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Progressive Librarians Guild

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The Progressive Librarians Guild (PLG) was founded in New York City in January 1990 by librarians concerned with the library profession's "rapid drift into dubious alliances with business and the information industry, and into complacent acceptance of service to an unquestioned political, economic and cultural status quo," according to the organization's statement of purpose . The initial three organizers were Elaine Harger , Mark Rosenzweig and Elliot Shore. The PLG addresses issues especially relating to librarianship and human rights .

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75-423: The Progressive Librarians Guild publishes the journal The Progressive Librarian , a forum for critical perspectives in librarianship and information studies. The journal features articles, book reviews, bibliographies, reports, and documents. The first issue of Progressive Librarian was published in the summer of 1990 on the heels of the founding of PLG and was given its title by Sanford Berman , who exclaimed that

150-681: A Christian-centric worldview, and other biases inherent in the LCSH. Berman also is known for his role in encouraging the Library of Congress to drop such archaic headings as "Water Closet" in favor of contemporary terminology. During the last six months of 2005, working with the assistance of Steve Fesenmaier, Berman convinced the Library of Congress to create many new subject headings, including " American Dream ," " Plutocracy ," " West Virginia Mine Wars , 1897-1921," "The Battle of Blair Mountain , 1921," and several others. With librarian James P. Danky , Berman

225-597: A Human Right," summarized librarian involvement in 2011 public sector union protests to defend collective bargaining in Wisconsin . Progressive Librarian featured annual reviews of librarian labor activities. In 2023 the final PLG annual compilation of unions actions from 2021-Labor Day 2023 was published in the SRRT Newsletter as "Unions- 2002-2023- Bibliographic history of the Union Library Workers project by

300-505: A June 2018 governmental reorganization plan, the Donald Trump administration proposed turning USPS into "a private postal operator" which could save costs through measures like delivering mail fewer days per week, or delivering to central locations instead of door to door. There was strong bipartisan opposition to the idea in Congress. In April 2020, Congress approved a $ 10 billion loan from

375-923: A board member its new parent, XPO Logistics , whose postal contracts expanded during DeJoy's postmaster general role—was a major donor and fundraiser for the Republican Party (from 2017, a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee , until appointed postmaster general, and later million-dollar donor to the 2020 Trump campaign while postmaster general). DeJoy immediately began taking measures to reduce costs, such as banning overtime and extra trips to deliver mail. While DeJoy admitted that these measures were causing delays in mail delivery , he said they would eventually improve service. More than 600 high-speed mail sorting machines were scheduled to be dismantled and removed from postal facilities, raising concerns that mailed ballots for

450-503: A conscious effort to describe accurately all materials in the catalog for a patron. A considerable amount of conscious effort meant including "public notes" to clarify unfamiliar concepts for patrons. The public notes would let a patron know whether an item would suit the information needs. Furthermore, Berman opposed the practice of not cataloging all important aspects of works. Patrons cannot access materials when they have not been fully catalogued. The spark of Berman's cataloging revolution

525-613: A high number of packages, and an electric delivery vehicle produced in partnership with Canoo that is a "pod-like" smaller van. The Department of Defense and the USPS jointly operate a postal system to deliver mail for the military ; this is known as the Army Post Office (for Army and Air Force postal facilities) and the Fleet Post Office (for Navy , Marine Corps , and Coast Guard postal facilities). In fiscal year 2022,

600-667: A leading critic of biased headings in the Library of Congress Subject Headings . His 1971 publication, Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People , sparked a movement to correct biased subject headings. Berman listed 225 headings with proposed alterations, additions, or deletions and cross-references to "more accurately reflect the language used in addressing these topics, to rectify errors of bias, and to better guide librarians and readers to material of interest." Berman stated, "The fact that

675-708: A manifesto about library-related issues. Berman co-authored the 1990 ALA Policy on Library Services to Poor People, and founded the American Library Association 's Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force, a division of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT). In 1989 he was honored with the American Library Association Equality Award . In June 2005, he gave the Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture at

