Labor

This is a page for the DLF Working Group on Labor in Digital Libraries.

Working Group on Labor in Digital Libraries, Archives, and Museums

Read an announcement on the group's formation, by Ruth Tillman.

Communication and Shared Working Spaces

• Listserv: Google Group dlf-labor-working-group. Ask to join [1]
• Zotero: Find citations and materials relevant to our work in our Zotero group
• Slack: To join our Slack, contact Ruth at rkt6 at psu.edu.
• Twitter: Join the conversation with these hashtags #DLFLabor, #LaborWG, #LibLabor, #LAMLabor, #PrecarityIs

Resources

• This wiki page collects information about groups and campaigns working on labor issues in and adjacent to libraries, archives, and museums: resource table and (also available as a list). (ongoing)
• Collective Responsibility Labor Advocacy Toolkit (2020)
• "Do Better" -Love(,) Us: Guidelines for Developing and Supporting Grant-Funded Positions in Digital Libraries, Archives, and Museums (2020)
• White paper from Collective Responsibility Phase 1 (2019)
• Survey results and project documents (2019-2020)
• Research Agenda: Valuing Labor in Digital Libraries (August 2018)

Contingency and Precarity

Facilitators: Ruth Tillman, Sandy Rodriguez

Topics: Grant-funded & term positions, organizing workers, digitization & labor (including labor of incarcerated workers), labor and digital scholarship, internships, credential creep/credentialism

Goals 2020

• Develop Collective Responsibility Labor Advocacy Toolkit
• Promote publication "Do Better" -Love(,) Us: Guidelines for Developing and Supporting Grant-Funded Positions in Digital Libraries, Archives, and Museums and explore next steps toward adoption.

Activities

• performing a literature review on contingency and precarity (2017)
• drafting guidelines for designing grant-funded positions (2018-2019)
• applying for IMLS National Leadership in Libraries forum grant (2018)
• As part of the Collective Responsibility Labor Forum (2018-2020):
  • conducting a survey to develop a collective understanding of the experiences of grant-funded digital LAM workers
  • constructing best practices, recommendations, and benchmarks appropriate to participating institutions and funders

Deliverables

• Collective Responsibility Labor Advocacy Toolkit
• "Do Better" -Love(,) Us: Guidelines for Developing and Supporting Grant-Funded Positions in Digital Libraries, Archives, and Museums (2020)
• White paper from Collective Responsibility Phase 1 (2019)
• Survey results and project documents (2019-2020)
• List of readings on contingency and precarity (2017- )

Valuing Labor

Facilitators: Amy Wickner

Topics: Organiz(ed/ing) labor, (in)visibility, maintenance, emotional labor, classification of labor, transitions across categories of labor, worker-centered assessment, hiring and retention practices especially re: members of marginalized communities

Activities

• Collaborate on a research agenda for valuing labor in digital libraries (2018)
• Host working conversations to highlight advocacy, research, and skills of relevance to working group members (2019)
• Create a list of groups and campaigns also working on labor issues (2019)
• Research projects (2020)
  • To what extent and how are digital LAM workers organized?
  • What organizing and advocacy tactics can be effective while minimizing risk for workers?
  • What are creative and effective ways to share data about digital LAM labor?
• Bibliography & resource-building: library labor news and organizing resources during covid-19 (2020)

Outputs

• Research Agenda: Valuing Labor in Digital Libraries (August 2018)
• Related Groups, Initiatives, and Resources: Table / List (November 2019 with ongoing updates)

Meetings

• 2019 Schedule
• Minutes