February 2nd, 2009 at the IPRC

In attendance: Nate (moderator), Ian, Ismoon, Kirk, Janet, Lana, Laura, Renee, and Sarah.

Guest Speaker: Debbie Rasmussen from Bitch Magazine
Debbie Rasmussen, Publisher of Bitch Magazine stopped by to discuss the state of independent publishing. She echoed sentiments that many small magazines are seeing a decline in interest for print and a need to reinvent themselves to survive in a more digital age with small presses folding left and right. She also talked about Bitch becoming a non-profit and how this is part of their strategy for sustainability and continued presence. She also requested help from us Rad Reffers, please see the note below:
"the staff/board at bitch are strategizing to find a sustainable publishing model in today's media environment -- and are always looking for thoughtful advice about fundraising, increasing subscriptions (especially on campuses and in libraries) and just finding ways to keep print alive in the land of digital if you want to get involved, please email danny [at] b-word [dot] org!"

Prison Update
Renee update folks on the status of the prison project. Unfortunately due to budget cuts at MCL and the Inverness Jail we are unable to participate in the book discussion groups [see December minutes]. Renee will continue to follow this and update all as soon as we can participate again. Denise is working on a list of resources for those transitioning out of incarceration.

Library Project Updates
Lana talked about the very successful Bitch Library work party with about a dozen volunteers coming in to help. We finished stickering all of the books and placed them in their proper locations. Bitch volunteers will now catalog the records in LibraryThing and RR volunteers will then help out with outreach and awareness once the library is up and running. If you'd like to help out with cataloging the books, please contact danny [at] b-word [dot] org.

Ismoon and Sarah talked about their work on the Q Center Library. Ismoon will be scheduling multiple work days were folks are encouraged to stop by and help sticker books for their lending library which includes a large transgender reference collection. For more information please email ismoon.maria [at] gmail [dot] com. The Q Center Library also has an Amazon wish list for books they'd like to add to the collection.

IPRC Workshops

Renee, Ian, Nate, and Lana will be presenting a workshop on "How to become a librarian" at the IPRC on Wednesday February 4th. They have created a wiki with resources they will be presenting available here.

The IPRC would love to host other Radical Reference workshops. 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.

Next Meeting: Monday, March 2nd, 7pm at the IPRC