750-546: A monopoly on traditional letter delivery within the U.S. and operates under a universal service obligation (USO), both of which are defined across a broad set of legal mandates, which obligate it to provide uniform price and quality across the entirety of its service area. The Post Office has exclusive access to letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail" and personal letterboxes in the U.S., but has to compete against private package delivery services, such as United Parcel Service , FedEx , and DHL . The first national postal agency in

825-411: A number of meanings may be assigned to a given word explains why messages are subject to misinterpretation and why our communication is open to misunderstandings." He asserted that messages and therefore subject headings must convey an idea in a fashion free from prejudice. Berman realized the continued use of biased subject headings would significantly limit the ability of a patron to access materials in

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900-457: A plan to close about 3,700 small post offices. Various representatives in Congress protested, and the Senate passed a bill that would have kept open all post offices farther than 10 miles (16 km) from the next office. In May 2012, the service announced it had modified its plan. Instead, rural post offices would remain open with reduced retail hours (some as little as two hours per day) unless there

975-399: A proactive information conduit to other librarians around the world. His vehicles of influence include public speaking , voluminous correspondence, and unsolicited "care packages" delivered via the U.S. Postal Service . Will Manley , columnist for the American Library Association (ALA) publication, American Libraries, has praised Berman: "He makes you proud to be a librarian." Berman

1050-551: A state-by-state analysis concluded that 76% of Americans were eligible to vote by mail in 2020, a record number. The analysis predicted that 80 million ballots could be cast by mail in 2020 – more than double the number in 2016. The Postal Service sent letters to 46 states in July 2020, warning that the service might not be able to meet each state's deadlines for requesting and casting last-minute absentee ballots. The House of Representatives voted to include an emergency grant of $ 25 billion to

1125-575: Is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States, its insular areas and associated states . It is one of a few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution of the United States . As of 2023, the USPS has 525,469 career employees and 114,623 non-career employees. The USPS has

1200-451: Is known for promoting activist librarianship in which social justice is part and parcel of professional work. Thanks to this advocacy, the American Library Association 's official policy recognizes the key role of librarians in addressing social ills. Berman was awarded American Library Association Honorary Membership in 2004. Having retired in 1999, Berman continues to solicit the Library of Congress for additions and modifications to

1275-413: Is now being delivered in two days instead of one. Large commercial mailers can still have first-class mail delivered overnight if delivered directly to a processing center in the early morning, though as of 2014 this represented only 11% of first-class mail. Unsorted first-class mail will continue to be delivered anywhere in the contiguous United States within three days. In July 2011, the USPS announced

1350-490: Is projected to raise approximately $ 50 million per year. (Shipping alcoholic beverages is currently illegal under 18 U.S.C.   § 1716 (f).) In 2014, the Postal Service was requesting reforms to workers' compensation, moving from a pension to defined contribution retirement savings plan, and paying senior retiree health care costs out of Medicare funds, as is done for private-sector workers. As part of

1425-465: Is the peak period for the Postal Service, representing a total volume of 11.7 billion packages and pieces of mail during this time in 2022. The USPS operates one of the largest civilian vehicle fleets in the world, with over 235,000 vehicles as of 2024, the majority of which are the distinctive and unique Chevrolet / Grumman LLV (long-life vehicle), and the similar, newer Ford-Utilimaster FFV ( flexible-fuel vehicle ), originally also referred to as

1500-490: The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 forgave the previous $ 10 billion loan. Voting by mail has become an increasingly common practice in the United States, with 25% of voters nationwide mailing their ballots in 2016 and 2018. The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 was predicted to cause a large increase in mail voting because of the possible danger of congregating at polling places. For the 2020 election,

