Radical Reference NYC Collective meeting minutes for Friday, November 21, 2008

Attendance: Alana, Alycia, Christy (facilitator), Cookie Puss (in and out), Emily, Jenna, John, Julie, Kiowa, Lisa, and Vani

1. Radical Archives post-mortem
2. Really Really Free Market
3. Next salon
4. Radical archives proposal for Anarchist Book Fair
5. GMC report
6. Next widely publicized open meeting
7. Presentations
8. Political economy of information production/dissemination
9. Announcements

1. Documenting Struggle: Three Radical New York City Archives post-mortem
   • We could have taken a door count, also asked people how they heard of the event and if they were librarians/archivists or not
   • We did not document the event. Shame on us!
   • Great attendance
   • A few tech glitches
   • Did not publicize that 7-745 was supposed to be for networking, and that the panel wouldn't start until 745. Apologies to the Grassroots Media Coalition who sponsored the event under the auspices of their Make This NetWORK initiative for that, though GMC folks seemed happy with the event nonetheless
   • Bought too much beer, right amount of food
   • Good mix of panelists
   • Kudos to Vani for conceiving the event and doing much of the outreach and organizing.
   • However, we should have had someone else doing tech while Vani was handling emcee duties.
   • Made over $500.

   
   

2. Really, Really Free Market, sponsored by In Our Hearts
   Will take place indoors at St. Mark's Church on Sunday, November 30 from 6-9pm
   Street librarians will offer free reference and research assistance at this event. In addition to Radical Reference, last month's featured services such as free hair cuts and tech advice in addition to goods (clothing, electronic equipment, and books), dumpstered food, and music.
   Volunteers for this month (note that at the time of the meeting, we thought the event started at 3pm, rather than 6): Alycia, Emily, Jenna, Julie, and Mel (coordinating with In Our Hearts)

   Radical Reference street reference tactics

   • Use Scroogle instead of Google to anonymize searches
   • Use Shmoogle, a search engine that randomizes its results instead of Google
   • Given the context, you can respond to people not so much in a less neutral manner, but knowing that they're coming from a radical perspective
   • You might feel more encouraged to allow more of your personality and politics into the reference interview, and explain your selection of tools and resources used
   • When appropriate point to our Reference Shelf for answers or further reading

   
   

3. Salon (We hold occasional salon style discussions meant to bring in new people and also to educate ourselves on topics of interest. Past topics have been copyright, race, and one or two others we couldn't remember)

   Topic ideas and discussion

   • Radical take on Google Books deal (ask Laura Quilter to lead discussion, or to recommend someone)
   • OCLC hoopla (maybe ask Jay Datema
   • But should we really have an expert--isn't a salon more of a discussion than a question and answer thing?
   • Why, yes! Instead, let's create a bibliography of materials for people to read ahead of time, so they can come in prepared to discuss the topic in a peer learning situation. Emily and Jenna will begin collecting articles and posts on a wiki. Please contribute.
   • The event will be on Friday, January 23, 2009, presumably at ABC No Rio, but stay tuned.
   • Emily will come up with some guiding questions to focus the conversation.

   
   

4. Radical archives event at the 2009 NYC Anarchist Book Fair
   Since our recent event was so successful, how about another one? Perhaps one with a DIY focus, given the context of anarchism.
   • An institutional panelist to discuss archiving an organization's records and output
   • An individual collector to share her techniques for collecting and preserving stuff
   • An archivist to show and tell preservation materials

   Jenna will contact potential panelists
   
   

5. GMC report from John, RR's liaison
   • The final networking event will be a holiday party in early December. They're looking for a venue. Stay tuned.
   • This year's Grassroots Media Conference will take place later than usual, in April or May, at Hunter
   • We should work up our Alternative Materials in Libraries panel. Perhaps we can discuss this at a March salon.
   • Discussion on RR site

   
   

6. Next open meeting: see salon discussion
   
   
7. Presentation at LIU
   • Emily is looking to coordinate two presentations at LIU, one for librarians (akin to Jenna's at a LACUNY meeting that a fellow LIUer saw), and one later on for faculty.
   • Alycia and Vani will collaborate on the former (to be presented in the middle of January)
   • More on the latter (or perhaps on information and how it is controlled/affected by capitalism) later (Or is this the one A and V wanted to work on? Or both?)
   • For more info, contact Emily and Ed (there was editorial information given about Ed at the meeting, but maybe that informaton should stay in the room)

   
   

8. Political enconomy of information...see above
   
   
9. Announcements
   • Alycia and Jenna: anti-Christmas party on 12/25. Let one of them know if you want to participate. There will be Chinese food.
   • Emily is looking for a cat sitter during Christmas week
   • NJLA RR presentation (by Eric and Julie) proposal has been submitted.

Notes submitted by Jenna. Please make your corrections here, or email them to me.