TPL Webinar – An Organizer’s Tale

Making political change requires mobilizing people in order to push for action. In 2016, Emily Drabinski was on the front lines of an organizing effort for a fair labor contract at LIU Brooklyn.

When negotiations broke down between the union and the University, faculty and staff were locked out of their jobs. Drabinski will share concrete strategies for building power, developing and maintaining lists, assessing allies, and holding organizing conversations in a free TPL Webinar "An Organizer's Tale: LIU Brooklyn's Lockout and Union Contract Negotiation" on Wednesday, April 11 2018 at 1pm Central.

Her insights on organizing to building political power are profound:

Before coming to organizing work, I think I would have said that we move people by explaining our position, by helping others understand why they should come with us. Now I understand that we move people by listening, by connecting political work to what matters to them, by demonstrating that they will be better off if they cast their lot with us.

Drabinski is Coordinator of Library Instruction at Long Island University, Brooklyn, and is a part-time faculty member at Pratt Institute's School of Information. She is a 2014 LJ Mover & Shaker and was named a "100 Top Influencer" by Brooklyn Magazine in 20017.  You can read Drabinski's essay "An Organizer's Tale..." before the webinar on The Political Librarian, EveryLibrary's open access journal about public policy and tax policy issues in libraries.

4/12/18 update -- Webinar Archive: https://youtu.be/ASeXRmmQnJ4

The TPL webinar series is presented by EveryLibrary and sponsored by Kixal.

Archives of prior TPL Webinars are available for free on our YouTube channel.