Politics of Libraries 2019

Date

August 16, 2019 09:00 - 16:45

Location

Edmonton

Details

Website: https://libraries.politics.blog/

2019 marks two important centennials in Canadian labour history.  In the aftermath of the Great War, labour activists across Canada were concerned by low wages and poor working conditions.  These issues culminated in the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, quashed on “Bloody Saturday” (June 21), which remains a red letter day in Canadian labour history a century later.  In Alberta, 1919 also marks the establishment of the Civil Service Association of Alberta (now the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees), which has become the province’s largest union over the past 100 years.

Reflecting a century after these two important events in Canadian labour history, and looking to the field of library and archives, what is the state of labour in libraries and archives today?

An interested group of librarians, information professionals, students, and academics is hosting a one-day conference questioning the condition of Labour in Libraries in 2019. Held in on August 16, 2019, at the University of Alberta, this conference aims to extend critical discussions from April 2018’s inaugural Politics of Libraries.