lia's blog

On August 25th, 2013, we had a conference call to discuss the future of Radical Reference. 8 members participated in the call.

These are the action items created during the meeting:
Action item: Jessica will draft language for sending out on the list and putting on the website (re: suspending reference question answering on the site)
Action item: Asking James or another website-savvy person about disabling or altering the submission form.
Action item: Looking for someone to put together the website-focused call, ideally with folks with tech experience and an interest in working on the website
Action item: Send out a call for FB and Twitter updaters.

What a fun meeting we had! We bowled duckpin style and didn't really talk in a group about Radical Reference, but many nice interactions and conversations were had. Thank you all for joining us, and being a part of RR!

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UPDATED INFO! Are you going to ACRL? then come to the Rad Ref meeting on Wednesday at 7:30at Fountain Square. There will be DUCKPIN BOWLING, and we will talk about projects we are working on or things we want to do, or explain what we are all about and more. We'll meet in the End of the Line Public House for the meeting (and eating if you desire)portion and then move to bowling when we are done!

UPDATE 6/27:

Members of Radical Reference and interested persons met at the Anaheim ALA conference. Because two did not want their names listed, I won't list any, because frankly, I can't remember who is who, and some people felt very strongly about this point.

• For the non member/interested persons there was a discussion of what RR is, what we do, what we are working on, and the recent conference call where we tackled ideas such as how to get members more involved, and make sure questions were answered in a timely manner.
• We also discussed the Reference Shelf as a great place to get involved if you are not willing or able to answer questions.
• Issues with navigation and how the site is set up (ie how to answer questions)was brought up as an issue that some might like to address, if they felt more comfortable with Drupal. Mention was made of the site working parties that have happened in the past and the hopes that another might happen in the future.
• There was a discussion on the Occupy Libraries and Radical Reference.
• There was interest from librarians from the bay area in resurrecting that list, and those persons said they would send a message to the main list asking if there were other people in that area that would like to meet/be involved with something.

Thanks all who came and if I missed anything, which is likely, either email me or add to comments.

On May 21, 2012 we had a conference call to discuss the future of Radical Reference and our services. Below you'll see some action items. Please take a look and let us know what you think--

Facilitator: Lia
Notetaker: Susie
Participants: James, Jim, Jenna, Julie, Lisa, Madeline, Heather, Melissa, Jessica

Action Items Coming Out of the Call:

+We all commit to do something by end of month with the website.

+A new informational letter will be drafted (Done 5/22-please see updated text here)

+Radical librarians conference organizing plan (Julie)

+ALA get-together

+Document example answers with strategies (will be added to info letter above) (Done 6/6)

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Introductions

Intro who you are, how long in RR and if you ever answered a question.

Lia since near beginning, part of NY collective, then part of San Diego collective (too small of a group). Lia makes the RR shirts and has answered questions.

James from northern CA, used to be from SD, involved since beginning, home support for RNC, answered questions particularly gov doc qs.

Jim from UMaryland, used to answer lots of questions but staff cut backs make it harder. Involved/followed since 2004, nearing retirement age which might make it easier to give more time

Jenna involved since beginning, has answered questions

Jessica, lives in NY, from Bay Area, involved in last year, followed longer, answered questions for about 6 months

Julie, new to RR, following for a while, teach about RR in class, Jenna was a guest speaker through email, haven’t answered questions, in social justice doctoral program, would like to answer questions

Lisa from Cincinnati, following since library school (a few years), recently joined RR (last week) hasn’t answered qs yet

Madeline, just graduated from lib school, just signed up in past week too.

Heather, Boston collective organizes events, don’t answer questions

Melissa. Various activities with NYC collective. Written about RR. Has answered questions in the past.

Susie, Boston. Follower and user since 2006, answered questions while in library school in late 2000s.

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Conference Call Process:

Agreed: Names will not be used in notes, but people will introduce themselves before speaking.

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Background/Reason for Conference Call:

What is the future of RR? What should we or shouldn’t we spend time and energy on? People are still using online Q&A but we’re not putting a lot of effort into it. We are neither in a place to promote ourselves accurately or to do events/projects effectively. This call and questioning is not a bad thing. The project has existed for nearly eight years. It evolves and has evolved. It is a nearly eight year national online project. Time is due.

Metacomet Books, in collaboration with the Boston Radical Reference Collective and the Simmons Progressive Librarians Guild, has established a new, leaderless, collective library at the Occupy Boston

"Greetings from the librarians of #occupywallstreet!

We write today to invite you to help build the People’s Library. We are working together to build a library for both the people of the city and for those who have joined the occupation. We are a mixed bunch of librarians and library-loving individuals who strongly support the #occupy movement and who also know that information is liberation. We liberate through knowledge. If you want to know more about #occupywallstreet and the #occupy movement please read the Principles of Solidarity and read the blog.

Right now need many different kinds of donations. We need books of resistance and people’s history. We need economics and finance books. We need contemporary philosophy and ecology. We especially need non-English books and materials for low literacy readers.

Working title:
Information Literacy and Social Justice: Radical Professional Praxis (An Edited Collection)

Editors:
Shana Higgins and Lua Gregory are instruction and reference librarians at the University of Redlands.

Outline:
In her award winning essay “Information Literacy and Reflective Pedagogical Praxis,” Heidi L.M. Jacobs draws out the inherent democratizing and social justice elements of information literacy as defined in the “Alexandria Proclamation On Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning.” She suggests that because of these underlying social justice elements, information literacy “is not only educational but also inherently political, cultural, and social” (258). We propose to extend the discussion of information literacy and its social justice aspects that James Elmborg, Cushla Kapitzke, Maria T. Accardi, Emily Drabinski, and Alana Kumbier, and Maura Smale have begun.

James Jacobs over at Free Government Information just posted on this.
And this only-useful-if-you-live-in-New-York-City-map is pretty informative.
Also, this nice list of mobile apps and such-
And, listen to live online stream 24x7 from first responders + FEMA Daily Updates HERE

Our email lists have all migrated to a new server, and now will be hosted throught the radicalrefence.info domain. All subscribers to the various lists should now be subscribed to the new lists.

Reforma has put together a toolkit for librarians for responding to anti immigrant sentiments. Find it HERE.