Online Reference Tools

This section includes handy online tools organized by broad subject areas and/or types of tools for Radical Reference volunteers and the general public. Contact us if you have comments or suggestions, or become a RR librarian and create your own!

Alternative Libraries and Infoshops

Download the handout given for the alternative libraries workshop at the Radical Reference Alternative Libraries skill sharing at the 2005 midwinter ALA conference in Boston, here radicalreference.info/altlib_infoshop

In addition to the RR list, you can check the Slingshot Radical Contact list here. It is updated more frequently than ours.
http://slingshot.tao.ca/rclist.php

RESOURCES FOR ALTERNATIVE LIBRARIES: an always growing list
Last updated 12/08/11

ABC No Rio Zine Library, New York City, NY
http://www.abcnorio.org/facilities/zine_library.html
Contains over seven thousand items including independent, underground and marginal publications on subjects such as music, culture, politics, personal experience and travel. The collection is centered on zines addressing political and social issues.

Alternative Press Center Library, Chicago,IL
http://www.altpress.org/mod/pages/display/4/index.php
One of the largest private collections of alternative publications in the United States. The collection also includes books. This is a library with a social conscience, offering alternative perspectives and information that are often difficult to find in mainstream libraries.

American Radicalism collection, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
http://spc.lib.msu.edu/html/materials/collections/radicalism_coll.jsp
Holds over 17,000 items, including books, pamphlets, periodicals, posters, and ephemeral material covering a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, and economic issues in America. The emphasis in the collection is on materials produced by radical groups - both left and right.

Barnard College Library Zine Collection, New York, NY
http://www.barnard.edu/library/zines
Barnard's zines are written by New York City and other urban women with an emphasis on zines by women of color. (In this case the word "woman" includes anyone who identifies as female and some who don't believe in binary gender.) The zines are personal and political publications on activism, anarchism, body image, third wave feminism, gender, parenting, queer community, riot grrrl, sexual assault, and other topics.

Browne Popular Culture Library, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/pcl/
The BPCL, founded in 1969 and dedicated to the acquisition and preservation of research materials on American popular culture (post 1876), is the most comprehensive repository of its kind in the United States.

Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG), Los Angeles, CA
http://www.politicalgraphics.org/
Holding over 50,000 posters, the CSPG archive is the largest collection of Post World War II graphics in the United States.

Civic Media Center, Gainsville, FL
https://www.civicmediacenter.org/collection/zines
Alternative press library and reading room. Contains over 10,000 books, journals, zines, videotapes, audio tapes, and newspapers by independent, non-corporate press on a wide variety of subjects.

Comic Art Collection, Michigan State University Library, East Lansing, MI
http://specialcollections.lib.msu.edu/html/materials/collections/comicart_coll.jsp
Over 200,000 items including comic books, newspaper comic strips, several thousand books and periodicals about comics.

Durland Alternative Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
http://www.alternativeslibrary.org/
The collection includes contemporary issue-oriented resources often unavailable in research and public libraries including subjects of social change, prison issues, women's spirituality, AIDS, Indigenous religions, etc.

Feminist and Lesbian Periodical Collection, Special Collections, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/speccoll/exhibits/lesbianper/index.html
The collection contains 482 lesbian and feminist periodical titles including 36 Oregon titles and 31 international titles.

Holt Labor Library, San Francisco, CA
http://www.holtlaborlibrary.org/
Supports labor and community activists as well as to students, researchers and the public. The collection focuses on labor, social history, Marxist theory and much more.

Human Sexuality Collection, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/HSC/
Holds periodicals, pamphlets and books, films, art work, unpublished short stories, erotica, legal briefs, private correspondence, and diaries concerned with gay life and significant events in the American gay rights movement since World War II.

Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC), Portland, OR
http://library.iprc.org/
Maintains a library of over 4,000 self-published and independently produced materials. Items are available to the public for circulation and for reference use.

Infoshop
http://www.infoshop.org/
Located throughout the world, Infoshops provide social and cultural space, zine archives, libraries, day care centers, cafes, bookstores etc. The Infoshop site includes a list of infoshops throughout the US and other regions as well as theoretical and practical information on anarchism and other radical philosophies.

Kate Sharpley Library, London, England
http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/
Depository library of anarchist society. Contains approximately 7,000 English language volumes and a large number of periodicals dating from the nineteenth century to the present. These are currently catalogued on an in-house database. The library also holds material in a variety of foreign languages.

Labadie Collection, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
http://www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/labadie/
Established in 1911, "the collection's strengths include: anarchism, civil liberties (with an emphasis on racial minorities), socialism, communism, colonialism and imperialism, American labor history through the 1930's, the IWW, the Spanish Civil War, sexual freedom, women's liberation, gay liberation, the underground press, and student protest.... Although the Labadie Collection contains 35,000 books and 8,000 periodicals (including nearly 800 currently received titles), it is justly famous for its ephemera."

L@s Quixotes Radical Lending Library/Infoshop, Seattle, WA
http://losquixotesinfoshop.wordpress.com
Opening at Pilot Books on April 1, 2010. Their call for donations requested books and zines with an anti-authoritarian slant.

Last Word Books & Press and the Olympia 'Zine Library, Olympia, Washington
http://lastwordbooks.org/

Lavender Legacies Guide
http://www2.archivists.org/groups/lesbian-and-gay-archives-roundtable-lagar/lavender-legacies-guide
A list of repositories on North America documenting the history and culture of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgendered.

Leather Archives & Museum
http://www.leatherarchives.org/
The Leather Archives & Museum is dedicated to preserving a record of the Leather/SM/Fetish Community: our lifestyles, our communities, our achievements, our history.

Lesbian Herstory Archives, New York City, NY
http://www.lesbianherstoryarchives.org/
Houses over 20,000 volumes, 12,000 photographs, 300 special collections, 1,600 periodical titles, 1,300 organizational and subject files, thousands of feet of film and video footage, art and artifacts, musical records and tapes, posters and T-shirts, buttons and personal memorabilia.

Little Maga/Zine Collection History, SF Public Library Main Branch, San Francisco, CA
http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/librarylocations/main/bookarts/zines/zinehist.htm
Created in the 1960s in response to the flourishing San Francisco Renaissance. SFPL librarians started to collect little magazines around 1966. The collection represents the documentation of literature as well as underground and popular culture of the 20th century.

Manuscript Collections Documenting Women in Society, Special Collections, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/speccoll/guides/women/index.html

Moore Collection of Underground Comix, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo, CA
http://www.lib.calpoly.edu/spec_coll/comix/
Underground Comix collection within the library's special collections department. A comix database is available on the Web site.

Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, Oakland, CA
http://www.marxistlibr.org/
Consists of about 15,000 books, and over twenty thousand rare pamphlets, some dating back to the early 1920's. The scope of the Karl Niebyl library reflects his wide interests: including world history, economics, philosophy, Marxism-Leninism, labor history, art and aesthetics.

ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, CA
http://www.oneinstitute.org/
Open to the public, this is the world's largest research library on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered heritage and concerns. Relies wholly on community support.

Provisions Library - Resources for Art and Social Change
http://www.provisionslibrary.org/
Provisions Library holds over 5,000 books, zines, dvds and periodicals that examine the intersections between art and social change. It also features a gallery space with exhibitions that provide an avenue of expression for marginalized perspectives. The website is home to the Meridians -- a point of entry for further research in a wide array of topics relating to social change. Free and open to the public!

Quatrefoil Library, St Paul, MN
http://www.quatrefoillibrary.org/
Collects, preserves, and shares material and information relevant to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other sexual minority communities. Collections include books, videos, sound recordings and periodicals.

QZAP: Queer Zine Archive Project, online
http://qzap.org
"The Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) was first launched in November 2003 in an effort to preserve queer zines and make them available to other queers, researchers, historians, punks, and anyone else who has an interest DIY publishing and underground queer communities." Free pdf downloads of zines by queer authors/artists.

Sallie Bingham Center for Women, Duke University
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/women/
The Center houses a broad range of rare and unique primary source material on women.

Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles/
Founded in 1943 the Schlesinger Library is one of the foremost women's history libraries in the U.S. The collections include books, periodicals, manuscripts, organizational records, and audiovisual materials documenting women's lives since the early 19th century onward. It is open to the public.

Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA
http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/
Founded in 1941 the Sophia Smith Collection is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history.

Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
http://www.socallib.org/ is a leftist library in Southern California. It is "a people's library dedicated to documenting and preserving the histories of communities in struggle for justice and using our collections to address the challenges of the present so that all people have the ability, resources, and freedom to make their own histories."

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University, New York, NY
http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/
Focuses on the complex relationship between trade unionism and progressive politics and how this evolved over time. It includes archival, print, photographs, film, and oral history collections describe the history of the labor movement, history of radical politics, socialism, the New Left, communism, anarchism and more.

Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center Library, Urbana, IL
http://www.ucimc.org/library/
Supports the information needs of IMC media creators and the community at large. The library collects materials that give voice to those not portrayed in the mainstream/corporate media outlets, and has a preference for materials not available at other local libraries. Includes books, journals, zines, audio and video.

USEFUL ARTICLES ON ALTERNATIVE LIBRARIES:
(The following bibliography is adopted from Cheryl Yanek's thesis "Alternative libraries: is their existence necessary?")

