 

Needed Burling change under consideration

'By Patty Hahn

Burling Library is still standing
on firm ground, despite recent talk
around campus that its foundations
are sinking three inches a year.

Christopher McKee, Librarian of
the College. is. however, in
Cambridge, Massachusetts this
week, meeting With the Dober and

Associates architectural firm
about several other structural
problems that burden the library,
most notably the lack of space,
Wide aislﬂ. large study tables
often not fully used, and an inef-
ficlent floor plan all contribute to
the increasing problem of in
sufficient stack space,

ALSO under consideration for
Burling is a reclassification
project to change from the current
Dewey Decimal system to the
Library of Congress system of
classification, The Library of
Congress system, said to be more
logical, would make catalog use
much easier. Most university

Structural drawbacks such as wide aisles, large study tables often left unused and an inefficient floor

plan, , .

Will Miller, UMW survive current
plague of in-house bickering?

Continued from page I
the president’s major decisions).

The wildcat strike was finally
and laboriously ended, but Arnold
Miller’s problems had just begun.
The militant right-to-strike
movement was simmering just
below the surface. and the Boyle
loyalists on the [BB were using
their position to obstruct Miller‘s
leadership.

WHEN THE union election
campaign of 1876-77 drew near,
both factions challenged the Miller
administration. Harry Patrick,
secretaryrtreasurer of the union
and a former ally of Miller, now
aligned himself with tile right-t0-
str-ikeis. Lee Roy Patterson, a
Kentucky strip miner and [EB
member. was the candidate of the
Boyle camp.

Throughout the long and often
bitter campaign, charges and
countercharges {few In an ac—
cusation which later had a great
impact, Patterson charged that the
Miller administration was
preparing to cut union medical
benefits and withhold the an-
nouncement of the cutbacks until
after the election.

UNION HEALTH and
retirement benelie are managed
jointly by the union and the BCOA
(Bituminous ‘Coal Operators’
Association) and financed by a
royalty on each ton of coal mined.
For some time the funds had been
running out of money due to a
below~par coal production caused
mostly by wildcat strikes. Because
of this income shortage, the union
had been forced to ask the BCOA to
agree to two reallocations of
money between the various funds
to keep the benefits ﬂowing. This
was only a temporary measure.
however, and the health fund’s
board of trustees warned before
the election that benefits might
have to be cut.

Despite opposition from both
sides, Miller won the election with
a sizable plurality. But what little
satisfaction he derived from this
triumph was soon overwhelmed by
the backlash over health benefit
cutbacks. Just as they had warned
and Patterson had predicted, the
health fund trustees announced

 

that miners would now have to pay
part of their medical expenses
themselves instead of receiving
free treatment in hospitals and
UMW clinics.

MINERS IN some parts of West
Virginia walked out immediately
and others threatened to do the
same if benefits were not restored.
Miller tried desperately to get the
BCOA to Somehow alleviate the
situation, but the operators refused
to reallocate the fundsa third timeI
saying that this would further
jeopardize the other funds and
would encourage the very wildcat
strikes that were the cause of the
whole thing.

With that, still more miners left
their jobs. now protesting the
operators' lack of cooperation as
well as Miller's alleged bumbling.
From West Virginia the strike
spread to Kentucky, Ohio, and
Virginia until it paralyzed the
eastern Coalfields, Miller’s hands
appeared to be tied as the strike
gained momentum despite his
back-to-work calls. Union coal
production ground to a halt as the
miners aggravated the situation
they were protesting against. But
they knew no other means of
protest, and as the strike dragged
on, tensions rose between strike
leaders and miners who wanted to
return to work, .Violence ﬂared
along the picketlines; car windows
were smashed, men were beaten,
shots, were fired,

The impact of the union’s present
condition is tremendous.
Organizing is once again becoming
a major concern, but not because
the coal companies are fighu'ng to
prevent the miners from being
represented, Insteadt many
miners today don‘t even want
union representation. Quite a few
non-union mines actually pay
higher wages than mines under
union contract, and miners see no
point in working for lower wages
and reduced benefits along with
the ever»present danger of being
thrown out of work indefinitely by
wildcat strikes.

THE COMBINATION of steady
work and higher pay is one the
union cannot match, and most of

 

the recently opened coal mines in
the Midwest and West are non-
union. Even in the East, where
emotional. traditional, and family
ties to the union are deep-rooted,
the UMW is losing members and.
production. Dramatic evidence of
this is that only about half of the
coal mined in this country is UMW
coal—and the percentage is
dropping. Even more incredibly.
nationwide coal production ac~
tually rose during the massive
eastern wildcat strike over benefit
cutbacks.

