TL;DR : Urban Library Trauma Study Final Report
Urban Library Trauma Study Final Report
Basic Details
Written by : Urban Librarians Unite (ULU)
Published: 2022
Based in: Brooklyn, NY
Focus: Urban public Libraries
Geographical Region: USA
Length: 61 pages
Links
Urban Librarians Unite
Urban Library Trauma Study Final Report
Library Worker Support Network
The Quick
Readability: This is a long document but is written in clear language and includes many graphs and illustrations. The report is divided up into sections so the reader is able to navigate to the sections that interest them the most. Includes some descriptions of incidents which are mostly presented as quotes, which makes them easier to avoid if preferred.
What it is: Report on a survey of American urban library workers and a subsequent forum that focused on identifying recommendations built by library workers with direct experience
Who it is for: Anyone who works in a library as a frontline worker, or anyone who wants to improve frontline worker safety in libraries.
Why is it useful: Validates the experiences of library workers who have experienced trauma at work, and reminds us that we are not alone in our experiences. Provides details of the ideas and recommendations that emerged from the forum, as well as all the supporting documents which other systems and regions could use.
The Longer
The Urban Library Trauma Study Final Report was published in 2022 by the Urban Librarians Unite. ULU is an organization based out of Brooklyn, NY. The study itself is a partnership between ULU, the New York Library Association, and St John’s University in Queens, NY, and supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Participants in the study and forum were library workers from a wide variety of roles, from clerical to management. The forum involved workers with lived experience who spent three days generating ideas and refining their work to four recommendations. One of the outcomes of the forum was ULU’s Library Worker Support Network which hosts several online meetings a month for peer support, including separate meeting specifically for rural workers, managers, and queer workers.
One of the most immediately impactful aspects of the report is the validation of the trauma many library workers experience. As the introduction states, “This study was designed, researched, and written by and for frontline urban public library workers”. Because ULU centred lived experience in their research and development, I believe it is that much more meaningful to those that work on the frontlines in libraries. While union and academic work can identify and discuss the conditions of library work, this report has an intimate understanding of what library work is. It is also one of the only reports I have come across so far that specifically acknowledges the library worker as a reader.
If awful things have happened to you while you worked in libraries we are sorry that those things happened to you. It wasn’t your fault. It could have happened to anyone and unfortunately it probably has. We can work to make things better together. Thank you for reading this report and for being engaged in the work of making our libraries safer, better, and happier places to be for everyone.
This report is a good place to start when considering what needs to be done in the field of library work. They include all of their supporting documents including a literature review, survey questions, focus group facilitation guides, and forum material. Because ULU has shared the work that they have done, they provide an opportunity for other library systems and regions to use and build on this foundation. What would a similar project yield in Canada? How could these resources be used in conjunction with work that, for example, CUPE has done?
Snapshot
This report is much more than just the outcomes from the forum, but the ideas and recommendations that were developed at the ULU forum are listed here to give an idea of what kind of work ULU has done.
Ideas:
1. Creating better communication between administrators and frontline workers
2. Trauma support for library workers in their workplaces
3. Online database of community services
4. Incorporating trauma informed or trauma centred principles into strategic planning
5. Library trauma support network
Recommendations:
1. A National Library Worker Help Line
2. A set of standards for healthy library work environments built by a coalition of worker-led library organizations
3. A collection of policies and procedures written from the perspective of trauma-informed leadership
4. A series of peer-led support groups made up of library workers.
