The labor librarian

Let us do without soldiers. The joy built upon successful slaughter is not the right kind of joy; it will not do; it is fearful and it is trivial.

A pie chart that asks “do you feel like your library leadership is primarily in favor or against generative AI?” In favor of: 45% Against: 16% Unsure: 39%

A second pie chart that asks “are YOU generally in favor of or against generative AI?” Against: 94% Unsure: 5% In favor of: 1%

The results from an informal poll that @memeinglibrarian.bsky.social ran on her social media are really something.

For anyone outside of Minnesota who has been wondering why progressives & leftists absolutely despise Jacob Frey, here is a very clear cut example.

Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job

Currently reading this and so far it fits the bill, although it’s funny that the description doesn’t mention Marx at all when the author says he’s using Marxism as a framework.

bookshop.org/p/books/brea...

Note the absence of Ireland from this list despite government parties committing to do so before the last election...

Yeah 😕. I moved to Seattle at the tail end of it. White, wealthy weed shop owners in the historically Black neighborhood calling the cops on the Black community center to try and force them out. People telling me to move to that neighborhood because it’s “cute now.” Lots of nasty business like that.

Severe gentrification, caused by a disinterest in centering the Black Seattle community and making sure it’s represented within the city it helped create and grow. Things that positions like this are trying to remedy. Black people aren’t in Seattle because of racist liberal whites like you, Laurel.

Just noticed that SPL probably means Seattle Public Library and I really want to ask this poster if she knows WHY there is such a small Black population in Seattle, a city that once boasted the largest numbers of Black homeownership in the country.

A photo of Mayor Mamdani leaning forward like he’s listening is overlaid on a simple striped background. Large text above his head reads “keep your promise! Fund nyc public libraries at 0.5% of the city budget.” Smaller text at the top reads “NYCPLAN Public Library Action Network” At the bottom of the image is an oblong bubble with text inside that reads “visit nycplan.org for more information”

Love your library? Help us secure stable funding!

Take 30 seconds and send the Mayor a short note;

Tell him to honor his promise, and fund the NYC library systems at a minimum of 0.5% of the city’s expense budget.

www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...

Libraries and AI: A study — The Memeing Librarian Post by The Memeing Librarian

Her full report is here: buymeacoffee.com/thememeingli...

A pie chart that asks “do you feel like your library leadership is primarily in favor or against generative AI?” In favor of: 45% Against: 16% Unsure: 39%

A second pie chart that asks “are YOU generally in favor of or against generative AI?” Against: 94% Unsure: 5% In favor of: 1%

The results from an informal poll that @memeinglibrarian.bsky.social ran on her social media are really something.

Essentially, libraries have to make a calculus on whether they’d rather risk their budget with the whims of public or politicians, and neither of those are great choices. Libraries should just be funded. Full stop.

But like…yes. Libraries should be able to hire and fund themselves without constantly begging for money from the voters OR politicians.

So the common belief was that the voters were a more trusted guarantee. Tying your funding into a city/county budget meant you were vulnerable to the whims of politicians and budget fights, like what’s currently happening to libraries in NYC. Or that you could be used as a political football.

I absolutely agree with this sentiment, however! When I worked in public libraries, it was generally agreed on by library folks that I knew that levy votes were safer for funding than the alternative, which was being part of the city’s budget. I was in a library-friendly area (Seattle adjacent) 1/

Wilson's Library Levy Renewal Focuses on Maintaining Services The proposed $410 million levy is around 50% higher than the 2019 library levy, adjusted for inflation. With a focus on maintaining hours and modestly expanding services, the package doesn't include m...

Not a slam on Wilson, but it is completely insane that we fund BASIC LIBRARY OPERATIONS, including staff and security guards, with a levy that depends on regular voter approval. Non-capital library expenses are a basic city function that shouldn't be at regular risk of cancelation.

I said “so what this tells me is that getting rid of Playaways will create barriers to access for 1,200 people.” She was looking at how small the number was. I was only thinking about how that number was higher than 0.

I still remember when my library wanted to get rid of Playaways. The head of Collection Management showed us statistics and said that out of all the checkouts of the previous year (were a big system), less than 1% were for playaways. I asked for the numbers and she said “about 1,200 patrons.”

Laurel H 1 hour ago “Establish Office of Inclusion and Belonging: $2.4 million” Curious what this would look like. There is massive over-representation and centering of the black community, Hispanics and muslims. Jews are seemingly intentionally excluded from the inclusion and belonging programs. There are significantly more hate crimes against Jews than any other minorities except one. There are three times more Asians in this city than there are black people. As things currently are you would think it was the other way around. You would also think we had a huge Muslim population and a non-existent Jewish one. Something tells me establishing this office would not alleviate this but actually work to increase it.

This is sad, although I thought the statement by the library is very good. Staff are rarely recognized for how freaking traumatic this is!

And then they go into talk of a possible levy, but that's not what struck me. It was the statement below, in the comments (of course.)

Everyone stop what you're doing, the Mariners are selling fries, nachos, and fish and chips in ferries now. www.mlb.com/mariners/bal...

"They'll say we are disturbing the peace but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war.

"Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience."

-Howard Zinn

honestly don’t know how I’m still even semi functioning in all this

Going to make this post the background on my work computer

I know I live in a rural area because I currently have more venison in my freezer than beef 😂

Statistics are here: www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11...

Less than 16% of librarians are nonwhite, and that is for all gender identities. So maybe an acknowledgment of the homogeneity of our industry would be nice on International Women’s Day

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, librarianship is 84.9% women and 84.6% white. 7.5% of librarians identify as Black, 9% as Hispanic or Latine, and 4.2% as Asian. The percentage who identify as Indigenous is so small that it isn’t even noted, but I’ve seen .2% quoted elsewhere.

NYU cancels live school graduation speakers - Washington Square News Graduation speakers will no longer give live remarks at school-based ceremonies and must instead record their statements for a video, in compliance with a policy NYU is rolling out this year. The tran...

1 / I’ll have more to say about this soon—in fact, there’s a fair amount in The Overseer Class about the role I probably played in leading to this farce…. www.google.com/url?q=https:...

Dominated by *white* women, @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social.

This International Women's Day, please remember that trans women are women. Full stop. No qualifiers.