1575-752: The Environmental Protection Agency and an environmental lawsuit, and also due to availability of new funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 . The Act included $ 3 billion for electric USPS vehicles, supporting the initiative by Postmaster General DeJoy and the Biden Administration to add 66,000 electric vehicles to the fleet by 2028. The electric fleet will be composed of 9,250 EVs manufactured by Ford ; 11,750 commercial off-the-shelf EVs; and 45,000 Oshkosh Next Generation Delivery Vehicles . In February 2023,

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1650-612: The National Rural Letter Carriers' Association (NRLCA) was contacted for its input on the USPS's current study of the effect of five-day delivery along with developing an implementation plan for a five-day service plan. A team of Postal Service headquarters executives and staff was given a time frame of sixty days to complete the study. The current concept examines the effect of five-day delivery with no business or collections on Saturday, with Post Offices with current Saturday hours remaining open. On Thursday, April 15, 2010,

1725-467: The November 3 election might not reach election offices on time. Mail collection boxes were removed from the streets in many cities; after photos of boxes being removed were spread on social media, a postal service spokesman said they were being moved to higher traffic areas but that the removals would stop until after the election. The inspector general for the postal service opened an investigation into

1800-658: The U.S. Army Special Services Libraries, West Germany (1962–1966), where he helped edit an underground press GI magazine titled, Yin/Yang ; Schiller College, Kleiningersheim, West Germany (1966–1967); University of California at Los Angeles Research Library (1967–1968), where he rescued back runs of I. F. Stone's Weekly from the trash bin; University of Zambia Library, Lusaka , Zambia (1968–1970); Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University Library, Kampala , Uganda (1971–1972); and Hennepin County Library , Minnesota (1973–1999). Berman has been

1875-414: The $ 30 billion delivery budget; door-to-door city delivery costs annually on average $ 353 per stop, curbside $ 224, and cluster box $ 160 (and for rural delivery, $ 278, $ 176, and $ 126, respectively). S.1486, also with the support of Postmaster General Donahoe, would also allow the USPS to ship alcohol in compliance with state law, from manufacturers to recipients with ID to show they are over 21. This

1950-500: The 2010s. In 2012, in order to be able to meet obligations for payroll and continuing its operations, the Postal Service defaulted on payments due for retirements benefits in August and again in September that year. In September 2014, it defaulted on the payments for the fourth time, and continued to default into 2017. The Postal Service sought financial reforms from Congress for relief from

2025-498: The American Postal Workers Union's arguments that these counters should be staffed by postal employees who earn far more and have "a generous package of health and retirement benefits". On January 28, 2009, Postmaster General John E. Potter testified before the Senate that, if the Postal Service could not readjust its payment toward the contractually funding earned employee retiree health benefits, as mandated by

2100-731: The CRV (carrier route vehicle). The LLVs were built from 1987 to 1994 and lack air conditioning, airbags, anti-lock brakes, and space for the large modern volume of e-commerce packages, the Grumman fleet ended its expected 24-year lifespan in fiscal year 2017. The LLV replacement process began in 2015, and after numerous delays, a $ 6 billion contract was awarded in February 2021 to Oshkosh Defense to finalize design and produce 165,000 vehicles over 10 years. The Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV), will have both gasoline and battery electric versions. Half of

2175-581: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to examine the status of the Postal Service and recent reports on short and long-term strategies for the financial viability and stability of the USPS entitled "Continuing to Deliver: An Examination of the Postal Service's Current Financial Crisis and its Future Viability". At which, PMG Potter testified that by 2020, the USPS cumulative losses could exceed $ 238 billion, and that mail volume could drop 15 percent from 2009. In February 2013,

2250-589: The House and the Senate; President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on April 6, 2022. Congress has limited rate increases for First-Class Mail to the cost of inflation, unless approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission . A three-cent surcharge above inflation increased the 1 oz (28 g) rate to 49¢ in January 2014, but this was approved by the commission for two years only. As of July 14th, 2024

