Librarians and Library Staff

The AFT represents public library workers across the country, in separate municipal library bargaining units and as part of school and university bargaining units. The AFT also represents librarians in state libraries—including the Illinois State Library and the Connecticut State Library—and in other state agencies, with corrections, education, mental health and developmental disability units, to name a few. Library staff are organizing with the AFT to protect their work, their professions and the people they serve.

OHIO

Library workers in Central Ohio are on a winning streak with the Ohio Federation of Teachers

Libraries are essential infrastructure in our communities, providing information, entertainment, and public services. In order to meet the needs of our patrons and to set standards that allow us to recruit and retain highly skilled staff, librarians and library workers need a voice. Library workers also need and deserve fair treatment and job security. That’s why library workers in Ohio — across multiple library systems — are coming together to build their unions and have a voice at work.

Read about more organizing victories

Ohio

‘We are what a union looks like’

When the pandemic began, many workers in Central Ohio libraries—who have historically largely lacked union representation—realized they had little voice in resulting workplace policies. With libraries in the crosshairs of the culture wars , and a longstanding dearth of fair pay and professional respect, library workers seized the moment to organize unions with the Ohio Federation of Teachers.

Here, Grandview Heights Public Library United President R.C. Worrell reflects on what a union means for him and his co-workers—and why it’s time for a library organizing movement.

MASSACHUSETTS

Jenna Young Knows the True Value of Libraries

Jenna Young, a Massachusetts Library Staff Association member and union treasurer, describes how libraries offer a vast range of services and serve as a tool for civic education. While libraries work hard to serve the community, the vital role of libraries is being threatened by budget cutbacks and increasing attacks on the freedom of information and free expression.

MASSACHUSETTS

Massachusetts Library Staff Association

The Massachusetts Library Staff Association represents more than 500 public librarians in 34 municipalities across the state of Massachusetts.

MLSA members are taking action

CALIFORNIA

Claremont Librarians, Library Staff Choose CFT as Their Union

The librarians and library staff at the Claremont Colleges Services overwhelmingly chose the California Federation of Teachers in a union representational election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.

Learn more