Implications for public libraries

There is evidence of unionization in the field of public librarianship as early as 1917, according to Library Literature. One attempt occurred in New York and another in Detroit. Given the infancy of public librarianship at the time and the fact that staffs were often made up of women just out of high school and trained by the public libraries themselves, there was little hope for a successful conclusion to such efforts. The social class from which these young ladies had been selected, their complete identification with their public libraries, and their genteel surroundings gave them little reason for identification with the labor movement. The labor movement was not something that one thought well of in those days anyway.published or submitted for publicatio