Librarians and a representative of the Service Employees International Union Local 888 (SEIU 888) were posted around campus during Family Weekend to urge students and members of Brandeis’ community to support librarians as they fight for a fair contract with the university. Since June 2018, the librarian’s union at Brandeis has been meeting with the administration to create a new contract for librarians.
According to librarian Esther Brandon ’12, MA ’14 in an interview with The Brandeis Hoot, “We have been negotiating with the Brandeis administration since June and the library’s union has proposed a pathway to a fair contract. But Brandeis has not met us halfway.” Since the negotiations are currently ongoing, the union was unable to provide the specific details on what is being negotiated.
Surella Seelig MA ’05, the Outreach and Special Projects Archivist in University Archives & Special Collections, is a librarian that “create[s] digital and physical exhibits, teach[es] classes, and work[s] on creating conferences and projects based on our collections,” she said, in an interview with The Hoot. She is a member of the Brandeis librarian’s union that is handling inquiries on behalf of the Union team.
As a librarian, Seelig finds it extremely fulfilling to work with not only the collections, but also members of the Brandeis community who are invested in their work and working to “better service our communities—not a day goes by where I don’t learn something from my work and from my colleagues.”
The Hoot spoke to four different librarians, who were advocating for support for their union contract, echoed similar messages of a fair contract. “We all come to work, and we get great joy out of it. But that’s not enough. Joy is not enough,” said Seelig in an interview. “We’re Brandeis, and we belong here just as much as anyone else. I feel very invested in the school, and I want the school to invest in me as much as I invest in it.”
Jen Giordano ’12, MA ’14, the user experience librarian, focuses specifically on making sure the library is meeting all the needs of students. “I feel like a lot of my identity is wrapped up in Brandeis and supporting and loving the faculty members, the students, the community and I really give my life and soul to Brandeis,” Giordano told The Hoot. “And as a staff member, we deserve a fair contract…We are here out of love and respect and commitment, and we know how great Brandeis can be, and we just want it to keep getting better. And part of that is treating the librarians union with dignity and respect.”
Seelig and Giordano, along with the rest of the librarians involved in the union urge students to voice their support of the librarians to the administration. Joanna Fuchs ’11, another librarian tabling, hopes that students will “contact the Provost’s office and express how much the library means to you and what librarians mean to you for your research, schoolwork, to your overall experience at Brandeis. Get on social media, don’t be afraid to voice your concern. Because without the librarians or the library, there is no Brandeis.”