Anderson, L. (2002). "From the Alternatives Library: Books in Prison." Progressive Librarian, Winter Issue 21 Page 38. Retrieved January 5, 2005 from Proquest.

Case, P.J. (1984). "An antidote to the homogenized library." In S. Berman & J.P. Danky (Eds.), Alternative Library Literature 1982-1983: A Biennial Anthology (pp.137-145). Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press Inc, Co.

Dodge, C. (1998). Taking libraries to the streets: infoshops and alternative reading rooms. American Libraries, 29, 62-65. Retrieved November 27, 2004 from Dialog database.

Munson, C. (2001). Your friendly neighborhood infoshop. From S. Berman & J. P.
Danky (Eds.), Alternative Library Literature 1998-1999: A Biennial Anthology (pp. 250-254). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, Inc.

Schmidt, J. (2001). How to maintain an alternative library: The Civic Media Center, five years on. In S. Berman & J.P. Danky (Eds.), Alternative Library Literature 1998-1999: A Biennial Anthology (pp. 234-253). J.P. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, Inc.

Skrbic, Mirna (2003). "Alternative library." Ithacan Accent, Ithaca University Student Newspaper. April 17, 2003. http://www.ithaca.edu/ithacan/articles/0304/17/accent/LSalternative_.htm

Smith, D. (2002). "Digital libraries for all." In S. Berman & J.P. Danky (Eds.), Alternative Library Literature 2000-2001: A Biennial Anthology (pp. 191-196). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, Inc.

Smith, L. (1995). "Zines and Libraries." Librarians at Liberty, vol. 3 (2). Retrieved January 3, 2005, from Proquest.

Willet, C. (2000). Alternative Libraries and Infoshops: The struggle against Corporate and Government Indoctrination in American Schools and Universities, and in daily life. Librarians at Liberty, vol 8 (1&2). Retrieved January 3, 2005, from Proquest.

Willett, C. (1996). "Starting an alternative library." In S. Berman & J.P. Danky (Eds.), Alternative Library Literature 1994-1995: A Biennial Anthology (pp. 186-187). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, Inc.

Williams, M.P. (1972). "Doing it: Migrant workers library." In C. West (Ed.), Revolting Librarians (pp. 63-67). San Francisco: Booklegger Press.

Wilson, J. (December 2003). "Queer Zine Archive Project." Riverwest Currents. Retrieved November 24, 2004, from http://www.riverwestcurrents.org/2003/December/001184.html

Alternative Radio and Audio Resources

Radio

A-Infos Radio Project
Alternative Radio
Between the Lines
Centro de Medios Independientes, Chiapas: Radio
Deconstructing Dinner
Democracy Now!
Free Speech Radio News
Hard Knock Radio (San Francisco/Bay Area, CA)
Indymedia
KillRadio.org (Los Angeles)
Media Mouse Audio: Grand Rapids, MI News and Independent Media
National Radio Project
The NewStandard: TNS Radio
No One Is Illegal Montreal Radio
Pacifica Archives
Pacifica Audioport
Radical Radio
Radio Ecoshock
Rustbelt Radio (Pittsburgh,PA)
Subversity Radio (Irvine, CA)
This Way Out: The International Lesbian & Gay Radio Magazine
Uprising
Youth Speaks Out!

Archival Audio

BlackBox Radio Archives (Ann Arbor, MI)
Freedom Archives
Internet Archives Open Source Audio
Native America Calling
Pacifica Radio Archives
UC Berkeley Library Social Activism Sound Recording Project: The Black Panther Party

Media Justice

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Grassroots Radio Coalition
Media Access Project
Prometheus Radio Project
Stop Big Media
Third World Majority

Alternative Resources on the U.S. War Against Iraq

International Responsibilities Task Force.

Alternative and Independent Bookstores

Alternative and independent bookstores

This page lists a selection of alternative booksellers and infoshops across the US, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. Booksellers include fiction, non-fiction, comic, zine, art and technical retailers. This page is still in its infancy, and there will be much more here soon. All contributions welcome! LAST UPDATED 6/25/06

Directories

Directory of feminist bookstores

Independent Online Booksellers Association

Guide to independent bookstores in the US

Fearless Independents

Mid-South IBA
http://www.msiba.org/Links/member_sites.htm

New Atlantic IBA
http://www.newatlanticbooks.com/search.asp

Don't want to buy? Try finding a book at your local library with WorldCat

Out-of-print and second-hand and independent collective booksellers

Booksense
http://www.booksense.com/

Alibris
http://www.alibris.com/

Abebooks
http://www.abebooks.com/

Bookfinder
http://www.bookfinder.com/

United States (Only states with entries listed)
[ California | Colorado | District of Columbia |Illinois | Massachusetts |New York | Oregon | Washington | Wisconsin ]

Australia
[ New South Wales | Victoria ]

Elsewhere

[ Paris, France | Tokyo, Japan ]

United States

California

[ Berkeley | Oakland | San Francisco ]

A very good list of Bay area bookstores can be found on this list. Some of the chains are listed, but also the local, antiquarian, and progressive bookstores broken down by area and neighborhood in SF.

Berkeley

Cody’s Books (editor's note: Cody's has closed its doors in Both Berkeley and San Francisco as of June, 2008. Very sad indeed!)
http://www.codysbooks.com/
2454 Telegraph Avenue; Berkeley, CA 94704
510-845-7852
and
1730 Fourth Street, Berkeley; CA 94710
510-559-9500

Oakland

AK Press
http://www.akpress.org/
674-A 23rd Street
Oakland, CA 94612
AK Press is a worker run book publisher and distributor organized around anarchist principles.

San Francisco

City Lights
http://www.citylights.com/
261 Columbus Ave

San Francisco CA

City Lights is a landmark independent bookstore and publisher that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics.

Bound Together Books
1369 Haight Street (at Masonic)
San Francisco, CA 94117
A volunteer-run anarchist collective bookstore and meeting place. Organises the annual Bay Area Anarchist Bookfare every Spring. Excellent range of books and magazines on everything from anarchism to education and disability activism.

Stacey's
http://www.staceys.com/
581 Market Street
San Francisco CA

Colorado

Boulder

Left Hand Books
1200 Pearl Street #10
Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 443-8252
Open Mon-Sat 10 to 9 and Sun 12 to 6
http://www.lefthandbooks.org

Denver

Tattered Cover
http://www.tatteredcover.com/
Locations include:

955 East First Avenue at Milwaukee Street
Cherry Creek North
Denver CO

District of Columbia

Busboys and Poets Books
http://www.busboysandpoets.com/books.htm
2021 14th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
tel. 202/387-7638

Kramerbooks
http://www.kramers.com/
1517 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20036
tel. 202/387-1462

Politics and Prose
http://www.politics-prose.com/
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008
tel. 202/364-1919

Illinois

Chicago

Quimby's
http://www.quimbys.com/
1854 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
tel. 773/342-0910

Chicago Comics
http://www.chicagocomics.com/
3244 N. Clark St
Chicago, IL 60657

Women and Children First
http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.com/
5233 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 6064
Bookstore featuring publications by and about women, children's books, and lesbian and gay fiction and non-fiction.

Louisiana

New Orleans

The Iron Rail Book Collective
http://www.ironrail.org/
511 Marigny St.
New Orleans, LA 70119
A non-profit reading room, lending library, and bookshop located in the New Orleans Marigny neighborhood.

Maryland

Baltimore

Alternative Press Center
http://www.altpress.org
1443 Gorsuch Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21218
Special collections library featuring books and periodicals of the left, with archives going back to the early 1960s. Open to the public. Located inside the Progressive Action Center.

Red Emma's Bookstore and Coffeehouse
http://www.redemmas.org
800 Saint Paul Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
Collectively run radical bookstore and coffeehouse. Available for special events and meetings.

Massachusetts

Amherst

Food for Thoughts Books
http://www.foodforthoughtbooks.com
106 N.Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01002
A non-profit, workers' collective bookstore which hosts events, too.

Boston

Lucy Parsons Bookstore
http://www.lucyparsons.org
549 Columbus Avenue
Boston, MA 02118
Collectively run radical bookstore, meeting space, events, and radical movie nights.

Minnesota

Minneapolis

Amazon Bookstore
http://www.amazonfembks.com/
4755 Chicago Ave. So.
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Founded in 1970, Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, Inc. is the oldest independent feminist bookstore in North America.

Arise Books and Resources Collective
http://www.arisebookstore.org/
2441 Lyndale Ave S.
Minneapolis, MN 55405
A collectively-run activist information hub. They host music, movies, zine readings, and the Women's Prison Book Project.

Dreamhaven Books & Comics
http://www.dreamhavenbooks.com/
2301 E 38th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55406
DreamHaven specializes in new and used science fiction, fantasy, horror, film and media books, comics, and graphic novels.

Magers and Quinn Booksellers
http://www.magersandquinn.com/
3038 Hennepin Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
Magers and Quinn is an independently owned new and used bookseller located in the heart of the popular Uptown neighborhood in Minneapolis. Their collection covers all subjects and features many unusual and hard-to-find editions, as well as thousands of current releases. Titles currently in print, whether new or used, are substantially discounted.

Mayday Books
http://www.maydaybookstore.org/
301 Cedar Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Collectively run non-profit progressive bookstore, meeting space, events, and radical movie nights.

