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Start Date
24-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
24-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
Those of us who teach part-time and/or conduct research and writing in addition to our alt-ac responsibilities, which are often project-based not permanent, understand the difficulty contingent/precarious/contract workers face in getting and retaining research library access. Though it is often assumed that if we are teaching, we have library access, often contingent instructors will only obtain library access starting *the day of* their contract, which might be the same day classes begin. Even getting access a week or two earlier might not be enough time to gather one's teaching materials together and upload them to a given university's or LMS, and if said university's instructional design staff are backed up, then it is up to the contingent worker to find whatever unrestricted materials they can. The situation has become harder under Covid, when film/media instructors need to rely on media librarians to find out what is available to use legally, but if a given university has cut certain subscriptions, then whole swaths of syllabi might need to be reconfigured.
Finding out how to solve this problem must become a priority in our field and across adjacent interdisciplines—including archival studies, librarianship, and labor organization, as well as television/media studies and feminism.
This paper addresses the scope of the problem and presents a call to action with some suggestions.
Gaining and Retaining Research Library Access for Precarious Workers
Those of us who teach part-time and/or conduct research and writing in addition to our alt-ac responsibilities, which are often project-based not permanent, understand the difficulty contingent/precarious/contract workers face in getting and retaining research library access. Though it is often assumed that if we are teaching, we have library access, often contingent instructors will only obtain library access starting *the day of* their contract, which might be the same day classes begin. Even getting access a week or two earlier might not be enough time to gather one's teaching materials together and upload them to a given university's or LMS, and if said university's instructional design staff are backed up, then it is up to the contingent worker to find whatever unrestricted materials they can. The situation has become harder under Covid, when film/media instructors need to rely on media librarians to find out what is available to use legally, but if a given university has cut certain subscriptions, then whole swaths of syllabi might need to be reconfigured.
Finding out how to solve this problem must become a priority in our field and across adjacent interdisciplines—including archival studies, librarianship, and labor organization, as well as television/media studies and feminism.
This paper addresses the scope of the problem and presents a call to action with some suggestions.
Bio
Rebecca M. Gordon is a second year MA student in the Film + Photography Preservation and Collections Management Program at X University (Ryerson) in Toronto. Her
Rebecca M. Gordon is a Research Associate with Archive/Counter-archive Canada and a degree candidate in X University’s Film Preservation and Collections Management program. She is the author of articles on actor-director collaboration, international auteurs, and studies of how film and television aesthetics shape new modes of spectatorship. She is currently preparing a monograph on cuteness and Latinidad. Gordon serves on the SCMS Board of Directors as the Precarious Labor Organization representative.