Leadership

As early as December 2020, many were advocating for library workers to be included in early distribution categories. Even in the absence of broad recategorization, however, some library leaders have effectively lobbied to have staff across their entire systems vaccinated. Using a range of strategies, they have ensured that their state or local health department officials understand that library workers fill essential, public-facing roles, and are cared for accordingly.

Navigating any place of employment can be complex for transgender and nonbinary people, but having an informed and supportive supervisor can make things easier.

It’s important for a library board to strike a balance when it comes to supporting the library’s director. While no director wishes to be micromanaged, they certainly want to be supported. When a director is challenged with personnel issues, they would ideally call upon human resources (HR) for practical solutions. But what about directors who oversee a library that isn’t large enough to justify such a position? In these cases, and even in some libraries with HR leadership, the director turns to a personnel committee for guidance, collaboration, and support.

As we begin to reopen more and more libraries across the country the pressure you will feel as a leader is going to increase. You are crucial to your organization’s future right now. It’s okay to be nervous; it’s okay to be scared. Those emotions will not stop you from doing what you need to do. We can do this. You can do this.

As libraries approach their third month of closure, many institutions that had continued to pay employees—whether or not they were able to engage in active work—are now turning to layoffs or furloughs, often citing concerns about budget cuts.

On April 21 Mitchell Daniels, president of Indiana’s Purdue University, sent a letter to staff announcing his intent to reopen the campus this fall. Although his ideas about ensuring safety for a campus population of more than 50,000 people have met with some skepticism and pushback, individual campus leaders have their own ideas for a careful return. One of these is Beth McNeil, dean and Esther Ellis Norton Professor at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, who believes that a measured reopening of the university’s eight libraries is possible. 

For library workers who are working to convince local governments to close the libraries and continue to pay staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, the best bet is to discuss the issue with their union. For those without a union, here are some advocacy ideas for convincing decision makers to close the library during the pandemic and support the staff.

When I started writing my editorial for the April issue last week, a mere handful of public libraries had closed to contain the spread of COVID-19, though many had canceled public programming. Less than a week later, nearly 500 have closed to the public. But there are more than 9,000 public library systems in the United States—and we should close all of them. Today, not in two weeks when the April issue lands on your desk.

Vocational awe. Burnout. Low morale. Precarity. Undercompensation. Together, the themes I see cropping up in LIS research, conference presentations, and Twitter point to a chronic problem.