New York

Manhattan

Bluestockings
www.bluestockings.com
172 Allen St (Between Stanton and Rivington)
New York, NY 10002
Bluestockings is a radical bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Highly recommended.

East Village Books
buyusedbooksnewyork.com
99 St. Mark's Pl (between 1st Ave and Ave A)
New York, NY 10000
(212) 477-8647
Small used bookstore filled with potential treasures.

Hue-Man Bookstore & Cafe
www.huemanbookstore.com
2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd
New York, NY 10027
(212) 665-7400
Bookstore and cafe in the heart of Harlem. Hosts many free author events, as well as book clubs and writers' groups, each month.

St Mark’s Bookshop
www.stmarksbookshop.com
31 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212) 260-7853
"St. Mark's Bookshop was established in 1977 in New York's East Village, a community of students, academics, arts professionals and other eclectic readers. Our specialties include Cultural Theory, Graphic Design, Poetry & Small Press Publishers, Film Studies and Foreign & Domestic Periodicals & Journals."

The Strand
www.strandbooks.com
12th St and Broadway (main store)
(212) 473-1452
The granddaddy/mommy of used bookstores, measured by the mile.

Shakespeare & Co.
www.shakeandco.com/
Five locations in NYC, see also Paris store.

Rizzoli
rizzoliusa.com/bookstore.html
31 W. 57th St
New York, NY 10019
(800) 52-BOOKS or (212) 759-2424
Art books and other fancy stuff.

Brooklyn

Book Court
www.bookcourt.org
163 Court St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 875-3677
Two-floor general interest bookstore in Cobble Hill. Host of many author talks, and now possessing a redesigned website that includes their events listings and staff picks.

Brownstone Books
www.brownstonebooks.com
409 Lewis Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11233
(718) 953-7328
A general and African American interest bookstore in Bed-Stuy. They host author talks, book clubs, and children's storytimes.

Freebird Books & Goods
www.freebirdbooks.com
123 Columbia St
Brooklyn, NY 11231
(718) 643-8484
Buy a book in Red Hook. Voted "Best New Used Bookstore" in New York Press's "Best of Manhattan 2004" issue.

Harnik's Happy House of Books
www.harnikbk.com
1403 Ave J
Brooklyn, NY 11230
(718) 951-9805
A Midwood bookstore specializing in children's literature and educational resources. Their website offers some booklists, including a Jewish-themed one.

A Novel Idea Bookstore
www.novelideabooks.com
8415 3rd Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11209
(718) 833-5115
A comfortable, family-run bookstore in Bay Ridge that sells new and used books. They host a couple of book clubs as well as children's events.

Rocketship
rocketshipstore.blogspot.com
208 Smith St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 797-1348
"Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Cartoon Art." Located in Cobble Hill.

Gone but not forgotten: Clovis Press in Williamsburg and Jane Doe Books in Bushwick.

Oregon

Portland

In Other Words Women's Books and Resources
http://www.inotherwords.org
8 NE Killingsworth St.
Portland, Oregon 97211
503-232-6003
Since 1985, a non-profit, all-volunteer, collectively run bookstore devoted to social change. Offers books as well as video rentals, a lending library and free meeting space for nonprofit groups.

Laughing Horse Bookstore
http://www.geocities.com/laughinghorsebooks

3652 SE Division
Portland, Oregon 97202
503-236-2893
In Other Words Women's Books and Resources is the last surviving non-profit feminist bookstore in the United States. They offer a comprehensive and diverse collection of books by and about women including non-sexist children's books, and with a focus on feminist, queer, and trans studies.

Powell's
http://www.powells.com/
Five locations including:
1005 W Burnside
Portland, OR 97205

Reading Frenzy: an Independent Press Emporium
921 SW Oak St.
(503) 274-1449
http://www.readingfrenzy.com/index.php/

Pennsylvania

Robin's Bookstore
www.robinsbookstore.com
108 s. 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-735-9600

Independently owned, with a good selection of social issues/justice kind of books. They also have good biographies, although the separate biography section has been eliminated, and these are mixed in with various subjects. Another area of focus is African-American history or issues.

Pittsburgh

The Big Idea
http://www.thebigideapgh.org/
504 Millvale Avenue (Millvale and Liberty)
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
412-687-4323

Radical bookstore in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, featuring books, zines, music, magazines, and work by local artists. 100% volunteer run.

Texas

Denton

Recycled Books
http://www.recycledbooks.com/
200 North Locust
Denton, TX 76201
940-566-5688

Over 200,000 books, 7,000 records, 16,000 CDs, and miscellaneous other goods are housed in an historic 17,000 square foot purple, yes purple, building facing Denton's courthouse. It's no exaggeration to state fresh material finds its way to our shelves hourly! Dealing with this blend of quality and quantity combined with our business hours of 9am - 9pm seven days a week makes us one of the leading independently owned bookstores in the United States.

Washington

Washington-based distro
Last Earth
"We represent an extended community of Activists across the spectrum: parents, teachers, craftspeople, blue-collar workers, students, republican farm wives, and small dogs. Our proceeds fuel our future endeavors, put locally grown and organic food in our children’s tummies, and fight for common causes in our communities. We try to support local communities wherever we travel, and we hope you’ll consider supporting ours."

Olympia

Last Word Books
211 4th Avenue East
Olympia, WA

"Last Word Books is a physical and digital bookstore located in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 2002 by several students at The Evergreen State College, we offer an eclectic collection of books ranging from radical politics to the books you love to read. We are the host and benefactor of the Olympia Zine Library, amongst other things. We are constantly filling minds and the streets with much-needed radical literature. We champion freedom of speech, human rights and equality for all, advancements in literacy and education towards a self-aware and self-sufficient populace, a government that serves its citizenry, vigorous regulation of corporations, and the protection and restoration of our natural environment."

Seattle

Left Bank Books
http://www.leftbankbooks.com/
92 Pike St
Seattle WA

Collectively-owned and operated since 1973, this radical anarchist bookstore continues to thrive in the Pike Place Market and is a hub for activists, intellectuals, and genderqueers.

Walla Walla

Earthlight Books
321 E Main St
Walla Walla, WA

"We specialize in Rare Books, Western Americana, Children’s Books, Fiction, Art, Vintage Paperbacks and Comic Books, Poetry, History, Literary Criticism, Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Political Science, ‘osophies, ‘ographies, and ‘ologies of all sorts, Philosophy, Religion, Erotica and Underground & Clandestine Books."

Wisconsin

Madison

Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative
http://www.rainbowbookstore.org/

A Room of One's Own
http://www.roomofonesown.com/

Milwaukee

Harvey Schwartz
http://www.schwartzbooks.com/
Locations include:
093 N Oakland Ave
Milwaukee

Australia

[ New South Wales | Victoria ]

New South Wales

Gleebooks
http://www.gleebooks.com.au/
191 Glebe Point Rd
Glebe NSW
and

49 Glebe Point Rd
Glebe NSW

Four times winner of the Australian Bookseller of the Year Award, gleebooks is renowned the world over for its unique mix of academic and general books and for a commitment to quality books and writing - particularly Australian writing - that has spanned more than 30 years. Two stores - one new books the other second-hand and children's.

Better Read Than Dead
http://www.betterread.com.au/
265 King St
Newtown NSW 2042
Bestsellers and fiction plus a good range of social, political and cultural books.

Jura Books
http://jura.org.au/
440 Parramatta Rd
Petersham NSW
Anarchist bookstore and library. Mostly second-hand.

China Books
81 Enmore Rd
Enmore NSW

Black Rose Books
http://www.cat.org.au/blackrose/
83 Regent St
Chippendale NSW
Black Rose carries a wide range of anarchist, subversive, interesting, useful, amusing, frightening and just plain out of the ordinary books.

Ariel
http://www.arielbooks.com.au/
42 Oxford St
Paddington NSW
Art and design specialists and a wide range of fiction and cultural studies books.

Berkelouw
http://www.berkelouw.com.au/
19 Oxford Street

Paddington NSW
and
Berrima Book Barn
Bendooley
Old Hume Highway,
Berrima NSW 257
Out of print, antiquarian and second-hand books since 1812. Book barn is highly recommended.

Co-op Bookshop
http://www.coop-bookshop.com.au/
Locations nationally, including many university campuses
Specialises in technical books, textbooks, and more.

Victoria

Polyester
http://www.polyester.com.au/
330 Brunswick St
Fitzroy VIC
Zines, subculture, comics, politics, art & design and more. One of the best.

Annares Books
http://www.anarres.org.au/
PO Box 150
East Brunswick VIC 3057
Anarchist book collective and mail order since 1992.

France

Paris

Shakespeare & Co
http://shakespeareco.org/
37 Rue de la Bucherie
Paris
English-language bookseller in Paris.

Japan

Tokyo

Kinokuniya
http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/
3-17-7
Shinjuku - Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo 160-002
While Kinokuniya is a big chain with stores all over Japan as well as the US and Australia, they are your best bet for Japanese-language learning resources and English-language texts in Japan

Anti-Racism for Activists: a Bibliography

This is the beginning of a bibliography of anti-racist resources, particularly those that focus on dealing with racism and oppression in activist communities. Radical Reference members, please add to it, just keep your citations alphabetical and in the same style. Non Rad Reffies, e-mail me your suggestions.
 

