jenna's blog

Starting a Local Collective

Radical Reference local collectives are independent from one another and from the international group, which admittedly, is mostly dormant right now. (That could change; all it takes is people to make it go!)

Each group can activate/resist/support as it wants, as long as members act by the Rad Ref Points of Unity. Following this photo of some cuties in the Boston collective, here are some general guidelines for getting started:

NYC-area radical librarians at Women's March NYC

Under the loose auspices of Rad Ref NYC, we fielded a contingent of radical librarians and their friends & family at the 2018 NYC Women's March. Here's how we were:

NYC Radical Reference Collective Meetup: April 9, 2016

Radical Reference is a collective of volunteer library workers who believe in social justice and equality. We support activist communities, progressive organizations, and independent journalists by providing professional research support, education and access to information. From 2004 until around 2012, the NYC collective of Radical Reference met regularly, put on events, and participated in activist communities.

Do you want to meet and collaborate with other anti-authoritarian library workers and LIS students in the NYC area? Come to the Radical Reference NYC local collective's first meeting in more than five years. For now our plan is to focus on whether there is interest in reviving the collective and if so, what that would look like.

Saturday, April 9, 2016
3-5pm
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 Morrone and Jenna Freedman nyc@radicalreference.info.

The photo, from 2004 article in The Indypendent, is of Torie Quiñonez and Lia Friedman at a protest against the Republican National Convention in NYC. Torie and Lia live in San Diego now, but they still have a NYC home in our hearts.

I Hate Grey House Publishing

I know this isn't exactly a Radical Reference topic, but I just need to say this publicly somewhere. I hate Grey House Publishing. Actually, I don't have a strong feeling one way or the other about their publications, what I despise is their obnoxious telemarketing campaign. I've now had unpleasant conversations with 4 different callers in the space of maybe 6 months and have twice asked to be removed from their call list. Today I sent an e-mail. We'll see if it takes.

Lesbian Herstory Archives Internships

The Lesbian Herstory Archives (located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NYC) is looking for graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in library and/or archives with a demonstrated interest in Lesbian Studies, History and Activism.

Librarian and Archivist Delegation to Palestine

Some members of Radical Reference are involved in this trip:

A delegation of librarians, archivists, and other library workers will travel to Palestine in the summer of 2013. We will connect with our colleagues in library- and archive-related projects and institutions there, applying our experience in the form of skillshares and other types of joint work. We will travel as truth-seekers and information-skeptics, eager to dispense with the superficial and inaccurate portrayals of life in Israel/Palestine that we see in the west and to learn about the realities of life under occupation and apartheid. As library workers, we support access to information, and recognize that this goes in more than one direction. Our trip will shed light on how Palestinian voices and information about Palestine reach us (or do not) and how Palestinian people access (or cannot access) information. We will bear witness to the destruction and appropriation of information, and support efforts to preserve cultural heritage and archival materials in Palestine. Upon return to our communities, we will share what we have seen, apply what we have learned, publicize projects we have visited, and otherwise break down barriers to access in any way we can.

Interference Archive work day 11/18/12

Interference Archive work day, Sunday November 18, 12-5
131 8th st. #4, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (2 blocks from F/G/R trains at 4th ave./9th st.)

Interference Archive work day 10/21/12

Interference Archive work day, Sunday October 21, 12-5
131 8th st. #4, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (2 blocks from F/G/R trains at 4th ave./9th st.)

POPS Art Project: NYPL Protest

Call for participation from the POPS Art Project blog:

NYPL Protest

Call for Participation
When: Saturday, June 9, 2012, 12pm
Where: The NYPL Schwarzman Building steps, on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street

Charles Willett 1932-2012

I want to acknowledge the passing of longtime librarian/activist Charles M. Willett. Charles founded the Civic Media Center in Gainesville, Florida and Counterpoise (alternative library review journal) & Librarians at Liberty magazines. Once a collection development librarian, one of Charles's great passions was getting alternative press publications into libraries. I forget the exact (contentious) history*, but Charles was also involved in the Alternatives in Print [now Alternative Media] task force of SRRT/ALA. There's a lot more that could be said about Charles and his accomplishments. Here is how The Gainesville Sun put it:

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