Librarians Take to the Streets Without Books

Salary inequalities are pushing more and more categories of employees to the streets. Dissatisfaction has penetrated even into the quiet area of libraries. The unions of employees from the National Library of Romania and the Library of the Romanian Academy announce that they will protest next week in front of the Ministry of Culture, dissatisfied that their salaries are lower compared to the employees of other libraries.

The National Trade Union Block (BNS) informs, through the Federation of Unions in Cultural Institutions (FSIC): "The purpose of the protest is to draw the attention of the authorities to the dissatisfaction of workers from the two libraries with national status, regarding discriminatory salary policies compared to central university libraries, which, through the salary increases instituted by the Government (by Emergency Ordinance no. 57/2023) and granted only to libraries in the education system, have created a great inequality and injustice."

According to the cited source, all these libraries are in accordance with Law no. 153/2017, the Unitary Salary Law, on the same Annex and salary grid. The National Library of Romania and the Library of the Romanian Academy have specific functions that involve institutional responsibilities superior to central university libraries. "Employees of the two institutions urgently request the Ministry of Culture and the Romanian Government to rectify the inequality and discrimination created and to grant the same salary increases to the employees of the two national libraries. The number of specialists in the two institutions is constantly decreasing through the migration of staff to institutions with more attractive salaries," say the unionists. They point out that, according to Law no. 334/2002 - the Library Law, Art. 10, "The national library system, in relation to its functions and attributions, is structured as follows: The National Library of Romania; The Library of the Romanian Academy; university libraries; specialized libraries; public libraries; school libraries": "From this, it results that the National Library of Romania and the Library of the Romanian Academy occupy the first two positions in the hierarchy of the national library system due to the functions they hold, but with much lower salaries even than those of employees in school libraries. According to Law 334/2002 (Library Law), republished, with subsequent modifications, the National Library of Romania is a national-level institution, methodological coordinator of libraries in the system, with the mission of organizing, at the central level, the Legal Deposit, the main documentary source regarding the knowledge of Romanian culture and civilization, while university central libraries are only beneficiaries of the legal deposit. We reiterate that the National Library of Romania and the Library of the Romanian Academy preserve the documentary memory of the country, with institutional responsibilities superior to university central libraries." According to them, the National Library of Romania, a unique national-level institution and the only library under the Ministry of Culture, manages and valorizes the largest volume of publications in Romania, through the Legal Deposit Law. A complex heritage institution and a fundamental cultural landmark, the National Library of Romania represents the only documentary source for the knowledge of national culture, being a promoter of culture, providing a meeting place and an arena for public discourse by organizing major events aimed at diversifying the local and national cultural, educational, scientific, and professional offering, a bridge between Romanian society and written culture, creatively contributing to its spiritual enrichment and to "Educated Romania."

Moreover, the National ISBN-ISSN-CIP Center within the National Library of Romania is the only representative in Romania of the International ISBN, ISMN Agencies, and the National ISSN Center, promoting the editorial production from Romania in international databases, reference databases in the field.