Materials for People of Color

Articles | Books | Visual Media for White Allies


MATERIALS FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR


ARTICLES


BOOKS


VISUAL MEDIA


Citations provided by Radical Reference volunteers and members of the Progressive Librarians Guild. Special thanks to Monika Antonelli for her numerous contributions.

BDS: Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions

Below are some links to information on the global movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. Following a unified Palestinian call for BDS in 2005, intiatives have emerged around the world to put an end to collaboration and complicity with Israeli apartheid. These have included academic, cultural, consumer, and sports boycotts, as well as campaigns to get companies to divest from Israel. Strong calls for sanctions have also emerged, to urge governments to cut off military aid to Israel. Please feel free to add resources to this list.

Introduction to the BDS movement

BDS Campaign National Committee Home Page
Call by Palestinian Civil Society Organizations for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (2005)
What is BDS? A Comic from Adalah New York
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

Local Campaigns and Initiatives

Links to Local BDS Campaigns Around the World (from Electronic Intifada)
Israel:Israeli Citizens for BDS
New York: Adalah New York

Boycott Lists

Big Campaign (UK)

Articles and Analysis on BDS

"Moral Arguments and Counterarguments on BDS" by Omar Barghouti (video)

"Want to End the Violence in Gaza? Boycott Israel" by Naomi Klein, in The Nation, January 9, 2009.

Divestment

Global Exchange: Israel Divestment

General Educational Resources

think-palestine-act

US Campaign to End the Occupation

Bicycling Resources

Please contact MRM with any suggestions or comments.

last updated July 2012, minor updates February 2013

Web Sites
Books
Radio
Films
Canadian Resources
NYC Resources
Boston Resources
Resources from Elsewhere


Selected Web Sites

Advocacy and Education

Associations

Global Movements and Resources

Communities and Events

Bikes, Riding, Maintenance, and Repair

Travel and Touring

Research

Other Web Guides



Selected Bibliography

Bicycle History

Collecting and Engineering

Writing on Riding

Bikes, Riding, Maintenance, and Repair

Communities

Other Book Lists



Radio



Films



Canadian Bike Resources



New York City Bike Resources



Boston Bike Resources



Resources from Elsewhere

Civil liberties and government watchdogs

This section includes tools organized by broad subject areas and/or types of tools for radical reference volunteers and the general public.

While the USA PATRIOT ACT has been critically debated by the public, the majority of the American people have no idea what the Homeland Security Act entails, nor do they realize its effect on our right to know through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Many Americans are either unaware of the current Administration's infringement upon our civil rights or they are too fearful as a result of September 11 to realize the potential harm that these restrictions will have on our future. The following sources have been collected to serve as an aid in raising awareness on civil liberties issues such as the USA PATRIOT ACT, The Homeland Security Act, and general human rights and civil liberties issues involving our government. The sources range from government watchdogs, news blogs, organizations, metasites, etc. Please contact Radlib for comments or suggestions.

Composting Resources Online

The following resources were originally posted to the Progressive Librarians Guild discussion list on February 4, 2008 and have been published here with permission from the author, Fred Stoss. It has been edited slightly, but no resources have been removed.

They are divided into Government, Education, and Organizational sites

Government Sites

Education Sites

Organization Sites

Feminist Fact Checking Resources

Originally created for the Women, Action & Media Conference 2008

GLBTQ | International | Pay Equity/Labor | Rape/Sexual Assault | Reproduction | Statistics

  1. GLBTQ
  2. International
  3. Pay Equity / Labor
  4. Rape / Sexual Assault
  5. Reproduction
  6. Statistics

For a more comprehensive list of women's studies resources, see our favorite women's studies library research guide.

Free Online Filing of Income Taxes

Some Web Resources for Free Online Filing of Income Taxes.

Many of the commercial tax software companies will let you prepare and file your taxes online for free. Many people don't realize this, and the software companies don't go out of their way to advertise it, becuase they'd rather charge you for preparation and filing services. It is somewhat confusing, and somewhat confusing to figure out how to take advantage of free online software for preparation and filing.

Here are some resources to help figure it out.

Free Online Filing
A good concise article explaining why many online commercial tax services offer free online filing for federal income tax returns, and explaining how to take advantage of it.

File Home--
Your Link to Free Online Filing

The IRS's list of online companies providing free preparation and filing for federal income taxes. This page is more confusing than it should be. You're best bet is just clicking on the 'start now!' button. That will give you a list of websites, and what their requirements are for free usage. Note that some of the companies have income or other restrictions for their free services, but others do not.

TurboTax Tax Freedom
H&R Block - Free Online Tax Program
Well regarded industry leaders TurboTax and H&R Block both offer online tax preparation/filing for anyone, no income or other restrictions. Be careful, you need to go to these particular URLs (found on the IRS web page above) to use the free services. If you just go to these companies front pages, they'll happily charge you for the same thing you could get for free from another URL.

State Taxes


Perhaps part of the reason that these companies offer federal tax preparation and filing for free, is to try and get you to purchase state tax preparation and filing from them.

I have not found any commercial software businesses that offer free state preparation or filing. However, many state governments offer free filing services; some of them offer more help than others in preparing your tax return, but state income tax forms tend to be simpler than the federal forms.

Here is a site that offers links to state government websites from which you can get information about free online filing, if the state offers it.

Federation of Tax Administrators--State Tax Forms Page

Government Resources

The US government publishes information, statistics and data across many disciplines and subject areas. There's no way that a google search can give one access to ALL government information as much of the publicly available information is available only in the deep Web -- in databases and repositories not indexed by google.

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is a network of over 1200 libraries (public, academic, state, law etc) that work with the US Government Printing Office to help their communities access the world of govt information. The links below are but a brief list of a few of our favorite govt resources. For more in-depth help, contact your local FDLP library and check out their research guides on government information. Contact freegovinfo AT gmail DOT com to add other resources.

General information and resources:

Research and reference assistance:

Legislative Branch (US Congress):

Executive Branch:

Judicial Branch:

Statistics:

Science and Technology:

Transparency and govt watchdogs:

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA):

For kids:

Green Scare

GREEN SCARE RESOURCES

The National Lawyers Guild has established a hotline 888-NLG-ECOLAW for individuals arrested or subpoenaed for offenses related to environmental or animal activism.

* Civil Liberties Defense Center: The Green Scare and Eco-Indictments
* Green is the New Red
* Portland IMC Green Scare Section

PRISONERS & DEFENDANTS SUPPORT

* Break the Chains
* North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
* Sacramento Prisoner Support email contact

History, Resistance

History is a Weapon is a broad collection of essays on social change from a variety of political tendencies. Sections include "What is this America?" and "From Resistance to Revolution".
History Is A Weapon

Revolution in the Air is a website with resources related to the book by the same name by Max Elbaum, which is a look at the birth of what he terms the New Communist Movement[s] of the late 1960s. History and Strategy section includes a political chronology from 1954-1992.

The NameBase Directory is an index of people influential in politics, the military, intelligence, crime, business, and the media since WWII. It started in the late 1960's when New Left activist Daniel Brandt began clipping magazine and newspaper articles and collecting investigative books about the power structure. He combed each book and article for the names of individuals, groups, corporations, and countries - developing a name authority file along the way. In the early 1980's, he incorporated Public Information Research to continue the work. NameBase includes close to 100,000 names from approximately 260,000 citations. The names are drawn from over 700 books and serials, plus a handful of documents recovered using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). While the index does draw from the mainstream and right wing press, most books and articles come from a leftist perspective. (description from http://www.bowdoin.edu/~samato/IRA/reviews/issues/oct00/namebase.html) Sections include information on the CIA and foreign policy.

Marxists Internet Archive is a huge resource of essays by Marxists like Lenin and Mao, as well as non-canonical people like Gramsci. There are also resources on Malcolm X, and the anarchists Bakunin, Emma Goldman, and Proudhon.

The Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan has been digitizing anarchist pamphlets that were once held by anarchist Jo Labadie. There are also feminist and queer liberation materials.

Anarchy Archives is an online research center on the history and theory of anarchism.

The Southern California Library is a collection of materials focusing on the Left history of Los Angeles, with other general materials on social-justice struggles from around the U.S. and the world.

Lesbian Herstory Archives, the largest and oldest Lesbian archive in the world, began in 1973 as an outgrowth of a Lesbian consciousness-raising group at the Gay Academic Union. The founders were concerned about the failure of mainstream publishers, libraries, archives, and research institutions to value Lesbian culture. It became obvious that the only way to insure the preservation of Lesbian culture and history was to establish an independent archives governed by Lesbians.

The Chicago Women's Liberation Union has a website with an archive of articles on topics like: consciousness, family, sexuality, and internationalism. They also have a number of articles from the publication Womankind.

A number of issues of the Left journal Radical America have been digitized by Brown University. Part of what Max Elbaum considers the New Communist Movement, Radical America has articles from some great theorists. Radical America ran from 1967-1999 (with much fewer issues at the end).

Freedom Archives is based in San Francisco, and is a great resource for finding audio on social movements. According to their website: "8000 hours of audio and video recordings documenting social justice movements locally, nationally, and internationally from the 1960s to the present. The Archives features speeches of movement leaders and community activists, protests and demonstrations, cultural currents of rebellion and resistance."

African Activist Archive "is preserving records and memories of activism in the United States to support the struggles of African peoples against colonialism, apartheid, and social injustice from the 1950s through the 1990s."

