Press Room
Welcome to Radical Reference Press Room. You will find here our latest press release, links to stories about us in the news, and other RR publications and documents. Read on.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jenna Freedman
info at radicalreference dot info
REFERENCE LIBRARIANS FROM AROUND THE WORLD ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM THOSE WHO QUESTION AUTHORITY.
June 29, 2007
Radical Reference is a resource for activists, journalists & the public; we are staffed by librarians, library support staff, and library school students from New York to Australia and many points in between. Our goal is to provide reference service to those looking for answers they don’t readily find in mainstream media and other information sources.
Fulfilling Radical Reference’s mission also includes staffing protests and actions by doing "street reference," bringing librarians to the street to answer questions from those participating, including helping those affected by police action.
The website also serves as a fact checking tool for organizations and individuals in the media and those just looking for answers from a trusted source. Radical Reference conducts workshops and skill shares at conferences and for organizations that wish to strengthen their media and web literacy skills. We conduct workshops to independent media journalists on fact checking, advanced research, FOIA, free public library services, using open source technology tools, and more.
Those interested should contact info at radicalreference dot info to schedule a session.
Radical Reference has been answering questions from the public since its web launch on July 31, 2004. We post queries and answers for use as a resource. Questions asked of the librarians are made anonymous and remain so when posted to the site. We are ad free and not for profit.
For more information on Radical Reference, please access our website at www.radicalreference.info.
Previous Press Release (August 2004) and other items
Radical Reference Presentations
Members of Radical Reference have done presentations and conducted workshops all over the United States and Canada.
Business Research Workshop for the Labor Outreach Committee of Occupy Wall Street - New York City (2012) (Aliqae, Bronwen, Jessa, Melissa)
Critical Librarianship Symposium - Practical Choices for Powerful Impacts: Realizing the Activist Potential of Librarians - Boston (2012)
Congrès des milieux documentaires du Québec - Montreal (2010)
- Posters from les Séances d'affichage: Poster 1 and Poster 2 [PDFs] (Montreal Chapter)
US Social Forum - Detroit (2010)
Brecht Forum - NYC (2010)
Brecht Forum - NYC (2010)
NYC Anarchist Book Fair (2010)
Brecht Forum - NYC (2010)
Grassroots Media Coalition Networking Event - NYC (2010)
IndyKids (2010)
SLA (2009)
Grassroots Media Conference - NYC (2009)
NJLA (2009)
NYC Anarchist Book Fair (2009)
Palmer School Class (2009)
Brecht Forum - NYC (2008)
IFLA - Quebec City (2008)
NYC Anarchist Bookfair (2008)
Women, Action & the Media Conference - Cambridge, MA (2008)
Los Angeles (2008)
Thinking Ahead 2008 - Salt Lake City
Grassroots Media Conference - NYC (2008)
Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair - Baltimore (2007)
US Social Forum - Atlanta (2007)
New Jersey State Library Staff Development Day - Trenton, NJ (2007)
National Conference on Organized Resistance (NCOR) - Washington, DC (2007)
Massachusetts Library Association Conference - Sturbridge, MA (2007)
Grassroots Media Conference - NYC (2007)
Grassroots Media Conference - NYC (2006)
ALA Conference - New Orleans, LA (2006)
- Library Education Discussion on Adjunct Faculty (Maggie & Rita)
- Library Education Discussion on any/all topics (Jonny)
- Library Education Discussion on Jobs (Heidi)
- Library Education Discussion on Practical Skills (Laura)
- Library Education Discussion on Quality in LIS Education (Danielle)
- Library Education Discussion on Technology (Jami Lynn)
- Library Education Discussion on Theory vs. Practice (Sonya)
National Conference on Organized Resistance (NCOR) - Washington, DC (2006)
Library Education Forum - New York, NY (2006) (Jonny et al)
Rutgers, LISSA - New Brunswick, NJ (2006) (Eric & Jenna)
Allied Media Conference - Bowling Green, OH (2005)
Grassroots Media Conference - NYC (2005)
Austin Indymedia Conference (2005)
NYC Indymedia (2005)
ALA Annual (2005)
Boston Indymedia - Cambridge, MA (2004)
Radical Reference Publications
You will find here a collection of RR articles, papers, presentations, interviews, musings etc.
- Morrone, Melissa. 2011. Skeptic/Activist: Gen Xers in Radical Reference. In The Generation X Librarian: Essays on Leadership, Technology, Pop Culture, Social Responsibility and Professional Identity, ed. Martin Wallace, Rebecca Tolley-Stokes and Erik Sean Estep. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
- Drabinski, Emily and Lia Friedman. 2009. When Reference Is Radical. make/shift 6 (Fall/Winter): 13.
