The Library Employees' Union, founded in 1917 in New York City, was the first union of public library workers in the United States. A major focus of the union was the inferior status of women library workers and their low salaries. The union's main spokesperson, Maud Malone, had been active in the reinvigoration of the women's suffrage movement that occurred in the first decade of the twentieth century. Advocating the affiliation of library workers with women's organizations and with the working class, the union applied the tactics used by suffragists and other reformers to the library world. Opposing the trend toward professionalization, union leaders sought to have public library workers included in the municipal civil service and were openly critical of public library administrators. The small union was unable to garner significant support from public library workers and disbanded in 1929.
BT - Libraries & Culture IS - 3 LA - English N2 -The Library Employees' Union, founded in 1917 in New York City, was the first union of public library workers in the United States. A major focus of the union was the inferior status of women library workers and their low salaries. The union's main spokesperson, Maud Malone, had been active in the reinvigoration of the women's suffrage movement that occurred in the first decade of the twentieth century. Advocating the affiliation of library workers with women's organizations and with the working class, the union applied the tactics used by suffragists and other reformers to the library world. Opposing the trend toward professionalization, union leaders sought to have public library workers included in the municipal civil service and were openly critical of public library administrators. The small union was unable to garner significant support from public library workers and disbanded in 1929.
PY - 1995 SP - 235 EP - 264 T2 - Libraries & Culture TI - The Library Employees' Union of Greater New York, 1917-1929: The First Union of Public Library Workers in the United States VL - 30 ER -