2325-533: The LCSH system. Since 2005, he has led an effort to honor American labor leaders Mary Harris "Mother" Jones and Eugene Debs with commemorative postage stamps . In 2013, McFarland & Company published a collection of his "Unabashed Librarian" columns as a book called Not in My Library . In December 2019, the Edina Human Rights and Relations Commission recognized Berman's commitment to social justice with

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2400-474: The November election. He said he would reinstate overtime hours, roll back service reductions, and halt the removal of mail-sorting machines and collection boxes. However, 95 percent of the mail sorting machines that were planned for removal had already been removed, and according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , DeJoy said he has no intention of replacing them or the mail collection boxes. On December 27, 2020,

2475-652: The Post Office Department, during the Cold War, to redesign stamps to include more patriotic slogans. On March 18, 1970, postal workers in New York City—upset over low wages and poor working conditions, and emboldened by the Civil Rights Movement— organized a strike . The strike initially involved postal workers in only New York City, but it eventually gained support of over 210,000 postal workers across

2550-477: The Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act of 2006, the USPS would be forced to consider cutting delivery to five days per week during June, July, and August. H.R. 22, addressing this issue, passed the House of Representatives and Senate and was signed into law on September 30, 2009. However, Postmaster General Potter continued to advance plans to eliminate Saturday mail delivery. On June 10, 2009,

2625-636: The Postal Service announced its purchase of the Ford EVs as well as 14,000 electric vehicle charging stations. The fleet electrification plan is part of the Postal Service's initiative to reduce carbon emissions from fuel and electricity 40 percent and emissions from contracted services 20 percent by 2030. In August 2024, the USPS deployed the first new vehicles from its fleet modernization project at its Topeka Sorting and Delivery Center in Kansas, including: an electric vehicle with higher clearance for routes delivering

2700-540: The Postal Service contribution to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Most other employees that contribute to the CSRS have 7% deducted from their wages. Currently, all new employees contribute into Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) once they become a full-time regular employees. Running low on cash, in order to continue operations unaffected and continue to meet payroll, the USPS defaulted for

2775-469: The Postal Service had $ 78.81 billion in revenue and expenses of $ 79.74 billion. Due to one-time appropriations authorized by the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 , the agency reported a net income of $ 56.04 billion. In the 2023 fiscal, revenue had increased to $ 79.32 billion, but reported a net loss of $ 6.48 billion. In 2016, the USPS had its fifth straight annual operating loss, in

2850-533: The Postal Service to offer some non-mail services. As of 2023, the Postal Service operates 33,641 Post Office and contract locations in the U.S., and delivered a total of 127.3 billion packages and pieces of mail to 164.9 million delivery points in fiscal year 2022. USPS delivers mail and packages Monday through Saturday as required by the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 ; on Sundays only Priority Express and packages for Amazon.com are delivered. The USPS delivers packages on Sundays in most major cities. During

2925-690: The Progressive Librarians Guild." In 2023 with support from American Library Association president, Emily Drabinski , the Union Library Workers blog was moved to the ALA-Allied Professional Association, a nonprofit organization established “to promote the mutual professional interests of librarians and other library workers.” The Guild sponsors a discussion list, PLGnet. The Guild has issued statements and resolutions such as: The Progressive Librarians Guild

3000-763: The Tom Oye Award. The Sanford Berman papers are part of the American Library Association (ALA) Archives held by the University of Illinois Library. The data files of the Hennepin County Library catalog are included in this collection. United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service ( USPS ), also known as the Post Office , U.S. Mail , or simply the Postal Service ,

3075-559: The Treasury to the post office. According to The Washington Post , officials under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested using the loan as leverage to give the Treasury Department more influence on USPS operations, including making them raise their charges for package deliveries, a change long sought by President Trump. In May 2020, in a controversial move, the Board of Governors of

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3150-475: The U.S. Postal Service, and took effect on July 1, 1971. Among the changes from the Postal Reorganization Act, a key aspect was the requirement for the USPS to be self-financing, which introduced a conflict with its other requirement to provide a nationwide service. The next major legislation affecting the service, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, was passed in 2006. This act limited

