This post was authored by the contributors to “Mutual Aid at Work,” a group consisting of members of DLF’s Labor Working Group and the Archival Workers Collective.
We’re happy to announce that a new resource, “Mutual Aid at Work” is now available online at https://sites.google.com/view/mutualaidatwork/ and in a PDF version you can download at: https://osf.io/d7bvz.
“Mutual Aid at Work” provides organizers with a resource to form their own mutual aid networks in the Library, Archive, and Museum (LAM) community, brings awareness to existing mutual aid groups and efforts to support LAM workers, and provides possible pathways organizers may take. It includes relevant examples from the workplace and challenges organizers to interrogate what they define as their community.
A group from the Archival Workers Collective and the Digital Library Federation’s Labor Working Group coalesced around their mutual aid activities during 2020-2021 in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Since that time, additional collaborators have contributed to the shared desire to motivate LAM workers in the United States to create informed mutual aid networks as a foundation for connecting with and organizing colleagues to take collective action. The contributors hope that these mutual aid networks will communally address issues of precarious employment and limited access to critical resources highlighted by, but not originating from, the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a living resource, suggested revisions, additional examples and exercises, and recommended resources may be sent to archival-workers-collective[at]googlegroups.com. The contributors also encourage those using this resource to re-interpret and re-purpose it to suit their needs in whatever way makes sense and provides immediate relief, comfort and security. Both the website and the PDF version of the text are available under the Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
With appreciation and solidarity, from our many contributors, including Lauren Goodley, Katharina Hering, Mary Kidd, Carli V. Lowe, Caitlin Rizzo, Sandy Rodriguez, Lydia Tang, Jennifer Wachtel, Amy Wickner, and Karly Wildenhaus.