PDX Collective Meeting Notes - April 2009

April 6th, 2009 at the IPRC

In attendance: Renee, Rick, Lana, Liz

Guest Speakers

Marc Parker and Lillian Karabaic gave the group an overview of the IPRC zine library and what all went down at the Zine Librarian UnConference which happened concurrently with ACRL in Seattle. We took a tour of the library and checked out how things are organized in there and also learned about the groups project to create a “non-evil” OCLC for zines so libraries can share records.

Meeting Discussion

1) We had received an email from someone at a local book publisher who wants to donate free books to libraries in need. The sender asked if we could think of a good way to equitably distribute the books. Our suggestions included: linking it up with one of the OLA committees (esp. for rural libraries), posting to Ors-Lib, and connecting with library groups in hard hit areas of the country (i.e. Gulf Coast). Suggestions were passed along to the publisher.

2) We next discussed the function of having physical meetings. Many people are finding it difficult to make it to a monthly meeting but all who attended expressed that they want to continue to have in-person meetings. We decided to try out having quarterly meetings from now on. We’ll skip next May and in June have a mini skillshare instead of a meeting, and then have formal meetings on the 1st Monday of September, December, March, and June.

a. Mini-skillshare on Monday June 1st: In lieu of the June meeting we’d like to have a skillshare where RR collective members can do quick (15 mins plus 5 mins q&a) workshops on library topics to help foster learning among the librarian community. Rick volunteered to teach a storytelling workshop and Lana volunteered to do a community needs assessment workshop. We agreed that we’d do 3 - 4 workshops total so need 1 or 2 more volunteers. Email Lana if you’d like to participate: lanamt [at] gmail [dot] com.

Next Meeting: SKILLSHARE on Monday, June 1st at the IPRC

Since this meeting a couple of other things have happened that are worth noting in the minutes

1) Lana spoke with the new person in charge of the Bitch Library [http://www.librarything.com/catalog/bitchlibrary] and is happy to report that the library is moving along and almost all of the materials have been entered into the library thing catalog. Bitch would like to offer two 3-hour open library hours for the public to come in and browse. They have already found one volunteer to be their librarian. Contact danny [at] b-word [dot] org if you want to volunteer to be a librarian there or do other library work. Lana will keep RR folks in the loop for when the library opening day celebration is.

2) Portland is having its first Anarchist Bookfair on the weekend of June 6th and 7th. http://www.myspace.com/axiominfoshop It will be held at the Liberty Hall (311 N Ivy St). We’ll be tabling there on Saturday. We would also like to teach at least one librarian workshop there. The group putting on the bookfair recommended that we choose whatever topic(s) is most applicable to fostering community independence. Please email Lana if you’re interested in tabling and/or helping out with a workshop: lanamt [at] gmail [dot] com.