December 2nd, 2008 at the IPRC
In attendance: Nate (moderator), Renee, Laura, Lana, and Rick
Workshops at the IPRC
The IPRC is happy to host Radical Reference workshops. Ian, Lana, Nate, and Renee will be doing a “How to be a librarian” workshop in the next few months. There is a need for other workshops, especially on copyright, fact checking, and research. Workshop content and any fees you want to charge is up to the presenter. Please email Ann Marie at iprcworkshops [at] gmail [dot] com for more information.
Prison Projects
Renee has been working with the prison outreach coordinator from MCL and we have been invited to participate in the literary discussion group at the Inverness Jail. RR members may select the book and lead the discussion. The groups are divided by gender and currently the male group is reading Maus and the female group is reading an Oprah book club selection. Get in touch with Renee if you want to be involved. You have to submit paperwork in advance and clear a background check to participate.
Additionally, Nate will be posting info to the listserv / blog [see “generating involvement”] soon about a group volunteer night at the Oregon Books to Prisoners program where RR folks are invited to informally gather and send off requested books to prisoners throughout Oregon.
Generating Involvement
Nate suggested that we create a Facebook group to announce events, keep in touch, and expand the group’s reach. Laura will put together the group so look for it on Facebook soon.
We also decided that it would be useful to have a blog where we can communicate ideas, connect with each other, and have an archive of events and ideas. Lana created the blog at http://pdxradref.wordpress.com/. Rick will post some of the dream project ideas [see “other business”] he had to the blog.
We also talked about having a speaker come before some of the meetings. All agreed that this will be a great way to enrich the monthly meetings. Lana will speak with Debbie, the producer of Bitch magazine, about speaking at the January meeting. Other guest speakers mentioned include Carol Cook from MCL, the zine librarian at IPRC, and perhaps someone from OLA.
Nature of the Collective
Lana wanted to check in with folks to see how they feel the collective side of the group is going. All agreed that in order to keep a healthy collective we should continue to support projects that fit different interests and offer various levels of involvement, i.e. the Bitch project is more long term and involved, whereas the Books to Prisoners project is a just show up and help while you can venture. We also want to be sure and have projects that fall under different interests so someone who is interested in helping teens, for example, can find something to connect with. If you are interested in leading a project, please post your idea to the blog and/or listserv to find other folks who may be interested in helping out. As it is a collective, all are encouraged to take the lead with a project and use the group as a support system.
Other Business
We talked about some dream projects which are projects we’d love to do but don’t currently have the time to spearhead / work on. We will use the blog to announce these projects and keep a list of them as well as connect with other interested parties. Some of them include:
1) Creating a list of collective member’s skills (i.e. screenprinting, copyright, etc) and interests so folks who are looking to work on a particular topic know who might be interested or can help
2) Help provide information to sex workers on where to go to find free health services
3) Provide support to local companies that are coming under attack by national chains (i.e. Whole Foods possibly suing New Seasons)
4) Having a Rad Ref presence at Library Legislative Day in Salem (March 5th, 2009)
5) Poster session at OLA on the projects we’ve done / are doing
Next Meeting: Monday January 5th 7pm at the IPRC
