Drabinski's first professional librarian job was as an academic
reference librarian from 2004 to 2008 at
Sarah Lawrence College. She remained a member and participated in events between 2007 and 2010. From 2008 to 2012, Drabinski served as an electronic resources and instruction librarian at
Long Island University Brooklyn. In 2016, Drabinski co-chaired a colloquium on gender and sexuality in information studies with Baharak Yousefi and Tara Robertson. Drabinski edited a
Library Juice Press series on gender and sexuality in information studies. She also co-edited
Critical Library Instruction: Theories & Methods with
Maria T. Accardi and Alana Kumbier. In September 2016, Drabinski was secretary of LIU's faculty federation and joined the faculty and students' protest at
Long Island University Brooklyn over a
lockout associated with faculty contract negotiations. In an interview with
Jacobin, Drabinski described the union as "fairly militant" in seeking a fair contract, and highlighted the union's desire for the university to move "towards meaningful shared governance." In April 2022, she stated the lockout informed her about "forming collective power" among workers. In March 2020, just as the
COVID-19 lockdown began in New York City, Drabinski assumed the role of interim chief at the Graduate City library when the previous chief Polly Thistlethwait, became interim university dean for library services at
CUNY. In July 2022, she ended her role as interim chief librarian but continued to work at CUNY's
Mina Rees Library. In October 2021, the
American Library Association announced Drabinski's candidacy for the office of president for the 2023-24 term. She had previously served as an American Library Association councillor-at-large (2017-2020), a chair of the International Relations Committee, a board member of the Association of College and Research Libraries, and Information Literacy Frameworks and Standards Committee member. Drabinski began her tenure as president in July 2023. In the fall of 2023 she was appointed
associate professor at the
Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.
ALA Presidency In her first editorial for
American Libraries after becoming president, Drabinski stated, "These coming months will ask even more of us as we organize and mobilize together on behalf of our libraries, our patrons, our communities, and, importantly, ourselves." She asserted that the ALA needs to make "good trouble, the kind of trouble that matters," adding that the ALA must "build the collective power necessary to preserve and expand the public good," and committed herself to working with everyone. In her first interview as ALA president on August 7, Drabinski said she plans to tackle "pressing issues" facing librarians, including preparing libraries for
climate change consequences, ensuring collections are diverse, hiring lawyers for libraries, encouraging people who support
intellectual freedom to run for library and
school boards, and hosting an intellectual freedom summit in
Washington, D.C. in January 2024. After her election as ALA president in June 2022, Drabinski described herself in a later deleted tweet as a "
Marxist lesbian" who believes in "collective power." criticized supposed outside interference in libraries. Drabinski stated that she wants to promote and build enthusiasm for librarians' work across the United States. In July 2023, the
Montana State Library Commission voted 5-1-1 to withdraw from the ALA because of Drabinski's political beliefs. The ALA later stated that the organization would continue to provide "essential support, resources, and opportunities for every library and library worker" in all states and territories despite the decision. Prior to the decision, Darrell Ehrlick of
The Daily Montanan criticized the Montana Commission for legitimizing stereotypes about lesbians and Marxists. The executive board of the
Montana Library Association said that they "deeply regretted" the Commission's decision, that it runs counter to the mission of the Commission, and that it "undermines the shared goals of Montana libraries." Branko Marcetic later argued in
Jacobin that such votes and related efforts from nine Republican
Freedom Caucuses across the U.S. to also withdraw from the ALA were examples of
red-baiting and
homophobic attacks against Drabinski. In an August 2023 interview, Drabinski stated that her tweet was an excited expression and celebration of two aspects of her identity which are important to her and often scrutinized. She said that she didn't anticipate what she described as "targeted attacks being used as a bludgeon against library workers," calling these "regrettable." She added that critiques of her beliefs are "
organized pro-censorship efforts" by those who want to weaken support for "public institutions that enable access to information for everyone" and said that though her personal views are being targeted, her "personal agenda doesn’t drive the association" and that the driving force of its organizational agenda is helping everyone work together.
Research, teaching, and librarianship Drabinski's research focuses on
queer theory,
library instruction, and
cataloging practice. Drabinski says that current
library classification has "no language" for queer people because "queer identity terms change so quickly." Those classifications require "fixed language...[and] there’s no way to change it quickly." Drabinski is on the editorial board of
Radical Teacher. She works as an
adjunct professor at
UCLA She was formerly a part-time faculty member at the
Pratt School of Information, where she taught a reference librarianship course. ==Personal life==