Our Great Depression: librarians' raw deals during the New Deal.
by Will Manley
Want to get depressed? Read through the editions of this magazine from the 1930s— the decade of the Great Depression. Unemployment topped 30%, wages declined, tax bases eroded, and until the New Deal moved into gear, there was no social safety net to provide for the increasing numbers of sick, homeless, and starving Americans.
Money became the big concern of the library profession. More and more articles in the Bulletin of the American Library Association (precursor to American Libraries) were devoted to securing funding through trusts, charitable donations, and government support. By the end of the decade, the role of ALA had shifted from being a forum for discussing professional issues to becoming a pseudo-political action committee to lobby the state and federal governments for financial aid. Actually, the decade wasn't all bad for libraries; the public used them as never before.
Tough times produce tough people, and librarians got tougher in the 1930s. After the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the federal government became far more active in providing financial assistance to individuals and institutions, and librarians fought for their fair share of the pie. The 1930s was also a period of laborunrest. Because of the high unemployment rate, employers paid substandard wages and subjected employees to intolerable working conditions. The result was a protracted fight for labor legislation to proscribe unfair employment practices.
Librarians began to express their displeasure at how they were being treated on the job. At the 1937 ALA Annual Conference in New York City, the first presenter at a symposium titled "Square Pegs in Square Holes – Bringing Together Talent and Opportunity in the Library Profession" was Louis M. Nourse of the Brooklyn Public Library, who spoke on behalf of the "dissatisfied" young librarian. Nourse addressed five major sources of displeasure: "the monotony of too much routine work, not enough scope for initiative and development, lack of promotion, low salaries, and the need for a practical code of ethics."
Deal – or bad deal?
Nourse saved his strongest criticism for the subject of salaries: "The crop of library school graduates turned out during the late depression have had a hard row to hoe. Lower initial salaries … and even salary cuts have been the order of the day. Some administrators have frankly taken advantage of the times and have secured the cream of each year's class at the lowest figure." Finally, Nourse challenged these same administrators to adopt a code of ethics that would protect the rights of librarians. Noting that the New Deal had been in effect for years, he declared that the young librarian "would be satisfied with a ‘fair deal.’"
Sound familiar? Turn to the preliminary program for the 2007 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., and you will find these programs: "Getting What You're Worth," "Justice You Can Bank On: ALA, ALA-Allied Professional Association, and the National Committee on Pay Equity," "Embracing Change: How to Energize and Engage Library Staff," and "Managing the Multigenerational Workplace."
In the past 70 years the titles have gotten fancier, but the issues have remained exactly the same. If we want to attract talented young people into our profession, entry-level librarians need to be taken seriously as innovative professionals who deserve competitive wages.