Union Stewardship: A Space for Mid-career Librarian Leadership
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Date
2023
Authors
Thornhill, Kate
Peterson, Elizabeth
Shaffer, Ann
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ACRL
Abstract
In the spring of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic forced universities into a defensive crouch and administrators frantically looked for easy ways to cut costs, thousands of higher education jobs were suddenly at risk. At our institution, librarians were among 200+ faculty contracts under threat for non-renewal, representing a 25% overall cut in our librarian workforce. The crisis prompted us, three mid-career librarians and union stewards, to do whatever we could to save those jobs and to shore up colleagues’ morale through the uncertainty. We worked closely with our faculty union leadership to develop advocacy strategies and to engage allies and colleagues in the fight. As our work progressed and our mutual support network deepened, we realized we shared another common issue that encompassed broader and more existential concerns. After our early career years spent cementing job skills, building a professional profile, and pursuing promotion, we all found ourselves asking, “Where do I want to put my energies in the next phase of my work life? How can I make a meaningful impact?” Our experience demonstrates the value of engaging in labor union activism as a vital opportunity for the mid-career librarian to advocate for fellow colleagues and to further one’s own professional development.
Throughout this book chapter, we will bring readers through our journey as three mid-career library union stewards. Although we are at different places on the mid-career spectrum and we each came to union steward work in different ways and for different reasons, we shared similar values: an interest in women’s worker rights and shared governance; a preference for collaborative feminist leadership style; and a desire to develop professionally through building partnerships and supporting our colleagues rather than pursuing advancement through a hierarchical management structure. With practical strategies and advice, we will share how we developed an advocacy plan to preserve jobs and raise the profile of librarians, and how we looked beyond the immediate crisis to enact organizing principles that we hope become normalized across the library faculty: collaboration, guidance, deep listening spaces, collective advocacy, and action-oriented practices that speak truth to the needs and rights of academic librarians.
Description
Keywords
Academic librarians—Faculty status, Libraries and labor unions, Labor unions--Organizing, Women labor union members—United States, Women librarians—United States
Citation
Thornhill, Kate, Ann Shaffer, and Elizabeth Peterson. "Union Stewardship: A Space for Mid-career Librarian Leadership." In Thriving as a Mid-Career Librarian: Identity, Advocacy, and Pathways, edited by Brandon K. West and Elizabeth Galoozis, 177-189. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2023.