Labor/Resources-Mobile
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Related Groups, Initiatives, and Resources
This wiki page collects information about groups and campaigns working on labor issues in and adjacent to libraries, archives, and museums. Assembled and maintained by the DLF Labor Working Group.
Recommend a group or campaign for the list
Each entry below includes at least some of the following elements:
- Group/campaign name
- Issues covered
- Initiatives
- Resources
- Bibliography
- Communication channels
Click here to see these resources as a table
Issues: COVID-19, organizing
Initiatives:
- #closethelibraries
- #ProtectLibraryWorkers & communities: Don't reopen libraries until it's safe
- Tracking Library Layoffs
- Weekly Course of Action
Resources:
- Safe Reopening Resources
- Tips for Productive Advocacy
- Templates for Letters, Recommendations, Petitions
- Mutual Aid & Other Resources
Communication:
Issues: unions
Initiatives: Cultural Workers United
Resources:
Bibliography:
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19, organizing, unions
Initiatives:
Resources:
- Organizing Toolkit
- Know Your Rights
- International Worker Rights
- Supporting Students During COVID-19
- International Students & Workers FAQ
- Online Teaching Toolkit (Association of College and University Educators)
Bibliography:
- National COVID-19 Response Statement
- Adjunct Faculty Survey Report
- Principles for Higher Education Response to COVID-19
- Uprising Solidarity Statement
Communication:
Issues: hiring, salaries, volunteers, gender equity
Resources:
- Salary Negotiation
- National Museum Salary Survey
- Equitable Hiring Practices
- Resources for the Museum Industry to Discuss the Issue of Unpaid Internships
Bibliography:
- For Love or Money: Confronting the State of Museum Salaries
- [Mutual Aid in a Time of Crisis https://www.aam-us.org/2020/08/12/mutual-aid-in-a-time-of-crisis/] (August 2020)
Communication:
Issues: temporary positions, unions
Initiatives:
Resources:
Bibliography: Reports & Publications
Communication:
Issues: hiring, temporary position, unions
Resources:
- Guidelines for First-Round Interviews (2019)
- Standards for Part-Time, Adjunct and Contingent Faculty (2011)
Bibliography: Statement on Right to Engage in Collective Bargaining (2019)
Communication:
Issues: advancement, salaries, unions
Initiatives:
- ALA-APA Wellness
- Certified Public Library Administrator Program
- Library Support Staff Certification Program
- National Library Workers Day
- Standing Committee on the Salaries and Status of Library Workers
Resources:
- Salary surveys
- Occupation fact sheets
- Occupation resources
- Pay Equity
- Salary Negotiation
- Start a Union
Bibliography:
- Advocating for Better Salaries Toolkit (6th edition, April 2017)
- Library Worklife newsletter
- Pay Equity Bibliography (August 2013)
- State Libraries Collecting and Reporting Salary Data (August 2016)
- Workplace wellness reports
Communication:
- Facebook (ALA-APA)
- Facebook (National Library Workers Day)
- Facebook (Library Support Staff Certification Program)
Issues: salaries, volunteers
Initiatives: Pay Review 2018
Resources:
- Volunteering in Collections Care Best Practices Guidelines & Research Report
- ARA Pay Review Group Summary (August 2018)
- ARA Pay Review Group Freelance Summary (August 2018)
Issues: COVID-19, funding, temporary positions
Initiatives:
Resources: Resources for Displaced Archival Workers
Bibliography: Open Letter to the Archival Community re: Police Brutality
Communication: Twitter
Archive Staff Impact During COVID-19
Issues: COVID-19
Initiatives: Tracking spreadsheet
Archivist Salary Advocacy
Issues: salaries
Resources: Salary Spreadsheet
Communication: Google Group
Issues: hiring, internships, salaries
Resources: COVID-19 Resources
Bibliography: New Job Submission Policy
Communication:
Issues: hiring, internships, salaries
Initiatives: News Alerts (see “Workplace” section)
Bibliography: Statement on Staff Reductions in Art Museum Libraries and Visual Resources Collections (December 2013)
Art + Museum Transparency
Issues: internships, salaries, unions
Resources:
- Salary Spreadsheet (began 2019)
- Internship Spreadsheet (began 2019)
- Unions for All: Unionizing Museum and Arts Workers
Communication:
Issues: BIPOC/BAME network, COVID-19, funding, unions
Initiatives:
- #AAPI2020
- AAPIs Are #EssentialNotExpendable
- IAPALA's COVID-19 Community Fund
- Count Us In. Take the 2020 Census.
