MRM's blog

Supporting Social Movements in NYC: A Public Conversation about Special Collections

Protest posters. Zines. Labor organizing pamphlets. New York City libraries and archives house much more than books. Join librarians, archivists, and organizers for a public conversation about three local collections focused on social movements, and the spectrum of accessibility to these collections. We will also explore how these collections tell the stories of the social movements they preserve, and how these materials might connect to future works.

Speakers:

Jenna Freedman, Barnard Zine Library
Maryam Gunja & Jen Hoyer, Interference Archive
Shannon O'Neill, Tamiment-Wagner Collections, NYU

Moderated by Clara Cabrera and co-organized by Melissa Morrone

Supporting Social Movements in NYC: A Public Conversation about Special Collections
Monday, April 20, 6:30-8pm
NYU Bobst Library

Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
70 Washington Square South

NYC Rad Ref Supports the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act

NYC Radical Reference members have written a letter in support of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, which is pending in the New York State legislature. For more information, see the work of the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement at nycaic.org/legislation.

We are writing as librarians and other library workers in support of the passage of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act (A. 3080 / S. 4784). Thousands of people, disproportionately Black and Latinx, are in solitary confinement in NY prisons each day, which means 22 to 24 hours a day in a cell without any meaningful human contact or programs. These conditions are recognized—including by the United Nations—as torture. The HALT Act would include restrictions on criteria for placement in solitary confinement, alternatives to isolation, and a 15-day limit on solitary confinement. Advocates note that states that have reduced the use of solitary have seen a positive impact on safety for both incarcerated people and corrections officers.

Second NYC Info Worker Post-Election Strategy Session

Come to the second informal gathering of NYC area librarians, archivists and information workers interested in organizing against the coming Trump era. We will continue to discuss potential impacts, identify skills and organizing strategies, and start brainstorming next steps.

Sunday, January 8
6pm

Printed Matter
231 11th Ave (near 26th St), NYC

Announcement for the first meeting, held at Interference Archive

Notes from the first meeting.

NYC Radical Reference Collective Meetup: May 6, 2016

The next meeting of the newly re-forming NYC collective of Radical Reference will be:

Friday, May 6, 2016
7-9pm
Interference Archive
131 8th Street — #4
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(2 blocks from F/G/R trains at 4th ave./9th street)

Please send agenda items, questions, and whatever else to facilitators Melissa and Jenna nyc@radicalreference.info.

Know Your Dossier: FBI Files and FOIA Requests

Know Your Dossier: FBI Files and FOIA Requests
Saturday, February 8, 2014, 2-4pm
The Commons, 388 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn
(A/C/G to Hoyt- Schermerhorn; B/D/N/Q/R/2/3/4/5 to Atlantic Ave)

The specter of the surveillance state looms over every aspect of radical organizing and community building. For most of us, Edward Snowden's revelations only confirmed what we suspected all along; the state has access to almost everything we create electronically, and they have the capacity and will to retain it indefinitely. Yet all surveillance is not created equal, and it's useful to remember that while we may never know the full extent of the information collected from us, FOIA, FOIL, and sunshine laws do entitle the public to see the investigative files collected on us.

Join Radical Reference and Mutant Legal for a night of information sharing and collective information seeking about the state of state surveillance and how to obtain your FBI files. Paper, envelopes, and snacks will be available by donation!

"A Hard Nut to Crack: Researching Your Neighborhood," 7/22 in Brooklyn

Not a Rad Ref event, but Arpita Bose and I will soon be conducting a free Internet research workshop at the Park Slope Food Coop:

A Hard Nut to Crack: Researching Your Neighborhood

Informed Agitation: Library and Information Skills in Social Justice Movements and Beyond

Call for Papers

Informed Agitation: Library and Information Skills in Social Justice Movements and Beyond

"Beyond an Apple a Day: Finding Health Information Online," 12/11 in Brooklyn

This isn't a Rad Ref event, but medical librarian Arpita Bose (with an assist from me) will soon be conducting a free Internet research workshop at the Park Slope Food Coop:

Beyond an Apple a Day: Finding Health Information Online

"Peeling the Onion: A Workshop on Research," 7/31 in Brooklyn

This isn't a Rad Ref event, but I will soon be conducting a free Internet research workshop at the Park Slope Food Coop:

Thoughts on Helene Blowers's “Inspiration, Innovation & Lessons Learned from Soap Bubbles”

I'm trying to do more writing, even if I don't always do it in a timely fashion. To wit – on April 8, I attended a talk that Helene Blowers, best known for her 23 Things initiative at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, gave at the New York Public Library to librarians in the metro area. And here's what I thought.

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