Libraries and Unions: A Perfect Match
by Becca Bushman
Today, after more than a year of organizing, my coworkers at Worthington Libraries and I officially won our union when the votes were tallied by Ohio’s State Employment Relations Board.
Gaining a union in our workplace is especially meaningful, because I believe that libraries and unions share the same mission and values. Both are founded on collective responsibility. Both equip people with tools needed to empower themselves. Both promote equity and build stronger communities.
Like many others, when I graduated from college, I didn’t have a clear sense of what was next for me. Having studied a hodgepodge of social sciences and humanities, I wanted to apply what I learned to the “real world.” I considered social work and tried volunteering at a suicide prevention hotline. While I commend those able to do such important work, I quickly learned it wasn’t the right fit for me.
In a stark departure from helping crying and bleeding people, I started volunteering at The Ohio State University Archives. I had done some archival research throughout college, but this was my first time working in a library setting. And I loved it.
I loved being able to preserve peoples’ stories, new and old. I loved making sense of dusty piles of unorganized publications and artifacts. I loved being the reason something wouldn’t be forgotten.
My supervisor at the archives encouraged me to seek out work in other library settings, leading me to apply to Upper Arlington Public Library. I became a Branch Associate at a small suburban library tucked next to a park. I had enjoyed the quiet and independent archival work, and I wasn’t sure how I would take to being at the beck and call of the general public. But again, I loved it.
The modest size of my first library let me dip my toes in work for different departments and age groups. I loved how much we did for so many. Libraries brim with free books, movies, and music, yes. But they also help people learn new languages, get into college, apply to jobs, slog through taxes, refinance homes, and plan estates. Libraries allow free access to information, resources, and support needed for people to better their lives. Work at the archives was rewarding and fascinating, but the accessibility of the public library was something else. This was something specific and ridiculous and glorious. This was it.
Finding your place and your people is a great feeling. But even as things click into place, no situation is black and white. Truly believing in what you do does not absolve any workplace of its issues or of the gaps people fall through. In fact, sometimes library staff let our passion for our work excuse scarcity and instability, a concept Fobazi Ettarh describes as “vocational awe.”
Fulfilling work is fulfilling, but it’s still work. Work that feeds your soul can also drain you, and this is especially true when you’re a vulnerable at-will employee without union protections.
Shortly after I started working at Worthington Libraries, we experienced two major disruptions. At the end of 2019, our management announced they were “reorganizing” about a third of all public service staff. Tensions were high for months surrounding the winter holidays as we all waited to see whether we were being moved to a different location. We worried about losing the rapport we had cultivated with patrons over years of service. But ultimately, we had no say in who moved where. It wasn’t up to us.
Just one week after transfers were finally complete, the COVID-19 pandemic forced libraries worldwide to suddenly shut down, including ours. Ordinarily, the beautiful thing about public libraries is that everyone shares everything: books, video games, computers, staplers, chairs. Anyone can walk into and use a public library. The nature of our institution, accessible as it is, created unique public health risks. Our community was isolated, scared, and hurting. We wanted to be there for them, but we worried about getting ourselves and our patrons very sick in the process.
In the following months, workplace issues that had festered for years became startlingly clear as COVID raised the stakes. Disparities in policies became more pronounced. We were informed of decisions only after they had already been made. Workflows were handed down with missing context. It became apparent that our administrators needed our help.
More collaboration was needed with staff who interacted most directly with the public. And yet, many of us felt scared to speak up as individuals. We worried about risking future promotions. We worried about seeming difficult. We worried that even if we spoke our minds, nothing would change. We were in desperate need of the empowerment we worked so hard to provide to our patrons.
That is why we came together and organized our union. The process was neither quick nor easy. The pandemic isolated us from one another even as we tried to unify. But library workers see the benefits of collectives firsthand. We know that seeking out and representing a wide variety of perspectives leads to well-rounded, well-informed outcomes.
We know that every single person has important things to do and say, if given the chance. We know that fostering potential and growth in individuals creates robust, dynamic communities.
When an organization is fragmented and hurting, organizing a union can be a healing and empowering process. It can inspire hope and community. It forges bonds and connections. It builds trust and confidence. As library staff, we listen to our patrons each day to connect them with the resources that they need. So too should we take the time to listen to one another, to ensure our needs as workers are met. So too should we make the effort to advocate for ourselves, because library staff are as deserving of support from the library as the patrons that we serve.
Empowerment is not a zero-sum; it is reciprocal. The level of support library staff receive is the level of support we can then provide to our community. And that level of support increases drastically when a workplace institutes a union.
Now that we’ve won our union, I want to make sure that other library workers know that the values of libraries and the values of unions are one and the same. They are not at odds. They never have been. I am fortunate to be able to live my values at work. Now I can do so more than ever by working at a unionized library.
Make no mistake: we did not organize despite loving our jobs. We organized because we love our jobs. And now, we’re ready to help other library workers join us.
Library workers in Ohio who are interested in forming a union can get in touch with an organizer at: oft-aft.org/libraries
Becca Bushman is a library associate at Worthington Park Library.
Want to read more stories like this? Subscribe to AFT e-newsletters.