Resources:
- Chapters
- Emerging Leaders Training (ELT)
- In response to COVID-19
- Organizing & Leadership Development
- Protest Tips + Organizing for Black Lives
- Worker Resources in response to COVID-19
Bibliography:
- Untapped Power: The Strength of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander Working People (2019)
- Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Behind Bars: Exposing the School to Prison to Deportation Pipeline (December 2015)
- Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: Report from the First National Asian Pacific American Workers' Rights Hearing (2009)
Communication:
Issues: internships, salaries
Initiatives: Annual salary survey
Bibliography: Association of Art Museum Directors Passes Resolution Urging Art Museums to Provide Paid Internships (June 20, 2019)
Communication:
Issues: mentoring, salaries, temporary positions, volunteers
Initiatives:
Resources:
- ALIA LIS Education, Skills and Employment Trend Report
- ALIA LIS pay and employment snapshot 2020 - includes supplements on public, school, special, technical and further education (TAFE), and university libraries
- ALIA Research Agenda
- ALIA Students and New Graduates
- Career and Professional Development Advisory Service
- Library Technicians
- Salary Scales and Work Level Guidelines (members only)
Bibliography:
- ALIA supplementary statement about casual work in the library and information sector in Australia (September 2020)
- Peak body for libraries opposes changes to university fees for LIS courses (June 2020)
- ALIA urges lower university fees for Teacher Librarians (June 2020)
- Professional development for library and information professionals (2019)
- Statement on non-standard employment (2008, 2018)
- Statement on library and information services staff appointments (2008, 2018)
- Senior library and information services appointments (2008, 2017)
- Statement on voluntary work in library and information services (2017)
- Foundation Knowledge, Skills and Attributes relevant to Information Professionals working in Archives, Libraries and Records Management (amended 2015)
- The Library and Information Sector: Core Knowledge, Skills and Attributes (amended 2014)
- The Role of Volunteers in a Contemporary Professional Association (September 2010)
- Library Technician Education in Australia: State of the Nation Report (April 2010)
Communication:
BIPOC Library Residents Mutual Aid
Issues: COVID-19, mutual aid, temporary positions
Initiatives:
- BIPOC Library Residents: Immediate Need Survey
- Matchmaking for BIPOC Library Residents: Immediate Needs During COVID-19 (form)
- Matchmaking for BIPOC Library Residents: Immediate Needs During COVID-19 (spreadsheet)
Bibliography: COVID Residents Open Letter
Issues: benefits, salaries, temporary positions, unions
Initiatives: Forming a union: Support the MIT Library Workers
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19, unions
Initiatives: Librarians' and Archivists' Committee
Resources:
- CAUT Guidelines for Re-opening Canada’s Universities and Colleges (May 2020)
- COVID-19 and the Academic Workplace: Questions & Answers
Bibliography:
- Open Educational Resources discussion paper (March 2019)
- Reframing Scholarly Communications discussion paper (April 2002)
- Librarians' Workload discussion paper (November 2000)
- Library Councils discussion paper (October 2007)
- Governance and Librarians discussion paper (April 2000)
- Expanding Role of Teaching by Librarians in Post-Secondary Institutions discussion paper (February 2009)
- Aboriginal and Visible/Racial Minority Librarians discussion paper (March 2008)
Communication:
Issues: temporary positions
Issues: temporary positions
Initiatives:
Communication:
Issues: temporary positions
Initiatives:
- advocacy toolkit
- network for contingent workers
- How to Talk About Collective Responsibility at Work
Resources:
Bibliography:
- Attendee posts
- Collective Responsibility: Seeking Equity for Contingent Labor in Libraries, Archives, and Museums (September 2019)