Human Rights Resources page

Resources list compiled by/for the academic discussion group H-Human Rights.

Hurricane Katrina and Aftermath Resources

You will find here information on socially responsible organizations and other useful resources for supporting communities in New Orleans and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. See the links below.

Updated 10 December 2005

Additional Resources

Updated 10 December 2005

  • Craigslist New Orleans: Resources for Katrina Survivors

    Missing persons, housing and shelter, volunteer opportunities, and more.

  • Disaster Assistance Legal Resources

    From the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

  • Hurricane Assistance Links

    From the State Library of Louisiana. Topics range from missing persons to employment and housing.

  • Katrina Information Map

    "This map is intended for the use of people affected by Hurricane Katrina who have or are trying to find information about the status of specific locations affected by the storm and its aftermath."

  • Katrina PeopleFinder Project

    "The Katrina PeopleFinder Project NEEDS YOUR HELP to enter data about missing and found people from various online sources. We're requesting as little as an hour of your time. All you need to do is help read unstructured posts about missing or found persons, and then add the relevant data to a database through a simple online form."

  • Library Community Relief Links (from the Tinfoil + Raccoon blog)

    "[L]inks to sites that address library community recovery from Hurricane Katrina: helping library workers and their families; fundraising; lists of affected libraries; recovery and preservation efforts."

  • Loyola Law Clinic Post-Katrina Help Site

    "A Legal Information Resource for Practitioners and Victims."

  • Making Shelters Safe for Transgender Evacuees (National Center for Transgender Equality)

    "The National Center for Transgender Equality, along with the Task Force and Lambda Legal has released a guide on making evacuation shelters safe and welcoming for transgender evacuees. Our hopes are that this document assists the major shelter managers such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army as well as trans support groups and the LGBT community centers in relevant geographic areas." Download the PDF guide here.

  • National Youth Advocacy Coalition

    The Hurricane Katrina Emergency Relief Fund for LGBTQ Youth & Families

  • New Orleans Network

    "For those of us in exile from the region or are still there trying to survive, we hope this site can be used for:

    -Finding people we love and meeting fellow citizens.
    -Assessing what our communities need wherever we may have landed.
    -Collecting our stories, pictures, and art.
    -Starting conversations about the issues connected to this disaster.
    -Organizing the exile communities of displaced people from the New Orleans region.
    -Finding ways to reconnect us all, whether we have access to computers or not."

Email Lists

Updated 10 December 2005

Medical Resources

Updated 25 January 2006

    See also a more general list of medical resources.

  • Common Ground Clinic
    "Common Ground is a community-run organization offering temporary assistance and mutual aid to the citizens of New Orleans and the surrounding areas."
  • Find a Hospital
    from MedlinePlus.
  • Health and Safety after Hurricane Katrina (English and Español/Spanish)

    Includes FDA updates on the following:
    * Food safety
    * Safety of medicines potentially damaged by flooding or high temperatures
    * Insulin storage and switching between products by victims of Hurricane
    Katrina
    * Information and advice about medical devices exposed to high heat and
    humidity

  • Hurricanes: Health and Safety or go straight to Key Facts for Hurricane Recovery (both available in English and Español/Spanish from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]).
  • MD Consult
    From Calcasieu Parish Library's Hurricane Katrina information:
  • "Elsevier is providing two of its medical databases free of charge to medical personnel in shelters and hospitals and to anyone assisting hurricane victim.
    User name: KATRINA (notice all uc) and password: katrina (notice all lc) are required."

  • U.S. National Library of Medicine: Hurricane Katrina: Links to Health Information including toxicology and environmental health
  • Where There Is No Doctor

  • HIV/AIDS

    If You Need Help: Resources for HIV-Positive Hurricane Survivors (includes information on medical care, housing, Medicare/Medicaid, ADAP, and information for people in interrupted clinical trials)

    Triage Recommendations for HIV+ Patients from AAHIVM

    "AIDS Group Issues HIV Treatment Guidelines for Katrina Evacuees"

    The American Academy of HIV Medicine's "Recommendations for the Triage of HIV+ Patients" target physicians in areas with large numbers of Hurricane Katrina evacuees who may have had little experience treating HIV patients.

    The document recommends the following steps:

    *Treating active opportunistic infections or other infections with antibiotics or other appropriate medication is first priority.

    *Try to determine the patient's CD4-cell count. Varying CD-4 counts put patients at risk of opportunistic infections for which they should be screened, such as HIV-related pneumonia for those with counts below 200; histoplasmos is, toxoplasmosis, and cryptococcal meningitis for those with counts below 100; and mycobacterium avium complex and systemic fungal disease for those with counts below 50.

    *While both prophylactic and antiretroviral treatment courses should be continued if possible, doctors should place a priority on the administration of anti-HIV drugs to avoid treatment interruption.

    *If patients cannot access all their antiretrovirals, every drug should be stopped, rather than continuing only one or two.

    *Tetanus shots should be administered to HIV patients.

    *While live-virus vaccines should be used with caution in HIV patients, they should be safe for patients with CD-4 counts above 350.

    The guidelines include information on which drug combinations to use and which to avoid, treating pregnant women, HIV post-exposure prophylaxis, and rapid HIV testing.

    More information, including help accessing HIV specialists and clinics, is available at the American Academy of HIV Medicine. Also visit HIV/AIDS Medical Practice Guidelines from AIDSinfo.

  • Mold

    See the following sites:

    * Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Protect Yourself from Mold" guidelines
    * The Environmental Protection Agency's mold guide

  • * Dealing with Mold from the Bay Area Radical Health Collective

  • Water Purification

    Boiling water, when practical, is the preferred way to kill harmful bacteria and parasites. Bringing water to a rolling boil for 1 minute will kill most organisms. Boiling will not remove chemical contaminants. If you suspect or are informed that water is contaminated with chemicals, seek another source of water, such as bottled water.

    If you can't boil water, you can treat water with chlorine tablets, iodine tablets, or unscented household chlorine bleach (5.25% sodium hypochlorite Do not use bleach which contains detergents). If you use chlorine tablets or iodine tablets, follow the directions that come with the tablets. If you use household chlorine bleach, add 1/8 teaspoon (~0.75 milliliter [mL]) of bleach per gallon of water if the water is clear. For cloudy water, add 1/4 teaspoon (~1.50 mL) of bleach per gallon. Mix the solution thoroughly and let it stand for about 30 minutes before using it. Treating water with chlorine tablets, iodine tablets, or liquid bleach will not kill many parasitic organisms. Boiling is the best way to kill these organisms.

    Household iodine from the medicine chest of first aid kit will purify water. The iodine should be 2% United States Pharmacopoeia (U. S. P.) strength. Add 20 drops per gallon of clear water, and 40 drops per gallon of cloudy water. Seal the container and let stand for 30 minutes. The water supply will be safe for an indefinite period.

    Water Purification Tablets will also purify water. Follow manufacturer's directions. Water purification tablets are available at drug stores and camping supply departments of your local stores.

    See also How to Purify Water and Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water from the EPA (in English and Español/Spanish)

News and Updates

Updated 10 December 2005

  • Critical Resistance: Katrina Amnesty Campaign

    Join the call for Amnesty for all arrested & imprisoned for taking care of themselves and loved ones during Hurricane Katrina.

  • Critical Resistance: What happened to prisoners in flooded Louisiana prisons?
  • dKosopedia Hurricane Katrina Commentary

    Hurricane Katrina has generated a storm of criticism about the indifference and ineptitude of the second Bush administration's response. The Hurricane Katrina timeline indicates some deficiencies in FEMA but also in planning and funding processes. This is a partial summary of the commentary.

  • Infoshop News

    Alternative news, analysis, and opinion. Includes a frequently-updated "Hurricane Katrina Aftermath" section.

  • New Orleans Indymedia

    Grassroots journalism through the New Orleans Independent Media Center. Daily postings.

  • New Waveland Cafe Blog
  • A blog from Waveland, Mississippi, where there is a large grassroots relief effort including many Rainbow Family folks among others.

  • Real Reports of Katrina Relief

    "Eyewitness, politically charged, on-the-ground truth telling from New Orleans, southern Louisiana and Mississippi." A blog from activist and writer Naomi Archer.

  • Relief Web: Hurricane Katrina

    An online gateway to documents and maps about humanitarian emergencies and disasters, administered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

  • Think Progress: Katrina Timeline

    In the blitz of media coverage surrounding Hurricane Katrina, it’s hard to wrap your head around exactly what happened. ThinkProgress has created a Katrina timeline that catalogues the most important events.

  • Whirlwind! Anarchist News and Opinion about Hurricane Katrina. [PDF].
  • An anarchist publication from NEFAC containing first hand account and analysis of the devestating effects of hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast of the U.S., and the underlying class expliotation, racism and enviromental destruction that exacerbated the tragedy; as well as stories about what anarchists are doing to help and how you can contribute.


  • "New Orleans Is Sinking" (published September 11, 2001)

    Old news, of course, but perhaps worth looking at these days...From Popular Mechanics.

