Labor and Community Outreach

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Labor and Community Outreach

• Stacey Barber

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Many of us realize that you and we have a stake
in the future. You see, we know that the forces
which burned the books in Hitlers Germany were
the same forces that imprisoned and killed the
union leaders. And we know, too, that the forces
that would emasculate libraries in America and
set up thought-control are the same forces that
would break the unions if they had the chance.
Bill Kemsley, Labor Looks at the Public
Library
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History
Many public libraries initially based on
collections of merchants and tradesmen, which
included reading material for men of culture.
There was a concept of public libraries being a
workingmans university. Two opposite
impulses in the founding of public libraries. On
one hand, they were looked upon as encouraging
workers to take up more contemplative pursuits
and back away from being politically active. On
the other hand, the rise of public libraries came
hand in hand with the gains of labor, such as the
8 hour work day, that allowed workers to have the
time to develop interests other than just mere
survival.
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Information Needs
The information needs are quite diverse and go
beyond just vocational material. They include
Workers Education, reflecting the various ways
that unions are involved in the community beyond
bread and butter issues, labor law, political
science, foreign affairs, research on companies,
research to support collective bargaining,
government material and statistical material and
labor history.
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How Labor and Libraries Have Cooperated
-Labor leaders like Samuel Gompers have come out
in support of libraries. -Unionized librarians
in 1924 were one of the first groups to bring a
complaint of censorship involving Andrew Carnegie
to the ALA. -Librarians were some of the people
on the front lines in fighting for intellectual
freedom during the McCarthy Era. -a Joint
Committee of Library Service to Labor Groups was
established in 1945 by the ALA and continued to
exist well into the 1970s. The committee exists
today as part of the
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Reference and User Services Association, composed
both of librarians and representatives of the
AFL-CIO. http//www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMen
u/RUSA/Our_Association2/Division_Committees/Divisi
on_Committees.htm -Representatives of the AFL-CIO
testified in 1979 to the White House Conference
on Libraries and Information Services concerning
the information needs of labor. -Public
Libraries have played a role in worker
educational programs. -Every year, since 1979,
the John Sessions Memorial Award is given to a
library that has done notable work in the labor
community.
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What Libraries Can Do to Reach Out to Labor
-As well as being supportive of funding for
programs such as African American studies and
Womens Studies, be supportive of programs for
Labor. -Realize that the focus of what is
traditionally considered the Business Librarian
overlaps in many ways with what the interests of
Labor are. -Reach out to unions in your area
and let them know what your library can do, or
find out how they are already utilizing your
library. It is the librarian that has to take
the first steps in doing this.
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-Take advantage of labor holidays such as Labor
Day in September, Womens History month in March,
Workers Memorial Day in April and Labor History
Month in May to set up displays that deal with
Labor. -Play a role in developing the educational
material for labor organizing efforts or other
work of labor. -Bibliographic control for labor
issues is sorely out of date. Much can be done
in developing reference sources for labor.
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Labor-Getting Started
http//www.labornet.org http//www.labourstart.org
Union websites AFL-CIO-American Federation of
Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
http//www.aflcio.org/ SEIU-Service Employees
International Union, the fastest growing union in
the United States. http//www.seiu.org/
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The major thing to remember is that its up to
the librarian to make the first move. Libraries
probably deal with labor issues every day. Make
the unconscious conscious.
Paper Collection Building for Labor in Public
Libraries http//www.acsu.buffalo.edu/ssbarber/Pe
rsonalWeb/Collection20Building20for20Labor20in
20Public20Libraries.doc