This site serves as a communication space for the IMLS grant project Collective Responsibility: National Forum on Labor Practices for Grant-Funded Digital Positions. The project seeks to address the specific problems of precarity created and reproduced by grant-funded positions, and how those impact the lives and careers of the workers, particularly workers from marginalized and underrepresented populations. This work is essential for understanding the effect of investments made in national digital library, archival, and museum infrastructures and services.
In two forums over 2019, the project will bring together representatives and stakeholders from the three primary groups involved—workers, funders, and management (to include administrators). In our meetings, we intend to develop a more systematic understanding of the labor conditions created by grants and collaboratively develop benchmarks and recommendations toward the development and evaluation of proposed positions which funders and institutions may adopt.
Between October 2018 and January 2019, the grant team will be seeking self-nominations from current and recent grant-funded workers who wish to participate, engaging with potential funder and institutional representatives, and conducting a survey of the experiences of grant-funded workers in libraries, archives, and museums. We seek active and engaged participants, particularly those who already engage in this work at their funding or LAM institution.
Learn more about the Collective Responsibility project and project team. If you’re interested in participating, please keep an eye on the listservs you follow or contact the PIs.