirmative action coordinator; Ben Benitez, director of Human Resources; and consultant James Morrison.
Officials said the Library's three labor organizations will be briefed periodically on aspects of the plan; "impact" bargaining will be conducted as necessary.
The team reports to Dr. Billington, and meets weekly within the Library and once a month with the staff of the Subcommittee on Libraries and Memorials of the House Administration Committee. Last March, the subcommittee, together with the Subcommittee on Investigations of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee (both chaired by Rep. William L. Clay, a Missouri Democrat) held hearings on LC's personnel practices and racial equity (see April 5 and April 19 _LC Information Bulletin_).
The hearings followed LC procedural reforms already undertaken by Human Resources in the wake of federal district court Judge Norma Holloway Johnson's partial summary judgment Aug. 14, 1992, in Cook v. Billington, an LC black employees class action lawsuit whose origins go back to 1975. On the basis of 1979-88 data, Judge Johnson found that the LC hiring system was so "subjective" as to lend itself to discriminatory effects against African- American applicants for professional and administrative jobs. Lawsuit settlement talks have been under way since January.
The broad six-month plan evolved through discussions among Dr. Billington and senior LC managers as a way to address -- in an organized fashion -- issues raised by House members at the March hearings and by LC personnel consultants Edmund Cooke Jr., a Washington attorney, and James Morrison of Morrison Associates, who were hired after Judge Johnson's decision.
The six-month plan focusses not on creating a new personnel system (as called for, eventually, in the Library's overall 1993-2000 strategic plan), but on dealing with various weaknesses in the current system beyond those procedures already tackled by Human Resources since last August's court decision.
"The purpose of the plan is to address the concerns expressed by the Subcommittee on Libraries and Memorials of the House Administration Committee and the Subcommittee on Investigations of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee," said Lloyd Pauls, acting associate librarian for Human Resources. "We are trying to improve the work force [of the Library], to develop a more diverse work force, and we want to look at the affirmative action program to be sure that we meet all lawful requirements," Mr. Pauls said.
Library officials noted that all of the plan's goals cannot be met immediately. For one thing, while critical vacancies in management positions can be posted in the near future, the impact of new LC guidelines for competitive selection of bargaining unit employees must be bargained with the unions, which will delay the filling of nonmanagement vacancies.
The Library last posted vacancy announcements for professional and administrative positions on Nov. 24, 1992. The first position to be advertised since that time is that of Deputy Librarian. Several LC officials predicted that no professional and administrative positions, other than those for certain key managers, would be posted until autumn. Officials noted that continued hiring delays threaten LC's ability to meet its high- priority 1993 targets in reducing the vast backlog of uncataloged materials.
Moreover, in the current fiscal climate, the budget for the Library is unlikely to grow by much in coming years, reducing somewhat individual opportunities for hiring, training, transfer and promotion. Indeed, as Financial Services Director John Webster has pointed out, LC faces a period of selective "downsizing." Nevertheless, despite the real difficulties, a Library spokesman emphasized, Dr. Billington is determined to move ahead. The six-month plan is a start. The details:
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLAN. A key element of the six-month plan is to analyze LC's existing multiyear Affirmative Action Plan. Library officials will decide whether to incorporate guidelines already developed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor, as well as recommendations on affirmative action made by Mr. Morrison and Mr. Cooke. Much of this analysis will involve collecting data to evaluate existing LC affirmative action programs; assessing the kinds of barriers that prevent highly motivated individuals from advancing in their jobs; and looking at labor market studies to determine how many potential minority candidates exist for LC jobs in critical specialties.
COMPETITIVE SELECTION PROCEDURES AND TARGETED RECRUITMENT. Closely tied to evaluation of the current Affirmative Action Plan is the revision of the Library's competitive selection procedures, incorporating certain recommendations of Mr. Cooke and Mr. Morrison, and the ability of the Affirmative Action Office to operate effectively within LC's management structure. An improved targeted recruitment program to assure a larger and more diverse applicant pool is also one of the goals.
TRAINING. The first component of training is to expand the successful existing two-year affirmative action intern program from 14 participants (in the 1991-93 class) to at least 25. Under the program, selected staffers who are in nonprofessional positions are placed in professional trainee positions, and through training and experience, if successful, move into professional or administrative positions that lead to GS-11 or GS-12 jobs. Mentors and individual development plans are important parts of the program.
The second component is the new affirmative action leadership program. Funded by an LC benefactor, the 15-month program will include practical experience, professional mentoring, management workshops and in some cases, academic courses. The Library will select up to 10 individuals from underrepresented groups to participate, both from within and outside the Library, who have shown strong potential for leadership in libraries. At programþs end, all successful participants move up--some into supervisory jobs at LC, others to similar jobs in other libraries.
"The Library of Congress is filling a serious professional void. Specialized leadership programs for underrepresented groups are not available in schools of library and information science, and intern programs [in many libraries], once available through foundations, have been abandoned for lack of money," said Deanna Marcum, director of Public Service and Collection Management I.
Third, LC will develop and implement a Library-wide basic training program for supervisors. Overall responsibility for training within the Library will lie with the Staff Training and Development Office headed by Sylvia Cooke Martin.
DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT. Increasing employee awareness of the need to get along with individuals from different backgrounds is another goal of the new six-month plan. Herbert Z. Wong, a consultant hired by the Library in December 1992 to examine work force diversity, has been retained to assess, through individual interviews and focus groups, LC's current situation and to make recommendations.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS IN HUMAN RESOURCES. The six-month plan's authors see efficiency in Human Resources as vital to the plan's success: Human Resources should have adequate staff with the expertise to do the complex job; the Library's personnel data bases, both those maintained at LC in the past and at the National Finance Center since July 1990 must be accurate and up- to-date.
TIMELINESS. The six-month plan puts special emphasis on ending undue delays in the personnel process: "It is essential that our competitive selection process not only be fair and equitable, but timely. As our personnel specialists learn the new system, we want the process to move along expeditiously."
MONITORING OF CONSULTANT CONTRACTS/PERFORMANCE STANDARDS OF MANAGERS. Finally, the six-month plan looks toward better oversight and monitoring of the Library's personal services and consultant contracts to ensure that contractors are recruited from diverse sources. It aims at revising existing criteria for measuring senior level performance in the areas of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. It also looks toward implementing a performance plan for managers and supervisors at the GS-15 level and below.