3225-898: The US, known as the United States Post Office was founded by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 26, 1775, at the beginning of the American Revolution . Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general ; he also served a similar position for the American colonies. The Post Office Department was created in 1792 with the passage of the Postal Service Act . The appointment of local postmasters

3300-576: The USPS announced that in order to save about $ 2 billion per year, Saturday delivery service would be discontinued except for packages, mail-order medicines, Priority Mail, Express Mail, and mail delivered to Post Office boxes, beginning August 10, 2013. However, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 , passed in March, reversed the cuts to Saturday delivery. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) obligated

3375-402: The USPS operated 673 facilities. ) As of May 2012, the plan was to start the first round of consolidation in summer 2012, pause from September to December, and begin a second round in February 2014; 80% of first-class mail would still be delivered overnight through the end of 2013. New delivery standards were issued in January 2015, and the majority of single-piece (not presorted) first-class mail

3450-510: The USPS to fund the present value of earned retirement obligations (essentially past promises which have not yet come due) within a ten-year time span. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the main bureaucratic organization responsible for the human resources aspect of many federal agencies and their employees. The PAEA created the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund (PSRHB) after Congress removed

3525-508: The USSF for the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan. As of May 2017, the Progressive Librarians Guild has three active chapters: The following chapters are no longer active: Sanford Berman Sanford Berman (born October 6, 1933) is a librarian (specifically, a cataloger ). He is known for radicalism, promoting alternative viewpoints in librarianship, and acting as

3600-484: The United States Postal Service appointed Louis DeJoy , the first postmaster general in the last two decades who did not emerge from the postal bureaucracy. Instead he had three decades of experience in the private delivery sector where he created a new national corporation with 80,000 employees. DeJoy—until 2014 CEO of New Breed Logistics (a controversial Postal Service contractor), and until 2018

3675-487: The amount of $ 5.6 billion, of which $ 5.8 billion was the accrual of unpaid mandatory retiree health payments. First-class mail volume peaked in 2001 to 103.65 billion declining to 52.62 billion by 2020 due to the increasing use of email and the World Wide Web for correspondence and business transactions. Private courier services, such as FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS), directly compete with USPS for

3750-588: The annual ALA conference, dedicated to the founder of OLOS. Also in the early 1990s, Berman participated in the SRRT Action Council in advocating ALA to address Censorship in Israel with a Task Force on Israeli Censorship and Palestinian Libraries . He would later attempt to move organizing outside of ALA following backlash and conflicts with taskforce chair David Williams. With other Minnesota librarians , as well as those nationally and internationally, Berman

3825-738: The collection. Berman also thought the use of language in headings should be clear and concise, and should reflect the current use of everyday people rather than only scientific or technical terms. Overall, the use of common language in subject headings would enable prompt retrieval of materials by the end user. Berman also openly criticized centrally performed cataloging and standard cataloging tools that supported bias in subject headings. He stated, "[O]ur national cataloging products and services can't be completely trusted and should not be accepted automatically nor uncritically by anyone who genuinely believes that cataloging should make material more rather than less accessible and retrievable." Cataloging that

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3900-485: The cost of postage increased to 73 cents for first class mail. Comprehensive reform packages considered in the 113th Congress include S.1486 and H.R.2748. These include the efficiency measure, supported by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe of ending door-to-door delivery of mail for some or most of the 35 million addresses that currently receive it, replacing that with either curbside boxes or nearby "cluster boxes". This would save $ 4.5 billion per year out of

3975-543: The cultural boycott against apartheid institutions in South Africa. An index for 1990-1999 was published in 2007. Elaine Harger was managing editor during the journal's years of publication. The Guild annually bestows the Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize to library and information science students attending a graduate level program in the United States or Canada who submit a paper based on an aspect of