Communication:
Creating National Library Worker Union
Issues: organizing, unions Initiatives:
Issues: volunteers
Resources: Best Practices for Crowdsourcing Across the Disciplines (May 6, 2015)
Issues: organizing, temporary positions
Initiatives:
- Current Initiatives
- Full and Fair Funding
- $7k for Adjuncts
- Toward a Just Contract
- Tuition payments/permanent tuition remission for GC doctoral students
Resources:
Bibliography: Toward a Just Contract, Vol. 1 (June 2017)
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19
Initiatives: Dialogue series
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19, hiring, salaries, temporary positions
Resources:
- “Do Better” -Love(,) Us: Guidelines for Developing and Supporting Grant-Funded Positions in Digital Libraries, Archives, and Museums
- Research Agenda: Valuing Labor in Digital Libraries (August 2018)
- Zotero
- COVID-19 bibliography
Communication:
Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee
Issues: COVID-19, organizing
Initiatives: Organize your Workplace against COVID-19 / Organice su lugar de trabajo contra el COVID-19
Resources: Orientation Guide
Issues: COVID-19, funding
Initiatives: Help a Library Worker Out (HALO) Fund
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19, hiring, internships, salaries, volunteers
Initiatives: Our Campaigns - a list of the organisations we’ve contacted, why contacted them, and how they responded
Resources: Resources
Bibliography:
- Fair Museum Jobs: A Manifesto for Job Adverts and Recruitment
- The Manifesto Explained: Undergraduate Degrees
- The Manifesto Explained: Postgraduate Qualifications
- The Manifesto Explained: Non-disclosure of Salaries
- The Manifesto Explained: Internships and Volunteering
- The Manifesto Explained: Voluntary Roles, Placements and Unpaid Labour
- The Manifesto Explained: Why ‘Desirable’ is not good enough
- A Joint Statement on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19, temporary positions, valuing labor
Initiatives:
Resources: Front of House in Museums Survey 2019
Bibliography:
Communication:
- #FoHMuseums
- Contact Form
Issues: gender equity
Resources:
- 5 Things You Can Do to Support Gender Equity at Work
- 5 Things Your Museum Can Do to Support Gender Equity
- How You Can Help
- Gender Equity in Museum Leadership
- Pay Gap
- Demographics and Diversity
- Employment and Labor Law
- Future of Museum Leadership and Succession Planning
Bibliography:
- Museums as a Pink-Collar Profession: The Consequences and How to Address Them (March 2019)
- A Call for Gender Equity in the Museum Workplace (November 2016)
Communication:
Issues: hiring, salaries
Initiatives:
- Oh Hey, Share Your Salary Info Today! (August 19, 2019)
- Hiring Librarians survey
- Job hunter’s survey & follow-up interviews
Resources:
- Salary Spreadsheet
- Hiring Librarians' Library Interview Question "Database"
- State of the Library Job Market (October 10, 2015)
Humanities Technology (UCLA)
Issues: internships, temporary positions
Resources: A Student Collaborators’ Bill of Rights (June 8, 2015) || ||
Communication:
Issues: organizing, unions
Initiatives: Union drive at the Milwaukee Art Museum
Communication:
Initiatives: advocacy toolkit
Bibliography: Information Maintenance as a Practice of Care: An Invitation to Reflect and Share (June 17, 2019)
Communication: Google Group
Warning: animated interface
Issues: COVID-19
Initiatives:
- Anti-Museum Reading Group
- I'm at a Museum During a Pandemic! Worksheet & Form
- NYC Museum Re-Opening Spreadsheet
Communication:
Issues: organizing, unions
Initiatives: wall-to-wall union drive
Communication:
Issues: unions
Resources:
- Troublemakers School
- Biennial Conference
- Secrets of a Successful Organizer / Secretos de un organizador exitoso
- Organizing in a Pandemic: Labor Notes Resources
- What Are My Rights to Paid Leave and Unemployment During the Pandemic? (April 2020)
- Concessions and How to Beat Them by Jane Slaughter (1983)
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19, mutual aid
