Librarians and Trade Unionism: A Prologue

THEHISTORY of library trade unionism has a chro-nological pattern of development that is easily defined. The first wave of unionization started during World War I, but the main thrust faded by the mid-1920s. The Library of Congress and three urban public libraries were involved in these initial efforts. The Library of Congress staff has always maintained at least one union since World War I, but two of the public library unions disbanded by 1923 and the other lasted until 1929. The second wave started in 1934 in the public library at Butte, Montana. A new local was chartered in Detroit as late as 1949. During this fifteen-year period, at least a dozen public library locals were chartered. Some failed, but unions in Cleveland, Milwau-kee, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York and Detroit survived to form a base for the third wave of library trade unions which started in the early 1960s and continues to this date. The history of library trade unionism has been explored by only a few. Berelson, Clopine, Spicer, and Goldstein are names that stand out since 1939. ’ Berelson’s article was a pioneer work, written in 1939 when the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was making its mark on American society. Industrial trade union activity was devel-oping to new heights and aroused new interest in professional unions. Clopine and Spicer, on the other hand, wrote in the 1950s during a long hiatus in library union activity. Goldstein wrote his paper at the beginning of the longest and most enduring period of union activity in libraries. This period, beginning in the early 1960s, was a period of ferment: radical antiwar activities occurred on the campuses from whence new librarians came, radical librarians and library students rose at the Atlantic City ALA conference, the feminist movement developed, professional unions were becoming more acceptable, and teachers, nurses and doctors joined unions. This is the backgroun