The Stories We Tell

Precarious Labor and Archival Myths

Words by Megan Riley

Like other professions that are often shaped by vocational awe, or the conceptions of one’s profession as inherently good and beyond critique, library and archives work supports and is in turn supported by a number of myths. These myths are strangely persistent, despite their many conflicts with the actual reality of LIS work. Pushing back against and dismantling these myths can only benefit us, our fellow LIS workers, and the field as a whole.

"Unpaid internships are a rite of passage to enter the field and help you get a foot in the door."

As a graduate student in UCLA’s MLIS program, I am exceptionally glad that many of my professors and peers resist this myth. I know that other graduate students in LIS are not so lucky: some programs require unpaid internships as part of coursework, or do not provide paid alternatives, compelling students to take unpaid internships. Some of these internships are at institutions with massive endowments, which could theoretically easily pay graduate students for their labor. However, the discourse around “paying one’s dues” or simply the reluctance to push back against a long-standing practice has led to a severe devaluation in the labor of LIS graduate students.

Karly Wildenhaus’s work on unpaid internships in LIS is a wonderful start to the discussion around the role that these internships actually play, not just within MLIS programs but also in their impact on the profession in general. Wildenhaus connects unpaid internships and other un- or undercompensated positions to the lack of diversity in libraries and archives and the growing trend in precarious labor. She also situates these positions “within larger questions of economic access, labor laws, indebtedness, and neoliberalization.” Wildenhaus examines how unpaid internships are far from guaranteed to lead to paying work, contrary to the common assumption of many people within the profession.

"Contract positions allow workers more flexibility and autonomy."

The myth of “flexibility” as an unalloyed good pervades so much of our society, and its purest distillation is the gig economy. Many LIS institutions have bought fully into the idea that flexible work is not only sought after but preferred. That may be true for the institutions themselves, but “flexible” - that is, precarious or temporary - work is far from beneficial for workers. Many temporary contract or grant-funded jobs offer limited to no benefits and exclude workers from representation by workplace unions. Where benefits are offered, contingent workers may feel uncomfortable using or even asking about them, due to a lack of communication between supervisors and workers. Some may even fear that asking about or making use of benefits like mental healthcare could jeopardize the renewal of their contracts. The Collective Responsibility project, a survey and research project on precarious labor in digital LIS institutions undertaken by the Digital Library Federation Working Group on Labor in Digital Libraries, Archives, and Museums, indicates several major themes among contingent workers in LIS, including a lack of professional and personal support in the workplace, which forces precarious workers into a problematic dependence on their direct supervisors. 

Fear of contract non-renewal also causes undue stress on precarious LIS professionals to perform extra emotional labor within the workplace. Many may feel implicitly or explicitly pressured to be accommodating and congenial at all times, so as to increase the odds that their contract or grant will be renewed. For workers who do receive benefits, the pressure is compounded. In a country in which  healthcare coverage is tied to employment, a contract non-renewal can mean the loss of medical care (affordable or otherwise), and the ability to pay for medications or see a therapist.

"The job market is tough right now, so take any job you can get and you’ll get a better paying one eventually!"

At the student and early-professional level, there is already - at least among my peers and colleagues - a bleak attitude towards actually finding full-time permanent work. Many of those new to the professional workforce are forced to take on multiple part-time positions, some of which may not even be in the LIS field. For graduate students, knowledge of this imminent precarity can be a major source of stress before we’ve even technically entered the workforce. We ask ourselves things like: Will I be able to find a job that can allow me to pay my rent?  Will I find a job that gives me healthcare benefits? Are there even any full-time jobs available for new professionals, or should I start looking outside of LIS? Can I cobble together a living wage from multiple temporary or part-time positions? Add student debt into the mix and the level of stress is even higher. If we do find a job that is well-compensated but temporary, the stress of those questions may be delayed for the duration of the contract. However, once it’s up —and sometimes we won’t even know if it will be renewed until a matter of weeks or even days before it’s set to expire—we re-enter the cycle of searching for a way to support ourselves in the profession we’ve chosen.

A cycle of precarity destabilizes and devalues LIS workers and institutions. This devaluation can cause new professionals to question their worth as employees and may pressure them into accepting positions that are under-compensated, without benefits, or lacking stability. Surveys and studies  have shown in hard numbers that taking temporary positions more often than not simply leads to another temporary position, rather than a permanent job.This unending loop of precarity affects us not only in our careers but in our lives in general, as the commodification of education, healthcare, and other areas transforms basic  rights - housing, food, healthcare, a stable job, the opportunity to lead a dignified life - into what feel like unattainable fantasies.

Megan Riley is currently a graduate student at UCLA, finishing her MLIS this spring and then beginning her PhD in Information Studies in the fall with a focus on labor issues and precarity in libraries, archives, and museums. She spends her free time doing crossword puzzles and thinking about basketball.