LAAUW stands with colleagues at OCADU

LAAUW sent the below copied letter to Ana Serrano, President of OCADU, and cc'd: Caroline Langill, Vice President and Provost Academic, Tony White, University Librarian, Jaime Watt, Chair, Board of Governors, Chris Thompson, Steward, Treasurer & Interim President, OPSEU Local 576, and Min Sook Lee, President, OCADU Faculty Association.

Dear President Serrano,

As professional colleagues and fellow Ontario university academic staff, we are disappointed by the OCAD University decision to terminate four long-serving and committed academic librarians, whose service to their community and profession over a collective seven decades cannot be understated or easily replaced. These senior librarian positions include the Head, Reference & Instructional Services; Head, Visual Resources & Special Collections; Head, E-Resources and E-Learning; and the Learning Zone Librarian. We were also disheartened to hear of the elimination of two other vacant positions without consultation with any members of the OCADU community.

Members of the Librarians’ and Archivists’ Association of the University of Waterloo count themselves lucky to have learned from and worked with Marta, Alex, Daniel, and Victoria through our professional and academic journeys, and their essential support of early-career professionals and the broader field of art librarianship has been invaluable. We have personally witnessed how their work has informed, inspired and nurtured the next generation of creatives, design thinkers, and academics. We condemn the University’s abuse of due process and collegial governance, ignoring their collective agreement and obligations to members of OPSEU local 576 and the OCADU community at large. We call for OCAD University leadership to reinstate their positions and re-evaluate the library’s budget strategy as a whole.

Library workers are essential to the operations of modern-day research universities and are not expendable. As we have seen and experienced in the pandemic, library workers continued to provide library services and resources to their communities. To terminate these positions during this time is unconscionable. As OCAD University aims higher in its pursuit of international recognition in design research and new media technologies, they are doing themselves a great disservice by refusing the support and infrastructure the library’s people provide. They are crucial to the support of teaching and learning, both to art and design students, as well as new library professionals in Canada.

On behalf of the Librarians’ and Archivists' Association of the University of Waterloo, we call on the Ontario College of Art and Design University to reinstate our colleagues: Marta, Alex, Daniel, and Victoria.

Sincerely,