- Morrone, Melissa and Lia Friedman. 2009. Radical Reference: Socially Responsible Librarianship Collaborating With Community. The Reference Librarian 50, no. 4 (Oct): 371-396.
- Schneider, Juliane. 2009 Radical Reference Librarians: A Preview Interview. b/ITe 26, no. 2 (Spring): 3-4.
- Friedman, Lia and Melissa Morrone. 2009. The Sidewalk Is Our Reference Desk: When Librarians Take to the Streets. IFLA Journal 35, no. 1: 8-16.
- Ginsborg, Michael. USA PATRIOT Act Three Years Later: A Librarian's Perspective on "The New Thought Process"
- Yeo, Shinjoung, Joel J. Rane, James R. Jacobs, Lia Friedman, and Jenna Freedman. 2005. Radical Reference: Taking Information to the Street. Information Outlook 9, no. 6 (Jun): 55.
Radical Reference in the news
Radical Reference in the News (in reverse chronological order)
- An Evening with Radical Reference in Swiss Army Librarian by Brian Herzog. November 23rd, 2010.
- Your guide to lefty data: Radical Reference librarians unlock treasure troves of information for social justice seekers by Matt Jones in Montreal Mirror. October 21, 2010.
- Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue (2010), discusses Radical Reference's work at the 2004 RNC in video clip 4 on the Library Journal site.
- Annoyed Librarian's "Radical Librarians: Cultivate Your Own Gardens" in Library Journal 6/29/2009.
- Radical Reference's Lia Friedman named a 2009 Mover and Shaker in Library Journal.
- CQ Politics profiled Radical Reference at the 2008 RNC. Wanda Marsolek and Steve LaBash are quoted.
- Dennis Johnson of MobyLives interviewed Jenna Freedman for his podcast show. April 8, 2006.
- Eli Edwards wrote a titillating article for Clamor Magazine called "Taking it to the streets: Passion, Librarians and Radical Reference." Issue 35.5 January/February 2006.
- We were mentioned in an AP article about Radical Librarians. Here it is on the Newsday site. There's a revised version of the AP story from November 12, 2005, and this time it leads off with RR.
- A conservative librarian brings the hate in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The link will probably require a log-in after a while. We're only mentioned in passing at the very end--along with our pals the Librarians against Bush. David Durant. "The Loneliness of a Conservative Librarian." September 30, 2005. Volume 52, Issue 6, Page B12
- Counterpunch named Radical Reference their site of the weekend July 2-4, 2005.
- Members of Radical Reference published a profile of our group in SLA's Information Outlook. Vol.9 No.6, June 2005: p.55-59. If you are a logged in authenticated Rad Ref participant, you can view the pdf.
- Two or Radical Reference's founders, James Jacobs and Shinjoung Yeo, profiled in Library Journal's Movers & Shakers, 2005.
- An article in January/February 2005's Bayline, the Special Libraries Association's newsletter gives us props, "Intersect: SLA and Government," p.10-11.
- Radical Reference mentioned in 2005 Library Journal's breaking news section
- 75+ words from Amber Drea in Venus, "Librarians Are Rad." Winter 2004-05, p. 12.
- A blurb about Radical Reference at the 2004 RNC in Library Journal.
- Radical Reference was profiled by Lennart Wettmark in Sweden's progressive library journal Bibliotek i Samhälle (Libraries in Society), 2004, issue #3, p.13-14. Here's the english translation, kindly translated by Charles Fineman, Librarian for France, Italy, Finland, and the north Atlantic; acting bibliographer for Denmark, Norway, and Sweden at Harvard University.
- "Out of the stacks and into the street" from the NYC Indypendent posted September 22, 2004. p. 6 It was reposted on Chuck's Infoshop News with a great picture of one of our radical reffies doing a reference interview on the subway!! Thanks to Emily Waltz!
- American Libraries News Release. No login required.
The article, on page 14 of American Libraries. May require member login. We are pictured there with our friends and co-conspirators, the Librarians against Bush.
- "The Republican convention is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of protesters eager to air their discontent with the Bush administration," by Gail Gibson in the Baltimore Sun, p. 1F. August 22, 2004
- On Friday August 20, 2004 emk was interviewed about Radical Reference on WEFT 90.1 FM (Champaign, IL) during MediaGeek, a show about grassroots and independent media, as well as things you should know about that are affecting your media environment.
- N.Y.C. Activists Work to Make Protesters Welcome (NPR) 19 August 2004
- Disgruntled Librarians Strike Back. The New York Sun by Daniel Moreau August 4, 2004 Pg. 3.