  • "Washing Away" (published June 23-27, 2002) [you will need Adobe Reader to view this PDF file]

    More old news, recently made available again online. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Socially Responsible Katrina Relief

Edited by Jonathan Rochkind with help from Radical Reference.
Last Updated: 20 October 05

This page is meant to aid people in their research to discover socially responsible venues of Hurricane Katrina relief. We are attempting to help you find relief efforts that meet one or more of these conditions:


  1. Have direct grassroots connections to local communities and organizations (especially of poor people and people of color)
  2. Are organized in such a way to empower local communities, directed by or accountable to local communities and fostering democratic decision making by local communities (especially poor people and people of color)
  3. Have a strong social justice agenda, building local capacity to resist oppression and build grassroots democracy, rather than simply providing charity or immediate services.
  4. Are less well known than some of the bigger national organizations, where a relatively small donation can make a big difference.

This page is a research aid, not a recommendation from us. The organizations and efforts listed here are not personally known or recommended by the editor or Radical Reference. Where available, we will hilight attributed recommendations by other recognized progressive and radical entities. Suggestions for additional information can be sent to info [at] radicalreference.org.


  • Directory of Grassroots/Low-income/People of Color-led Hurricane Katrina Relief
  • A list of grassroots organizations that provide immediate disaster relief to poor people and people of color.

    Generally, efforts included in the above extensive directory from Spark Foundation/Mayday are not duplicated here in this Radical Reference list.

  • PICO National Network
  • A national network of [progressive] faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities.

    To donate money or other resources please call Alia Zaki, PICO Operations Manager, who is coordinating this effort. Her phone number: 619-501-1804 azaki [at] piconetwork.org

  • Tides Rapid Response Fund: Hurricane Katrina Relief and Rebuilding
  • "The Tides community has a history of supporting victims of natural and civil disasters across the globe, and many of you have already contacted us about this terrible event. As always, Tides staff will work closely with groups to identify how money can best be distributed. The Rapid Response Fund pools donors' resources to increase the impact of their giving, and our staff quickly researches and distributes the funds. Tides works to ensure the money is received by effective grassroots and advocacy organizations working for short-term relief as well as for long-term economic and structural change."

  • Email from Via Campesina
  • Via Campesina is an international farmers/peasants movement. They sent out a press release identifying relief efforts targetted at family farmers and rural areas which are supported/reccommended by their US member, the National Family Farm Coalition. These include:

  • Cafe Mawonaj (in Washington, DC)

    "Cafe Mawonaj has been organizing to provide aid to people in Algiers (current population 5000), and Ward 7, 8, and 9 of New Orleans since the week after Katrina hit.

    [...]

    "Cafe Mawonaj has made three trips from DC to New Orleans in the last few weeks, bringing in much needed supplies (medical, food, and clothing). They are working with MayDay DC, Common Dreams, and Food Not Bombs to provide daily feedings and an extremely important 'First Aid Center.'"

  • AK Press, a well known anarchist book publisher/distributor, writes in email on 13 September:
  • Our friend Kate from the Iron Rail Bookstore and Library in New Orleans (which thankfully has not yet been flooded/burned down) says that if you want to support local, class-and race-conscious organizers working with displaced New Orleans residents, the following are worthy candidates:

  • Community Labor United
  • Critical Resistance


  • Linda Stout of Spirit in Action, "a non-profit organization dedicated to building a successful movement for social change in the US" located in Massacheusetts, writes in email on 15 September 2005:
  • If ever there is a moment to call for examination and correcting of social justice related issues, it is now. Following are the websites of several groups from the South that have joined in the recovery efforts and are
    raising the flag for social justice:

    • The Praxis Project has
      a page on what can be done to help Katrina victims that includes legislative action, strategy tips, and links to groups.

    • The Southern Empowerment Project has links to many Southern justice groups that are responding to Katrina.

    We will keep you informed as new projects and movements emerge.


  • Katrina Relief Organizations Based in the Black Community

    Compiled by hip-hop artist Kevin Powell.

  • Alternet Recommendations
  • List of organizations reccommended by Alternet, a progressive/alternative media site.

  • New York Collective of Radical Educators resource
  • The NYCoRE provides a curriculur resource for educators: An Unnatural Disaster: A Critical Guide for Addressing the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the Classroom. The guide includes as an appendix a nice list of "grassroots organizations offering charitable giving alternatives to the massive NGOs utilizing most of the contributions flooding their accounts for administrative costs," compiled with some of the same goals we have here.

  • Radical funder RESIST has a web page Hurricane Katrina: Progressive Response and Action.

  • Get Your Act On!

    "Get Your Act On! is a non-partisan network of concerned groups and individuals that support dignity, respect and fundamental human rights for all. Our mission is to foster a solid social and political network throughout New Orleans focusing on finding areas of agreement while setting aside differences, creating a broad range of peoples working together to effect real and necessary change."

    The group has worked on voter registration drives and, post-Katrina, is planning to run a soup kitchen out of a house in New Orleans in the aftermath.

  • National Congress of American Indians
  • The National Congress of American Indians has set up a relief fund to assist tribes and their members in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Six federally recognized tribes are located in the three states, which were hit by wind, rain and flooding.

    To donate to the NCAI Hurricane Relief Fund, send donations to:
    National Congress of American Indians
    1301 Connecticut Ave, NW
    Suite 200
    Washington, DC 20036

    Put Hurricane Relief in subject line of check. All donations will go to the tribes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

  • Also, see this discussion area for the Native Americans Katrina Relief Network.
  • US Anarchist Response
  • Readers may be interested in the Anarchist Katrina Response mailing list. The archives of the list are publically readable, and contain information on some interesting relief efforts.

    Also, relief information from Infoshop News about mutual aid efforts.

  • Common Ground Wellness Center
    A project in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, set up in cooperation with local residents and supported by Infoshop News, Mayday DC, and members of Asheville APOC, "organized on a cooperative, non-hierarchical basis, which stresses the importance of solidarity instead of charity." For more information see also this article on Infoshop News.
  • Neighborhood Story Project

    The Neighborhood story Project "will spend the next 4 months working with evacuee high school students to document the stories of people living in the Astrodome. They are in the process of reprinting the original Neighborhood Story Project Books at a printshop in Houston. The original books, each written by a high school student about their neighborhood in New Orleans, were the best-selling books in New Orleans over the summer, behind Harry Potter 6. All remaining copies were destroyed in the flooding."

    "The Neighborhood Story Project books are a great way for young people whose families have lost everything in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to make money as authors, and to tell the stories of their communities and culture in New Orleans. Book sales will also support efforts by the NSP to help young people document the stories and experiences of evacuees living in the Astrodome."

    "Anyone who wants to help get their local independent bookstore to take a box of these incredible books to sell as a way to raise money for relief and recovery, and as a way to get out the amazing stories of the people and neighborhoods of New Orleans, please contact jamieschweser [at] yahoo.com."

  • Enterprise Corporation of the Delta

    A nonprofit community development financial institution started ten years ago by an African-American church congregation. They also sponsor the HOPE Community Credit Union.

  • Baton Rouge Catholic Worker
  • Solidarity House
    Baton Rouge Catholic Worker
    1275 Laurel St
    Baton Rouge, LA 70802
    Phone: 504-389-9572
    Publication: Baton Rouge Catholic Worker

  • The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond

    "The People’s Institute was created to develop more analytical, culturally-rooted and effective community organizers....Today, The People’s Institute is recognized as one of the foremost anti-racism training and organizing institutions in the nation." They are currently trying to rebuild their offices.

  • New Orleans Musicians' Clinic (NOMC)

    The NOMC is a grassroots organization that provides free medical care to musicians in New Orleans. They have relocated to Lafayette to re-establish themselves and start helping displaced musicians.

  • Emergence Broadcast System
  • Emergence Broadcast System is a New York-based anarchist project that is "bringing wireless communications to people in and around New Orleans, setting up mobile info-points where they can access internet, e-mail and make phone calls to friends and family." They can accept monetary donations.

  • Geaux Library Project

    "The Geaux Library Project will attempt to meet the information needs at hurricane evacuee shelters around Louisiana and beyond. Using computers and networking equipment donated to the Red Cross and others by large commercial and local IT companies, we will be setting up small computer labs at Red Cross shelters and staffing them with librarians and other trained volunteers."

    You can help this project by donating office supplies (or gift certificates for supplies). They cannot accept monetary donations. If you can get to Louisiana and have appropriate training, you can be a volunteer.

  • VolunteerMatch: Hurricane Katrina Relief

    Mostly mainstream organizations are highlighted on the "donate" list, but this site is a good way to find all kinds of volunteer opportunities.

  • Trauma Resources

    Updated 25 January 2006

    Below is a list of resources regarding help for the mental and emotional effects of trauma caused by hurricanes.

    Books
    Available at your local, independent bookseller or infoshop.

    * Common Shock: Witnessing Violence Every Day, How We Are Harmed, How We Can Heal by Kaethe Weingarten
    * Coping With Trauma: A Guide to Self Understanding by Jon Allen
    * Effects of and Interventions for Childhood Trauma from Infancy to Adolescence: Pain Unspeakable by Sandra B. Hutchison
    * Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence From Domestic Abuse To Political Terror by Judith Herman
    * Waking the Tiger : Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences by Peter A. Levine and Ann Frederick

    Jury Duty for Radicals

    "...as a juror, you are one of a panel of twelve judges with the responsibility of protecting all innocent Americans from unjust laws."

