We Support Our Librarians

UC librarians are bargaining for a new contract as part of UC-AFT. We are allies prepared to fight alongside them for quality public education!

The years-long disinvestment in our UC libraries threatens careers, families, and the communities we serve. UC campus administrators spend millions on expensive software platforms, streaming media services, and inflated contracts for scholarly publications while underfunding user services that students rely on. UC Librarians’ wages have failed to keep pace with the rising cost of living, making it more difficult to recruit and retain excellent librarians. Library administrators often refuse to hire new librarians when positions are empty, resulting in speed-ups in our working conditions and increases in our workload. Great libraries need great librarians to make them work.

Recruitment and Retention: Since 2020, librarians are leaving the UC system faster than they are hired, and failed searches are compounding the problem: Librarians deserve salaries and benefits that reflect both their level of expertise and the high cost of living in California.

Workload: While student enrollment has sharply increased since 2015, the number of professional librarians has flatlined. As a result, librarians have been asked to do more work with fewer resources. Librarians deserve a reasonable workload, flexible work arrangements, and protections to address current and future health and safety issues so they can deliver the crucial services entrusted to them as the University expands.

Professionalism: As academic appointees of the University, librarians deserve academic freedom protections and Principal Investigator status as are conferred to Senate faculty. Increased professional development support is crucial for librarians to perform their jobs.

At the same time, right-wing book bans and attacks on public and K-12 libraries are increasing, threatening the values of free speech, inclusion, and access to knowledge that we hold dear. Library workers provide vital services to their communities and our university. We stand with our fellow library workers to defend the value of their work and the role of librarians in building a more just and equitable world.

We, the undersigned, call upon the University of California Office of the President to negotiate a fair contract that ensures compensation and support in line with the indispensable and high quality work that UC-AFT librarians provide the University.

Signed….