We are a multiracial coalition of current and former library workers who believe Black Lives Matter at our libraries. We are speaking out because, as one of our members stated, “we are too tired to be scared anymore.” We are exhausted and enraged by how St Louis County Library Director Kristen Sorth and the members of the Board have failed us all.
SLCL made the wrong decision. Our community needs library workers right now, and all of our families need an income. There is no way to justify firing 122 part time workers in the middle of a pandemic. We know this decision was not related to the budget (there is no budget crisis right now). We also know it was unnecessary to reduce our staff when some branches are seeing 400+ visitors a day, and our services are needed now more than ever. This was an unforgivable
act of white supremacy that disproportionately affected Black and brown people, younger people, and some single parents. These workers were hired under a strategic plan that promised to welcome people of color into a profession that is over 80% white. The Director and Board broke their promise.
If we weren’t already traumatized by the library’s silence on police brutality and Covid, we are now traumatized by the way they have disposed of 122 workers, how they continue to intimidate and threaten staff, and how they have hoarded $4 million in CARES Act dollars after reducing branch staff by half. Some branches lost 100% of their Black clerk staff. They stole income from people who were not paid a living wage to begin with, who did not have health insurance, and they called it “good stewardship of public dollars.” Covid has presented us an opportunity to get creative with providing employment, healthcare, material, and educational support to our people. Library leadership failed.
Kristen Sorth and the Board have consistently ignored internal and public demands for racial justice. We will not let them get away with this. We believe the best way for SLCL to be “a good steward of public dollars” is actually to meet public demands for transparency, justice, and jobs back.
● Transparency
- What steps were taken or considered before you came to the decision to fire 122 part time employees? Did leadership consult frontline staff about re-training to meet community needs? Did management consider taking a pay cut? Did SLCL consider reallocating the $500k they spend on police annually? We are asking for transparency because we were given none. The people fired were called immediately before their shifts started or right when they got to work and told to leave the premises. Many weren’t even given an opportunity to say goodbye or pack their belongings. For many, their dreams of being a librarian have ended.
● Justice
- Divest from police, invest in safety for Black people. Remove police from current and future payrolls. Commit to divesting over $500k on annual police expenditures and reallocating to the things that actually keep Black people safe, such as social workers, peer navigators, and fully staffed branches. Libraries across the country have done this. We call for a participatory budgeting process for this $500k so the Black patrons, especially Black youth, who have been harassed and traumatized by police at the libraries for decades, get to decide how this money is spent.
● Jobs back
- Re-hire the 122 part time workers whom you arbitrarily fired when they are needed now more than ever. We are speaking out because we love our communities and we believe in the work we do at libraries. We cannot stay silent while SLCL continues to harm all of us, especially Black workers and patrons.
Please find more information about our campaign at this link, and consider submitting a public comment to library administration via email to boardpresident@slcl.org. We deserve libraries where Black Lives Matter, which will be libraries for all. https://medium.com/@librariesforallstl/we-demand-transparency-justice-and-jobs-back-858e15580ff4