    If your response to the subject of this resource is "huh?!?," here's a rationale:

    "Think about everyone rotting in jail because juries believe the cops, think of all of those who are the victims of not only the weight of the system, but of 12 people who believed the bullshit. Perhaps if there were people on the jury who understand that cops lie, that prosecutors hide the truth, there would be fewer people in jail."
    Jessica Rechtschaffer, from the NYC Anarchists discussion list, Re: [nyc@] Jury Duty --> -- Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:49:21 -0700 (PDT). Quoted with permission

    The main point here is that you should want to be selected for a jury, and once serving, you should know your rights and responsibilities, as they are, and not necessarily as they will be explained to you by the judge on your case.

    Getting picked

    FAQ, (Please send me more!)

    Q
    During the voir dire, do they ask if you've been arrested, or if you've been convicted? If it's the former, is there a way to not lie about a (civil disobedience) arrest record (no convictions), without revealing it? Can you answer something like "I've never been convicted of a crime." and refuse to get into what you've merely been accused of?

    A
    They can ask you if you've been arrested or convicted of a crime, they can also ask you if you've been the victim of a crime. If you refuse to do anything then you're less likely to get picked for the jury. It's better to make it a cagey pleasant answer - or an honest answer - probably your misdemeanors aren't going to get you kicked out - but being obstinate or unhelpful or unfriendly will.

    Q
    If I normally ask for an alternative vow (instead of "So help me God"), should I do the same before the voir dire?

    A
    Fight your church and state battle on your own time if you can possibly stand it. This is not about you.

    Q
    Won't the judge tell me how to review the case, and don't I have to follow her guidelines?

    A
    No and no. "You must know your rights! Because, once selected for jury duty, nobody will inform you of your power to judge both law and fact. In fact, the judge's instructions to the jury may be to the contrary." Jurors' Handbook, p. 2, continued...

    "Moreover, it has been recommended that federal judges go one step further and routinely tell jurors, 'You are bound by the oath that you took at the beginning of the trial to follow the instructions that I give you, even if you personally disagree with them.'

    "... But despite its tremendous popularity among judges, this argument is by far the most misshapen stone in the barricade judges have been erecting around the jury box. To begin with, it is usually false. The typical oath taken by jurors today does not forbid them from refusing to convict based on their sense of justice. ... At the beginning of the trial, jurors are typically asked to swear that they 'will well and truly try and a true deliverance make between the United States and the defendant at the bar, and a true verdict render according to the evidence, so help [me] God.'

    "... But nothing in this oath would forbid jurors from acquitting if they are convinced -- based solely on "the evidence" -- that the accused's actions were morally blameless and that a conviction would be unjust.

    "... If a jury refuses to convict a man because of overwhelming feelings of mercy or justice, they are returning a 'false' verdict. A verdict of 'not guilty' based on a jury's notions of justice is not affirmatively declaring that he is innocent. (The same is true of an acquittal based on their conclusion that he has only been shown to be probably guilty, but not beyond a reasonable doubt.) The general 'not guilty' verdict is merely a shorthand way of allowing the jury to express, for reasons they need not explain, 'we do not choose to condemn the accused by pronouncing him guilty.'"

    Once you've been selected
    The information below is excerpted from Jurors' Handbook: A Citizens Guide to Jury Duty, by James Joseph Duane, which you should really read in its entirety and bring with you to court.

    More arguments for serving jury duty

    "I've heard radicals say that serving their jury duty would be to collaborate with, and legitimize the system, as if skipping out on it is somehow an ethical decision. Would these radicals apply this argument to protest other types of interactions with the criminal justice system, especially when doing so would create negative consequences for themselves? Getting out of jury duty is kinda like not voting, in that it is easy and no one gets penalized for it. I imagine there are fewer examples of radicals citing an opposition to cooperating with the justice system when it means risking much.

    "There are all kinds of other ways in which we collaborate with the system -- we accept help from pro bono civil rights lawyers when we have serious charges against us, we show our IDs and go through metal detectors to visit people in jail or attend a trial, we report rapes to the cops, we answer the questions of customs agents, and we pull over to the side of the road acknowledging that a cop has signaled us to do so. Sure, we dirty our hands in some way by going along with any of these things; so ok, we have dirty hands. But if we ignore the justice system only when it makes things easier for ourselves, we are just being lazy, self-serving and exploiting our privilege. Jury duty gives us a chance to help others who are at risk, and therefore should be the last situation in which we pretend to be too pure to collaborate."

    Nick Cooper, printed with permission.

    More general info on serving jury duty

    • Voting of jurors: in criminal trials generally all the jurors have to vote guilty or not guilty or the result is a hung jury. If there is a hung jury that is a victory for the defendant. Prosecutors do not always decide to retry cases or the two sides may decide to settle the cases with a plea to much reduced charges.
    • Jury nullification as in the jury does not believe in the laws and votes on that basis exists and happens although not very often. An example of this might be a criminal trial for marijuana where the jurors decided criminalizing marijuana was wrong and voted not guilty on that basis.
    • Jury notices in some states may indicate what type of jury. There are civil trial, criminal trials, and also grand jury investigations (think Green Scare).
    • In terms of contempt of jurors I suspect this is just more of a threat by judges to get things moving most of the time. One does not hear often about judges throwing jurors in jail. If a juror answers all questions truthfully and follows the instructions of the judge it does not seem like the juror would be held in contempt generally.

    Name of the author of the bulleted list above pending permission.



    To be clear, Radical Reference does not advocate lying or misrepresenting yourself in a court of law.

    Medical Resources

    Mosquito Prevention and Treatment without Chemicals

    TO AVOID MOSQUITO BITES
    (some chemical-free DIY methods)

    Remove or drain areas of standing water if possible.

    Avoid being outdoors at dawn and dusk, the times of day when mosquitos are most active.

    Wear long sleeves and long pants if possible, and wear baggy (so that there's a layer of air between your skin and the fabric) light-colored clothing (mosquitos notice and are attracted to dark or brightly-colored clothes).

    Do not use scented soaps, deodorants, shampoos, or perfume, especially those with floral scents.

    If mosquitos are around, try to stay still and do not wave your arms or breathe heavily. This will make you less noticeable to them.

    Mosquitos are also attracted to the bacteria found on sweaty, smelly feet, so keep yours as clean and dry (preferably in ventilated shoes) as possible.

    As non-chemical insect repellants, you can try cinnamon oil or pure vanilla extract mixed with equal parts water. Some people report that white or cider vinegar applied to the skin is effective. Others say that tucking a fabric softener sheet into their clothing works, too. The question of thiamine and B complex vitamins as a repellant is unresolved -- some medical professionals say that daily supplements of 25-50 mg thiamine (a B vitamin) works (though it takes about 2 weeks of doses for it to produce a skin odor that repels mosquitos), and others say the vitamins have no effect.

    A Japanese study has shown that people who have consumed beer experience an increased amount of mosquito landings.

    IF YOU DO HAVE MOSQUITO BITES

    Try putting ice or a cold compress on bites to counteract the itch.

    Don't scratch if you can help it. If you must, scratch lightly around the bite.

    Try applying one of the following materials to your irritated skin:

    New York City Tenant Resources

    Tenant Research FAQs

    Question: There is noisy and/or hazardous construction work being done on the property. Does my landlord have a permit for this?
    Answer: You can find out which permits have been applied for and/or issued for each property in New York City through the Building Information Systems database on the Department of Buildings website: http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bsqpm01.jsp. You can call 311 to make a complaint (if there's not a permit or there's a hazardous condition).

    Question: Where may I obtain a Certificate of Occupancy for my building?
    Answer: The Building Information System database on the Department of Buildings website allows you to view and download most Certificates of Occupancy:
    http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bsqpm01.jsp

    Question: Are there any open violations on my apartment or building? What about violations on other buildings owned by my landlord?
    Answer: Housing violations can be found on the New York Housing Preservation and Development Building Info Database: http://167.153.4.71/hpdonline/provide_address.aspx
    For help locating other properties owned by your landlord, see the next question.

    Question: Does my landlord own any other buildings in New York City?
    Answer: The ACRIS database on the Department of Finance website is searchable by owner name and contains a record for every property in the five boroughs: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/jump/acris.shtml

    Additional comments from a NYC housing activist:
    Question does not have such a simple answer because almost always landlords incorporate and an LLC owns a building, not an individual so while the contact person's name may be the same (in your case Croman) searching for Croman via ACRIS won't get a complete list. It's fairly difficult to get a comprehensive list. You may just want to put a note so that people know that just because they do an ACRIS search does not mean they will get an accurate list.

    Question: Are there any environmental hazards in my neighborhood?
    Answer: A map of environmental hazards can be found in each property record on the Property Shark database (free registration required): http://www.propertyshark.com/

    Question: Are there any public works construction projects scheduled for my neighborhood?
    Answer: A list of selected projects planned by the Department of Design and Construction can be found on the DDC Project Browser: http://www.nyc.gov/html/ddc/html/pbjump.html

    Question: Are there any major developments planned for my neighborhood?
    Answer: PlanNYC has a partial list of planned or in-progress development projects organized by neighborhood: http://www.plannyc.com/

    Question: Where can I find out the taxable value of a property?
    Answer: The NYC Property Information Database on the Department of Finance website contains several years of value and tax statements: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/jump/nycproperty.shtml

    Question: How can I find out about current rent increases?
    Answer: Check on the Rent Guidelines Board website http://www.housingnyc.com

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    News Sites

    Here are links to various news organizations, both mainstream/commercial and non-commercial. There's also a section on media watchdogs, always a good read and chock full of information! Please email Radlib for comments or additions.

