Examples and Inspiration

Existing Mutual Aid Efforts in LAMs

For a list of mutual aid efforts that have taken place or are ongoing in LAM, please see the List of Existing Mutual Aid Efforts in LAM Google sheet.


Worker Relief Fund at the University of Missouri–Kansas City University Libraries

In Fall 2020, the University of Missouri–Kansas City University Libraries established a Worker Relief Fund that would provide $350 one-time grants to library workers (including student workers) experiencing unanticipated financial hardship due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The fund was organized by a small subgroup of the Libraries' Equity Committee and modeled after the Archival Workers Emergency Fund, with similar indicators of financial hardship, including:

Funds were awarded on a first come, first served basis, with allocations of at least 5 awards designated to applicants identifying as QTBIPOC, BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and/or disabled identity groups. The primary donor base consisted of UMKC library workers.

The program was considered voluntary and not to be affiliated with institutional payment systems due to several factors. The Libraries' administrative staff volunteered to administer the Qualtrics application, take pledges from donors, match pledges with recipients, maintain a list of intermediaries who were willing to use their personal payment apps to transfer funds to recipients, and verify the transfer of payment to recipients. As part of the program, just two people (administrative staff) in the Libraries are designated to know the identities of donors, intermediaries, and awardees. With the launch of the fund, organizers of the fund continue to ensure that enough pledges are made to meet applicant needs, provide periodic calls for applicants and reminders, and communicate general updates. Finally, the Libraries' Deans made an additional commitment as part of the launch "to ensure all workers make a living wage when the university is on the pathway toward recovery from the economic crisis." They have since launched a Salary Equity Task Force made up of primarily hourly wage staff to investigate salary equity issues (including prevalence of low wages) and to recommend a set of priorities for future raise distributions addressing equity.

California Faculty Association

As the COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place order went into effect in California in Spring 2020, the California Faculty Association (CFA), the union for all faculty in the California State University System, created an information page for their members. It included a section on Mutual Aid with examples on the kind of help members could ask for or offer depending on their situations, such as groceries, regular check-ins, or mail pick-up. CFA helped to connect people with others in their geographic areas. The COVID-19 resources page not only served as a place to organize short-term aid, but also to keep members informed of the union's actions to protect faculty rights in the midst of moving to remote work and the other challenges of the moment. In this way it was an organizing nexus around the issues affecting CFA members: immediate survival needs as well as the need to challenge harmful labor practices.

History Graduate Student Association at the University of Maryland

In March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Maryland transitioned to online instruction, which also included discussion sections led by Teaching Assistants. The History Graduate Association (HGSA) at the University of Maryland's History Department is a longtime hub for history graduate students, hosting workshops and an annual conference; the HGSA also advocates for the rights of Graduate Assistants. Although normally the student-led organization met in person, the HGSA was forced to pivot to online interactions in order to maintain community connections and advocacy work. 

During the first week of online instruction, the HGSA created an account on the Slack collaboration platform in order to remain in contact with each other. This platform became a tool for Teaching Assistants sharing lessons learned from online teaching and for all history graduate students to informally request assistance and share available resources. In April 2020, the HGSA added a COVID-19 response channel to its Slack for the expressed purpose of discussing the organization's advocacy efforts directed towards the History Department for relief of problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The HGSA's discussions on Slack centered around maintaining the community and ensuring continued funding for Graduate Assistants (including Teaching Assistants) in the History Department, as well as demanding transparency from the Department Chair on the state of the budget. The HGSA's efforts resulted in a department-wide budgetary town hall and multiple meetings between the Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, and the officers of the HGSA as representatives of the history graduate student body.