With the pressures of the energy
crisis demanding more coal and
with new mines opening all over
the country, the UMW would seem
to have a golden opportunity to
expand its membership and in-
ﬂuence. But because of its internal
disorganization, the UMW has
been unable to capitalize on its
position and has let the opportunity
slip past. The union is slowly
bleeding to death from self-
inflicted wounds, and there is no
prospect for recovery in the for»
seeable future.

. THE UMW is in an extremely

weak bargaining stance for con-
tract negotiations, making even
more unlikely an increase in pay
and benefits that would attract new
miners and satisfy the present
membership. Unless the United
Mine Workers can live up to their
name and rally around a leader or
a cause, their power and inﬂuence
will dwindle to insignificance. And
without the union to protect them,
the miners’ rights and safety Will
be one of the first obstacles to be
trampled in the impending coal
rush. ,

The UMW has been the driving
force behind every substantive
improvement in the miners’ lives,
from better pay and working
conditions to health and safety
legislation. It has been the only
consistent guardian of their
welfare, and if it falls by the
wayside then Harlan County,
U.S.A. may become a sign of the
future rather than an
anachronism,

libraries now use the Library of
Congress system.

To set up this new system, books
that circulate at any point during a
tenryear period would be
reclassified and reshelved, while
those that did not get checked out
would be removed and placed in a
separate storage area accessible
by staff members only. Thus, the
removal of these “dead” books
would make space for incoming
books.

ANOTHER idea under Con-
sideration is a possible extension of
the mezzanine level of the library
to the north and south sides of the
building. Floor space of both first
and second levels would con-
sequently be equalized, providing
space for several thousand more
books.

Complaints about Burling often
concem the lack of student com-
fort. Vibrating noise, toobright
lighting and Chairs that are stiff
and unyielding make ior an un»
pleasant study environment,
Heating and air-conditioning
systems are both faulty. The latter
system was a gift from an alumni
who provided the college wiui
several individual units as opposed
to a central unit. These are located
on the east and west sidns of the
building, and are by no means

‘capable of cooling the entire

building without the use of an
exorbitant amount of energy. ,

THE large, plate-glass windows
are an energy hazard as well. They
cause a greenhouse effect in the
summer by holding the heat inside
and in the winter they transmit
cold air to the interior, making it
necessary for some students to
study with jackets and gloves. ,

A LIBRARY is its collection of
books, and this too is one of the
major drawbacks that Burling has
suffered in recent years. Students
complain that books are missing
from the shelves, that books are
ripped. destroyed and marked,
that there are often large gaps in
subject areas, notably the social
sciences and thatthereis a lack of
subsequent updating.

Aware of such problems, the
college has utilized the I-LITE
(Iowa Library Information
Teletype Exchange) system, an
efficient method which operatu
via teletype and increases the
availability of materials open to
students. Assistant Librarian
Steven Pandolfo says that virtually
any book that is desired by a
student can be ordered with the
approval of a faculty member of
the appropriate department, There
is also transportation provided to
the university libraries in Iowa
City and Ames, if so desierd.

THE LIBRARY is currently
undergoing a systematic updating
of books in various Subjects. This is
done through use of a publication
entitled Books for College
Libraries. a catalog that conmins
lists of books that should be in-
cluded in college collections.
However, this is a slow, tedious
process and may not show
significant results for several
years. Books are also routinely
chosen from Choice magazine,
which reviews new books with
regard to college book buying
needs. Richard Ryan, the Order
Librarian, handles the ordering of
‘new books and welcomes student
suggestions.

The number of periodicals the
library receives has been frozen at
approximately i,300, again due to
-lack of space. Pandolfo states,
however. that this is a considerable
sum, taking into account the size of
Grinnell College. It is the reference
section that needs revamping,
according to Pandolfo. Narrow
aisles, books arranged too close to
the floor or inaccessible
altogether, and me lack of table
space make the reference area
rather unsatisfactory for browsing
and study. Here again, the problem
is a lack of space.

Thus, Burling Library suffers
from a wide variety of are
Chitectural and bibliographical
problems. It still may be on firm
ground but it clearly needs. as

 

McKee and others recognize, much
improvement.

. . .all contribute to negative aspects of Burling. It is on problems
such as these that McKee and Dober and Associates are working,

 

