NORTHAMPTON — Forty-three library workers at Smith College are planning to hold an election to unionize after the college rejected a voluntary recognition of their union.

The Smith College Libraries Workers Union (SCLWU) said in a March 8 letter to the college that two-thirds of its staff agreed to form the union and that its formation was in keeping with the progressive values the college promotes. They cite the college’s own mission statement in justifying their decision.

“We believe that forming a union is the best way for us to align with Smith College values. We are excited to take this next step to democratize our workplace so that Smith College Libraries as a whole can best serve our community,” the letter states. “By unionizing, we are forging a clear path towards agency, fairness and respect and gaining a seat at the table when decisions are made by the libraries and Smith College administration that affect us as workers.”

Micah Walter, a web services librarian for Smith, said the decision to unionize came in part from high turnover rates of library workers. By his own count, there have been 22 permanent staff who have left Smith libraries since 2022.

“There are many things that factor into someone’s decision to leave, but the effects of this is not great for workers,” he said. “Many of these people don’t want to leave the college because we love working with Smith. And it’s not great for students and faculty who rely on our services because they’re taking their institutional knowledge with them.”

Other issues cited by the SCLWU for unionizing include inadequate compensation, insufficient training, unclear decision-making processes and limited growth opportunities.

In a response email sent to SCLWU by Anne-Maire Szmyt, the college’s vice president for human resources, Smith declined to recognize the union.

“After careful consideration of the request, the College is not voluntarily recognizing SCLWU as the exclusive bargaining representative for any library employees,” the email said.

Jessica Ryan, a communications librarian with Smith, said that beyond the issues brought about by the turnovers, she feels being in a union is preferable to not being in one.

“It’s a logical way to organize workers, to have a collective voice to the college so we can contribute positively,” Ryan said.

“It just seems like it should be a tool that’s normalized, in my opinion.”

The sentiment is shared by Xochitl Quiroz, a humanities librarian at Smith who joined the staff last July and since has been involved in the union effort.

“It’s definitely been a process,” Quiroz said.

“But it’s been nice that we got to work together and learn with each other. I’ve learned so much within a short span of time.”

Library workers have unionized at several other prominent establishments in New England, such as Dartmouth, MIT and the Boston Public Library in recent years. The announcement of the formation of the SCLWU comes following the recent unionization of Smith’s food and dining services workers, who voted in favor of organizing as the United Smith Student Workers in February, and Smith’s house community advisers, the college’s equivalent to resident assistants, who unionized in December of 2023.

Ryan said that SCLWU has received support from the other unions, as well as from other students and faculty in their quest to unionize.

“It’s been really nice to see that,” she said. “You have all these little collectives of people who are working and talking to each other, and that’s just a more human space to live in.”

Like the dining workers, the SCLWU is affiliated with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153. Sam Heyne, an organizer with OPEIU, said a hearing was scheduled to reach a stipulated election agreement, with an election to form the union to be announced at a date within the next few weeks following the hearing.

“It’s been three new unions now within the last year on campus,” Heyne said. “That’s been really exciting.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.