Why should library workers need union representation? The answer is as simple as it is in the other workplaces we represent: They need a stronger voice in their workplace, they need improved working conditions and benefit protections.

Library systems have evolved, and not for the better, in many ways. Too many of the managers and directors are coming out of retail situations, with “retail” mind-sets. They don’t value the education and professionalism of an MLS librarian, or the dedication of the circulation staff, or the absolute necessity of the clerical employees. They are too customer-service-oriented without understanding the library customer. 

Libraries aren’t retail stores. They are educational and community institutions. And they need to be treated as such. 

Their “customers” don’t come in just to check out a book anymore. They come to do research, to get homework help, to job search, to attend meetings, to do so much more than ever before.  

Now, more than ever, a library employee wears many hats. But too many of their managers devalue and demoralize them, undermining their professionalism and deflating their enthusiasm. The changing work environment has also allowed managers to do away with transparency in the promotion process, and has let favoritism prevail. A union and a collective bargaining agreement would curb these trends.  

Local 1994 is the collective bargaining representative for the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System and Montgomery County’s Public Libraries, but we’re also exploring our possibilities in other systems in the state. 

In informal surveys of systems, we’ve learned that quite a few of the nearby systems are ready to begin the organizing process. We’ve learned that, while wages aren’t a major issue for them (no librarian went into the profession to become a millionaire), many library workers have come to understand that the cure for lousy working conditions and poor morale is union representation. That’s the reason so many experienced library workers from other jurisdictions have pulled up stakes and taken jobs in the Montgomery or Prince George’s systems.

The fact that they would relinquish their seniority and increase their commute time to work in systems with effective labor-management partnerships, with strong collective bargaining agreements, and with negotiated promotion processes, proves that we, Local 1994, have a real chance to become “the voice of Maryland’s library employees.” 

When that happens, our current members can expect improvements, too. The more library systems we represent, the better our current contracts become. As “the voice of Maryland’s library employees,” we’ll have a lot more say everywhere. Let’s become that voice. Let’s organize.