Contingent Librarianship and Precarity: Rethinking Library Practices as Managers and Leaders

Academic Library Workers in Conversation is a C&RL News series focused on elevating the everyday conversations of library professionals. The wisdom of the watercooler has long been heralded, but this series hopes to go further by minimizing barriers to traditional publishing with an accessible format. Each of the topics in the series was proposed by the authors, and the authors were given space to explore. This issue’s conversation connects with the article in the September 2025 issue1 and continues the exploration of contingent labor practices in libraries and precarity. This article explores how managers and leaders can better support workers. - Dustin Fife, series editor