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Labor on campus: academic library service to labor groups

Library Trends - June 22, 2002

ABSTRACT

THIS PAPER EXAMINES ACADEMIC LIBRARY SERVICE TO LABOR GROUPS, particularly in the area of Internet training. An informal survey of fifty-three academic libraries in schools with labor study programs throughout the United States and Canada indicates that while many libraries provide support for labor study programs within their schools, few provide direct programming to labor unions. The paper examines libraries that are providing service to union members and details the history of one such program, the Catherwood Library Labor Outreach Program at Cornell University.

INTRODUCTION

Academic references services are undergoing a dramatic transformation. In light of rapid changes in technology, including the proliferation of research material readily available online, libraries are grappling with the best means of providing information to clientele. Statistics collected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in the years 1995-2000 saw a significant drop in reference queries at a number of academic libraries (http:// fisher.lib.virginia.edu/arl/index.html). For example, at the Archibald S. Alexander Library, Rutgers University, reference statistics declined 21 percent during the academic year 1997-98 and 24 percent during the academic year 1998-99 (Wilson, 2002, p. 49). Though user numbers are falling, many libraries have expanded the boundaries of the traditional reference desk, offering digital reference services through the creation of online tutorials, digital reference resources, and e-mail services. While the growth of the Internet has resulted in new user patterns, it has also altered the potential client base for reference services. In particular, groups that have not been traditional patrons of academic reference services--such as labor unions--now have a strong interest in information provision.

For example, the Internet is increasingly being recognized by organized labor as an important tool in its efforts to improve the terms and conditions of employment. Labor unions are successfully using this technology to enhance organizing campaigns by reaching larger audiences more effectively. In addition, organized labor's ability to access laws, regulations, judicial decisions, wage and market data, online news, corporate financial data, safety and health resources, and other information pertinent to union organizing, collective bargaining, and contract administration is contingent upon how well labor can marshal these disparate sources of information. As such, Internet training is a valuable investment for labor unions. This is also a very large group who need and/or could benefit from such training: labor unions in the United States have approximately 16.3 million members (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002). Though labor organizations have education departments at the national and state levels, many local unions do not have adequate access to Internet training because of resource constraints.

Academic libraries, and in particular academic libraries associated with industrial relations programs, would seem like another "natural" source of such training. Over 100 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada offer a degree program or other structured study on industrial and labor relations. Academic labor studies programs are meeting some training needs, by, for example, providing noncredit extramural classes for labor union members through extension programs. University libraries, through library resource training, often support these classes. Several libraries have taken this concept a step further by offering training in online research to labor union members not affiliated with the university, often on an outreach basis. More libraries should consider such programs, which provide a positive benefit to labor unions and libraries; address the evolving need to reinvent reference services; and involve a "nontraditional" library patron group.

The approach used by the Catherwood Library Labor Outreach Program (Cornell University) to provide Internet training is one possible model and will be discussed at length. Initially, evidence regarding labor union's usage of (and need to use) the Internet will be presented. The results of a survey, conducted for this article, regarding academic libraries' involvement with training for union members, will also be discussed.

UNIONS AND THE INTERNET

When addressing the benefits to unions of the Internet, noted labor author Eric Lee quoted Karl Marx, who in The Communist Manifesto stated: "This union is helped on by the improved means of communication that are created by modern industry, and that place the workers of different localities in contact with each other" (Lee, 1997, p. 2). While Marx wrote about a markedly different time period, his words strike a note for today's unions.

Though labor was, for the most part, slow to embrace Internet technology, there were some notable exceptions. One of the earliest uses of the Internet by labor was the application of technology as a tool for communication. In 1981, Larry Kuehn (then president of the British Columbia Teacher's Federation) and Arnie Myers (the federation's communication officer) created an electronic bulletin board in order to link the eleven members of the union's executive committee (Lee, 1997, p. 50). These committee members lived in different parts of the province and were not in close geographic proximity to one another. This bulletin board allowed committee members to discuss issues and reach decisions without expending the time, money, and effort required to assemble in the same location. Over time, this small network gave way to Solinet, a nationwide, Internet-based labor network in Canada. Today, the Internet abounds with labor-based discussion groups, listservs, and newsgroups around the world.

The Internet and Strike Information

Rapid dissemination of information by newsletters and other online publications was another method initially utilized by unions to take advantage of the benefits offered by the Internet. When union brethren at the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner went on strike in 1994, they created the first online labor newspaper. The resultant publication, the San Francisco Free Press, featured national news, sports news, and weather information--in short, everything a normal print newspaper covered (Lee, 1997, p. 79).

The main purpose of this online publication, however, was to keep union members and the public informed of strike-related issues and concerns. The paper provided the latest news and developments of the strike, which allowed Internet users throughout the country to read and disseminate, on a firsthand basis, current information from the strikers themselves, as events were developing. Prior to the Internet, union members on strike would have issued press releases, newsletters, or other "hardcopy" print information; however, this would have entailed mass mailings, a time delay in the provision of current information, and a failure to reach an audience the size of that available on the Internet. Today, strike information is a standard feature of unions' Web sites. For example, during their labor dispute with the United Parcel Service in 1997, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters) provided daily updates on their Web site.

The Teamsters also launched http://www.teamsters.org/overnite/index.asp in 2000, to help keep members and the public informed about the strike against Overnite Transportation. On this Web site, Overnite customers, Teamsters, and other interested parties could access reports on the company's history of labor law violations, news articles, news releases, and newsletters. Workers could also post messages at the site.

A clearinghouse of information on labor disputes was established on http://www.thebird.org/strikes/. This is a joint venture between The Great Speckled Bird, which is a liberal newspaper dating from the 1960s, and LaborNet, which was founded in 1991 to build a democratic communication network for the labor movement. The site allows unions to post up-to-the-minute strike information from around the world. The page even provides an online form for unions to post information.

Lastly, historical as well as current information on labor disputes is available on the Internet. Information on strikes or other issues is often archived on union Web sites, allowing union members to research earlier labor disputes.

The Internet as an Organizing Tool

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