Initiatives: LACUNY Mutual Aid Network
Bibliography:
Libraries for All STL
Issues: COVID-19
Initiatives: We Need Libraries For All: Demand Black Lives Matter at St Louis County Libraries
Bibliography:
- We Demand Transparency, Justice, and Jobs Back (August 2020)
- Library eliminating part-timers, but not management (August 2020)
- Kristen Sorth is Harming Our Community — American Libraries Association Must Rescind Leadership Award (September 2020)
Communication:
Library Salaries Inequity
Issues: salaries
Resources: resource list
MFA Boston Mutual Aid Fund Steering Committee
Issues: COVID-19, mutual aid, organizing
Initiatives: MFA Boston Staff Mutual Aid Fund
Resources: How to start a museum mutual aid fund
Bibliography: Open Source Solidarity: Starting a Mutual Aid Fund at Your Museum
Communication: Email
Issues: mentoring, mutual aid
Initiatives:
Communication:
Issues: hiring, salaries, temporary positions
Initiatives:
- Committee on the Status of Graduate Students in the Humanities
- Committee on Contingent Labor in the Profession
Bibliography:
- MLA Statement on the Use of Part-Time and Full-Time Adjunct Faculty Members (February 1994)
- Statement on Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Members (December 2003)
Communication:
Issues: BIPOC/BAME network, COVID-19, temporary positions, unions
Initiatives:
- Project 2024
- Economic Justice policy platform
- National Demands for COVID-19
- Week of Action
- Virtual Events
- Petition
Resources:
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19, BIPOC/BAME network
Initiatives:
- Museum Detox Survey
- Museum Detox Coronavirus Emergency Fund (application instructions)
- Museum Detox Coronavirus Emergency Fund (GoFundMe)
Resources: Coronavirus Covid-19: Information and guidance
Communication:
Museum Staff Impact During COVID-19
Issues: COVID-19
Initiatives: tracking spreadsheet
Issues: COVID-19, funding, mutual aid
Initiatives:
- Museum Workers Relief Fund
- Museum Workers Relief Fund (Bonfire shop)
- 2020 Museums & Race Imagine a [Radical Future virtual conference]
Resources: Resources
Bibliography: Statement (May 1, 2020)
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19
Initiatives: MLA Emergency Relief Fund
Resources: MLA Survey of Personnel Characteristics (2009)
Communication:
Issues: hiring
Resources: Best Practices in Public History: Job Postings (March 2019)
Communication:
Issues: hiring, salaries
Initiatives:
Communication:
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Workers
Issues: unions
Communication: Twitter
Issues: temporary positions
Initiatives: New England Archivists Contingent Employment Study (January 2017)
Bibliography: NEA Statement on Contingent Employment (2018)
Communication:
Issues: internships
Initiatives:
Resources:
Bibliography:
Communication
@OrganizingLIS
Issues: hiring, internships, salaries, signal boosting, temporary positions, unions
Communication: Twitter
Postdoctoral Laborers Group
Issues: temporary positions
Resources: Postdoctoral Bill of Rights (April 9, 2019)
Communication: Google Group
Issues: temporary positions
Resources:
Bibliography:
- Catalog Cards from the Edge: Precarity in Libraries (May 2018)
- Hidden Variables: Researching While Precarious (October 2018)
- Let’s talk precarity (or not): Libraries, community, and conversation (June 2019)
- Perceptions and Experiences of Precarious Employment in Canadian Libraries: An Exploratory Study (September 2019)
- Factors Associated with the Prevalence of Precarious Positions in Canadian Libraries: Statistical Analysis of a National Job Board (September 2020)
Communication: Twitter
Issues: salaries, temporary positions, unions
Communication:
Issues: COVID-19, union
Initiatives:
- Rutgers One
- How We're Confronting the Crisis
- Here's What We're Fighting For
- Defend Lincoln Annex
- A People-Centered Approach to COVID Crisis
- Work Sharing Proposal – May 2020
- Libraries Solidarity
- Salary Equity Program
Resources:
Bibliography:
- Statement: Justice for George Floyd
