Photo/Illutration A librarian sorts through a bookshelf. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A cry for help to improve the working conditions of librarians, many without regular employment status, has garnered widespread support.

A librarian in her 20s launched a petition drive in August asking the government to abolish limited-time employment and raise minimum wages at public libraries.

“I am a non-regular librarian with an after-tax (monthly) salary of 98,000 yen ($700),” she writes on the Change.org online petition site. “I’d like you to learn about the conditions of libraries and provide your signature for the future.”

The librarian, who lives in the Chubu region, says she works seven hours a day, 18 days a month, all to earn an annual income of around 1.5 million yen.

“There is no way I can earn an independent living. I live on a shoestring budget at my parents’ home,” she continues. “I can only buy one item of clothing each season. I bring a bento lunch box to my workplace because I can’t afford to eat out, and I don’t drink beverages outside my home.”

The petition, which collected more than 70,000 signatures, was submitted to the education and internal affairs ministries on Nov. 7.

The education ministry said it will consider conducting a survey to grasp the working conditions of librarians and related issues.

According to an education ministry survey, about 80 percent of 43,865 librarians are women, and about 80 percent of those female librarians are part-time workers or “designated administrators” that local governments outsource.

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The online petition to call for the improvement of working conditions of librarians gathered support from more than 70,000 people. (Captured from the Change.org website)

A librarian in her 50s working at a public library in Tokyo was present on site when the petition was submitted.

“I want to do something about this situation because it is difficult for me even to make a living on my own no matter how hard I work,” she said. “We can’t do good work unless we have a workplace where our minds can be at ease.”

She said she works seven hours and 45 minutes a day, four days a week, to earn an after-tax monthly salary of about 180,000 yen.

The woman has felt the belief that men should earn a living for their families and women become dependents may be behind the low wages for librarians.

“The government has set a goal of achieving equal pay for equal work and addressing wage gaps between men and women,” she said. “We want to demand proper salaries befitting our work and improved working conditions.”

Local governments began reducing the number of regular workers to cut labor expenses following fiscal difficulties caused by the collapse of the asset-inflated economy in the early 1990s, according to Yoji Kanbayashi, a specially appointed professor at Rikkyo University, who is well-versed in issues involving non-regular public employees.

Instead, they have hired non-regular workers, especially as librarians, nursery teachers and staffers in charge of cultural administration.

Yoshikazu Hinata, a professor at Tsuru University specializing in library science, said he feels a sense of crisis about the future of libraries because the work of librarians is neglected.

While the number of public libraries increased to 3,316 in 2021, compared with 1,984 in 1991, it is said that only 100 or so librarians are hired as regular employees a year.

“What is important in a democracy is an environment where you can access learning platforms no matter where you live and how old you are,” Hinata said. “Such an environment is supported by libraries and librarians. I hope the petition will help draw more attention to issues surrounding the working conditions of librarians.”

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