4050-461: The delivery of packages. Lower volume means lower revenues to support the fixed commitment to deliver to every address once a day, six days a week. According to an official report on November 15, 2012, the U.S. Postal Service lost $ 15.9 billion its 2012 fiscal year. In response, the USPS has increased productivity each year from 2000 to 2007, through increased automation, route re-optimization, and facility consolidation. Despite these efforts,

4125-410: The easiest access to roadside mailboxes. Some rural letter carriers use personal vehicles. All contractors use personal vehicles. Standard postal-owned vehicles do not have license plates . These vehicles are identified by a seven-digit number displayed on the front and rear. Starting in 2026, all delivery truck purchases are scheduled to be electric vehicles , partly in response to criticism from

4200-412: The first time on a $ 5.5 billion retirement benefits payment due August 1, 2012, and a $ 5.6 billion payment due September 30, 2012. On September 30, 2014, the USPS failed to make a $ 5.7 billion payment on this debt, the fourth such default. In 2017, the USPS defaulted on some of the last lump-sum payments required by the 2006 law, though other payments were also still required. Proposals to cancel

4275-401: The four weeks preceding Christmas since 2013, packages from all mail classes and senders were delivered on Sunday in some areas. Parcels are also delivered on holidays, with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The USPS started delivering Priority Mail Express packages on Christmas Day in select locations for an additional fee. The holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas

4350-591: The funding obligation and debt from the defaults. Legislation was introduced in Congress in 2016 as well as in 2019, aiming to remove the benefits funding obligations, however no new legislation was passed until the 2022 Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA). The PSRA was signed into law in April 2022. It forgave $ 57 billion in Postal Service debt and released it from the obligation to set aside funds for future retirees' healthcare, as well as adding requirements for delivery timing and reporting on performance metrics, and allowing

4425-418: The funding obligation and plan a new schedule for the debt were introduced in Congress as early as 2016. A 2019 bill entitled the "USPS Fairness Act", which would have eliminated the pension funding obligation, passed the House but did not proceed further. As of March 8, 2022, the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 , which includes a section entitled "USPS Fairness Act" cancelling the obligation, has passed both

4500-441: The initial 50,000 vehicles will be electric, as will all vehicles purchased after 2026. The number of gallons of fuel used in 2009 was 444 million, at a cost of US$ 1.1 billion . For every penny increase in the national average price of gasoline, the USPS spends an extra US$ 8 million per year to fuel its fleet. The fleet is notable in that many of its vehicles are right-hand drive , an arrangement intended to give drivers

4575-522: The journal of PLG could have no other title than Progressive Librarian (the subtitle, A Journal of Critical Studies and Progressive Politics in Librarianship , came later in 1998 with issue #14). The first issue was to be a contribution to the debate taking place within the American Library Association (ALA) in which the upper ranks of power in ALA were attempting to overturn the association's official support of

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4650-487: The nation. While the strike ended without any concessions from the federal government, it did ultimately allow for postal worker unions and the government to negotiate a contract which gave the unions most of what they wanted, as well as the signing of the Postal Reorganization Act by President Richard Nixon on August 12, 1970. The act replaced the cabinet-level Post Office Department with a new federal agency,

4725-410: The organization saw an $ 8.5 billion budget shortfall in 2010, and was losing money at a rate of about $ 3 billion per quarter in 2011. On December 5, 2011, the USPS announced it would close more than half of its mail processing centers, eliminate 28,000 jobs and reduce overnight delivery of First-Class Mail. This will close down 252 of its 461 processing centers. (At peak mail volume in 2006,

4800-688: The other for the Opening March that launched the first ever regional social forum in the United States. The Librarians program was held at the Auburn Avenue Research Library , the second largest collection of African-American materials in the U.S., located on the very street that is home to the Ebenezer Baptist Church and the gravesites of Martin Luther King Jr . and Mrs. Coretta Scott King . PLG members collected materials from