- Statements and Resolutions
- Questions and Answers about the “Fiscal Emergency”
- Special Alerts
Communication:
Issues: accessibility of work environment, disability equity, hiring, salaries, temporary positions
Resources:
- Archivists at Home
- Inclusive interviewing and recruitment practices for people with disabilities
- Guidelines for Accessible Archives for People with Disabilities
Communication:
Issues: salaries, signal boosting, student loan debt
Initiatives: Responses & Retrospectives series on ArchivesAWARE blog
Bibliography:
- Responses and Retrospectives: Rachael Woody on the Decline of History Majors and Its Impact on Archives (December 2018)
- Responses & Retrospectives: Rachael Woody’s Annual Conference Coverage on the Value of Archival Labor Sessions (September 2019)
- Responses & Retrospectives: “maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song” Rosemary K.J. Davis on Student Loan Debt and Its Impact on the Archival Profession (November 2019)
Communication:
Issues: internships, volunteers
Initiatives:
Resources:
- Best Practices for Internships as a Component of Graduate Archival Education (January 2014)
- Practices for Volunteers in Archives (June 2014)
Bibliography: Only Paid Internships to Be Posted to the SAA Career Center (July 9, 2019)
Issues: salaries, temporary positions
Initiatives: Temporary Labor Survey
Resources: Advocacy Toolkit
Bibliography: Archivists on the Issues: Rare & Ephemeral: a snapshot of full-time New England archives jobs, 2018-2019
Communication:
Issues: internships, hiring
Initiatives:
- Academic Internship Survey
- #snaprt chats: Topics include barriers to entry into the archival profession; erasure of archival labor; labor issues in archives
Communication:
Issues: gender equity, salaries
Resources: The 2017 WArS/SAA Salary Survey: Initial Results and Analysis
Issues: hiring, internships, salaries, temporary positions, unions
Initiatives: Task Force on Labor Issues within the Profession (2019-2021)
Bibliography: Statement in Support of Temporary Archivists at UCLA
Communication:
Issues: salaries
Resources: Archives Regional Salary Research
Bibliography:
- Archival Pay and SAA: Some Modest Proposals (April 29, 2019)
- Salary Information Now Required in Job Postings (March 11, 2019)
- Poor Pay in Archives: How Our National Organizations are Failing Us (March 5, 2019)
Communication:
Issues: unions
Resources:
- Learning Club
- Local chapters (Austin, Berlin, Boston, DC, LA, London, NYC, PDX, San Diego, Seattle, SF Bay Area, South Florida)
Communication:
UC-AFT Unit 17 (UC Librarians)
Issues: unions
Initiatives: Precarity, academic freedom, professional development, working conditions, housing, and the next contract
Resources:
- Our website (and blog) chronicles our campaign and organizing with tools for engagement around our contract
- Bargaining Timeline
- Glossary of Common Terms
Communication:
- Blog
- Media coverage
- Twitter (@UCLibrarians)
- Twitter @UCAFT]
UCLA Six (Temporary Librarians)
Issues: temporary positions
Initiatives: Open Letter (June 2018)
Bibliography:
- UCLA Library’s reliance on temporary workers is inefficient, unethical (July 29, 2018)
- SAA Council Resolution Honoring The UCLA Six (August 2019)
Communication: TinyLetter
Issues: salaries, temporary positions, unions
Resources:
Bibliography:
- We Need Our Librarians! (May 15, 2020)
- United Academics Statement on Use of Blackface (November 4, 2016)
Communication:
- The Duck & Cover (newsletter)
Issues: benefits, salaries, temporary positions, unions
Resources:
- Renewing a Term-Limited Contract
- Employment Equity Guide
- CAUT handbook for new faculty - Negotiating starting salaries
- Negotiating a probationary position
Communication:
Issues: BIPOC/BAME network, COVID-19
Initiatives:
Resources:
Bibliography: up//root
Communication:
Issues: organizing, temporary positions
Initiatives:
Resources:
Communication:
Issues: hiring, salaries, signal boosting, temporary positions, volunteers
Initiatives: job posting reviews
Communication: blog