4875-620: The post office to facilitate the predicted flood of mail ballots, but the bill never reached the Senate floor for a vote. A March 2021 report from the Postal Service's inspector general found that the vast majority of mail-in ballots and registration materials in the 2020 election were delivered to the relevant authorities on time. The Postal Service handled approximately 135 million pieces of election-related mail between September 1 and November 3, delivering 97.9% of ballots from voters to election officials within three days, and 99.89% of ballots within seven days. Postmaster General DeJoy helped

4950-402: The recent changes. On August 16 the House of Representatives was called back from its summer recess to consider a bill rolling back all of the changes. On August 18, 2020, after days of heavy criticism and the day after lawsuits against the Postal Service and DeJoy personally were filed in federal court by several individuals, DeJoy announced that he would roll back all the changes until after

5025-430: The services that the Postal Service could offer to only those it already provided and also established a requirement for the USPS to save money for the medical benefits of future retirees. The Act set a goal to save $ 5 billion per year for the first 10 years of a 50-year schedule, however within 6 years the Postal Service began to default on its payments. The Postal Service experienced lower revenues as mail use declined in

5100-462: The social responsibilities of librarians, libraries, or librarianship. Papers related to archivists, archives, and archival work are also eligible. The Guild produced the Union Library Workers blog from 2002-2023. and published an annual review about librarians and labor in its journal, Progressive Librarian from 2006-2021. The Progressive Librarian article, "Collective Bargaining is

5175-684: Was a community preference for a different option. In a survey of rural customers, 54% preferred the new plan of retaining rural post offices with reduced hours, 20% preferred the "Village Post Office" replacement (where a nearby private retail store would provide basic mail services with expanded hours), 15% preferred merger with another Post Office, and 11% preferred expanded rural delivery services. In 2012, USPS reported that approximately 40% of postal revenue comes from online purchases or private retail partners including Walmart , Staples , Office Depot , Walgreens , Sam's Club , Costco , and grocery stores. The National Labor Relations Board agreed to hear

5250-599: Was a major venue for delivering patronage jobs to the party that controlled the White House. Newspaper editors often were named. It was elevated to a cabinet-level department in 1872, and was transformed by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 into the U.S. Postal Service as an independent agency. Since the early 1980s, many direct tax subsidies to the USPS (with the exception of subsidies for costs associated with disabled and overseas voters) have been reduced or eliminated. The United States Information Agency (USIA) helped

5325-676: Was born in Chicago , Illinois . He attended University of California at Los Angeles , where he earned a BA in Political Science with minors in Sociology , Anthropology , and English , and where he was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa . After acquiring an MS in Library Science from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. , Berman began work as a librarian. He worked for

5400-399: Was outrightly erroneous or inadequate rendered material inaccessible even though it was in the collection. Berman thought poor cataloging was a serious form of censorship. Libraries were supposed to oppose censorship and provide the widest possible spectrum of cultural, social, economic, political, religious, and sexual information. With this in mind, Berman indicated local libraries should make

5475-684: Was represented at the 2006 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) with a panel on Librarians and Social Movements. For the 2012 JCLC the Progressive Librarian #38/39 included a feature on the conference and the five caucus associations of color. In 2007 members of the Progressive Librarians Guild participated in the United States Social Forum (USSF) in Atlanta. In homage to the USSF's statement on language accessibility, PLG's new banner read "Library" on one side and "Biblioteca" on

5550-441: Was the editor of Alternative Library Literature , (1982–2001) a biennial compilation of alternative essays on librarianship from a wide variety of other sources. Berman's other titles include The Joy of Cataloging and Worth Noting . He is the original radical librarian; his followers refer to themselves as "Sandynistas" or guerrilla cataloguers. He was a founding member of a group known as the "Revolting Librarians," which published

5625-555: Was the inclusion in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) of the term kaffir , which he came across while working in Zambia, where the term is considered a racial slur. This motivated him to systematically address subject heading bias in his work at Hennepin County Library and in writing Prejudices and Antipathies: a Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People . The work, published in two editions, examines racism , sexism ,

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