    News sites:

    Media watchdogs:

    Organizations and resources for the RNC convergence

    Here are links to organizations that are working for change during the Republican National Convention. Additionally, there will be resources for activists linked here as we find them. Please contact Radlib for comments or suggestions.

    Organizations :: Resources

    Organizations:

    Resources:

    Prisoner Support Resources

    All of Us or None "A national organizing initiative of prisoners, former prisoners and felons, to combat the many forms of discrimination that we face as the result of felony convictions."
    ACLU Prisoners Rights "The only national litigation program on behalf of prisoners."
    AFSC Stopmax "To promote and support a national movement to end the use of solitary confinement and related forms of torture in US prisons."
    Anarchist Black Cross Federation "In May of 1995, a small group of ABC collectives merged into a Federation whose aim was to focus on the overall support and defense of U.S. Political Prisoners/Prisoners of War."
    Battered Women’s Justice Project "Provides resources for advocates, battered women, legal and justice system personnel, policymakers, and others engaged in the justice system response to domestic violence."
    Books to prisoners programs in North America
    Black and Pink "Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and 'free world' allies who support each other."
    Break the Chains "A news and discussion forum for supporters of political prisoners, prisoners of war, politicized social prisoners, and victims of police and state intimidation."
    Buddhist Peace Fellowship – Transformative Justice Program "Committed to working with prisoners, their families, and all other persons associated with the prison system to address the systemic violence within the prison-industrial complex."
    Campaign to End the Death Penalty "The only national membership-driven, chapter-based grassroots organization dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment in the United States."
    Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents "Their mission is the prevention of intergenerational crime and incarceration."
    Critical Resistance "Seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe."
    CURE: Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants "A grassroots organization that believes prisons should be used only for those who absolutely must be incarcerated and that those who are incarcerated should have all of the resources they need to turn their lives around."
    Death Penalty Focus "One of the largest nonprofit advocacy organizations in the nation dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment through public education; grassroots and political organizing; original research; media outreach; local, state and nationwide coalition building; and the education of religious, legislative and civic leaders about the death penalty and its alternatives."
    Directory of State Prison Librarians "Listing of Librarians by State - Directory of State Prison Libraries"
    FAMM, Families Against Mandatory Minimums "The national voice for fair and proportionate sentencing laws."
    Families United for Prison Reform "Created to bring about change, not only to laws and policies, but also to public perceptions regarding prisons, prisoners, and the criminal justice system."
    Fortune Society "Working to create a world where all who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated can become positive, contributing members of society."
    Free Battered Women "Seeks to end the re-victimization of incarcerated survivors of domestic violence as part of the movement for racial justice and the struggle to resist all forms of intimate partner violence against women and transgender people."
    Jericho Movement "A movement with the defined goal of gaining recognition of the fact that political prisoners and prisoners of war exist inside of the United States despite the United States’ government’s continued denial."
    Justice Now "Our mission is to end violence against women and stop their imprisonment. "
    Legal Aid Society "The nation's oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent."
    LockedOut "Resource list for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer prisoners."
    National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women "Working for justice for battered women charged with crimes."
    National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty "Our mission is to abolish the death penalty in the U.S. and support efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide."
    National HCV Prison Coalition "Formed to bring together organizations and individuals interested in raising awareness and providing support to prisoners who are suffering from hepatitis and HIV/HCV coinfection."
    National Lawyers Guild – Prison Project "Members nationwide share experiences and connect around prison law work; help fill prisoner requests for the Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook."
    National Prison Hospice "Promotes hospice care for terminally ill prisoners."
    National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated "The oldest and largest organization in the U.S. focused on children and families of the incarcerated and programs that serve them."
    November Coalition "Working to end drug war injustice, a non-profit grassroots organization, was founded in 1997."
    Prison Activist Resource Center "A prison abolitionist all volunteer grass roots group committed to exposing and challenging the institutionalized racism of the prison industrial complex."
    Prison Art "Created to provide an online outlet for the sale of artwork and crafts created by prisoners. Prisoner artists from throughout the U.S. can post their works within."
    Prison Legal News "An independent 56-page monthly magazine that provides a cutting edge review and analysis of prisoner rights, court rulings and news about prison issues."
    Prisoner Visitation and Support "A volunteer visitation program to Federal and Military prisoners throughout the United States."
    Prisons Foundation "One of the oldest and most established 501 (c)(3) nonprofit prisoner art advocacy groups in the nation."
    RAPP Campaign: Release Aging People in Prisons "RAPP works to get elderly and infirm people out of prison."
    Sentencing Project "Working for a fair and effective criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing law and practice, and alternatives to incarceration."
    TGI Justice Project "Mission is to challenge and end the human rights abuses committed against transgender, gender variant, genderqueer and people with intersex conditions in California prisons and beyond."
    Women’s Prison Association "A service and advocacy organization committed to helping women with criminal justice histories realize new possibilities for themselves and their families."

    Last updated August 28, 2009

    Radical Reference 2008 Grassroots Media Election Guide

    Radical Reference Presents: the 2008 Grassroots Media Election Guide

    Librarian volunteers from the Radical reference collective
    (www.radicalreference.info) introduce the 2008 Grassroots Media Election guide, chock full of all the links you’ll want to bookmark/tag. Featuring both in-depth and up-to-the-minute campaign information from outside the mainstream, this walk through the 2008 guide highlights news and primary government information sources for radical and progressive media makers monitoring national to local races. This session will emphasize sources that are freely available on the Internet, and locally accessible from your nearest public library. Come get hip to sources, and hone your research and searching techniques. The session will conclude with a brainstorming session for distributing the guide at RNC and DNC convention demonstrations and related events.

    THE GUIDE:


    VOTER REGISTRATION FOR NEW YORK

    http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/register.html

    SOME BASICS

    big-bro-free searching
    Scroogle
    http://scroogle.org/
    An ad-free Google search proxy which prevents the searcher's data being stored by Google, a Firefox plugin, and tools for webmasters

    What is RSS and how do you use it?
    See the wikipedia entry
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

    NEWS AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES

    Alt Press Index and Alternative Press Index Archive
    *Available at NYPL and other public libraries, accessible with your library card*
    The Alternative Press Index is widely regarded as the leading guide to the alternative press in North America. Citations are drawn from roughly 380 alternative, radical, and left publications, which report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political, and social change. API indexes such important periodicals as Cineaste, Environmental Action, Socialist Review, and Women's Review of Books. Subject areas covered include African-American Studies, social theory, ethnic and racial studies, socialism, feminism, alternative organizations, gay/lesbian studies, anarchism, community organizing, prisons, ecology, indigenous people's rights, labor studies, and internationalism.

    Alt-PressWatch
    *Available at NYPL and other public libraries, accessible with your library card*
    Alt-PressWatch is a full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals from alternative and independent presses. This interdisciplinary resource provides a valuable source of alternative viewpoints and perspectives to complement and challenge mainstream media coverage. Many of these publications are difficult to locate and acquire in their printed format.

    AltWeeklies.com hot topics pages, covering the national election and more
    http://www.altweeklies.com/alternative/AltWeeklies/index
    AltWeeklies.com brings readers the best, most insightful, thought-provoking news and features published in the 130 papers that belong to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.

    Common Dreams
    http://www.commondreams.org/
    Breaking news and views for the progressive community.

    Counter Punch Links
    http://www.counterpunch.org/links.html
    List of links from CounterPunch.org

    Ethnic News Watch
    *Available at NYPL and other public libraries, accessible with your library card*
    Designed to provide the "other side of the story," this database offers additional viewpoints from those proffered by the mainstream press. Coverage begins in 1990. Searchable in English and in Spanish, and includes such titles as the New York Amsterdam News, Chicago Defender, El Diario/La Prensa and The Jewish Week.

    NYC IndyMedia
    NYC Independent Media Center's home page.
    http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/index.html

    New York State Newspapers
    *Available at NYPL and other public libraries, accessible with your library card*

    A collection of major New York State newspapers, available in full-text.
    You can search across the following New York State newspapers are available in full-text:
    1. Buffalo News [Buffalo, NY]
    2. Herald-American [Syracuse, NY]
    3. New York Observer [New York, NY]
    4. New York Post [New York, NY]
    5. New York Times [New York, NY]
    6. Post-Standard [Syracuse, NY]

    BLOGS

    C&E political blog directory
    http://www.campaignsandelections.com/blogs/blogs.cfm?categoryid=42&startrow=1

    New York-Centric Political Blogs
    Includes a good list of New York political blogs and online news sources.
    http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:New_York_and_the_U.S._Congress

    Wikipedia list of prominent political blogs and bloggers
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_blog#Notable_American_political_blogs_and_bloggers

    GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

    CSPAN Congressional Chronicle
    http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/
    The C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle is an index to the C-SPAN video recordings of the House and Senate floor proceedings. The video recordings are matched with the text of the Congressional Record as soon as the Record is available. It only includes members who appeared on the floor to deliver or insert their remarks. The text included here is what the member submitted. Each appearance has a video link where users can watch and listen to the actual remarks.

    FactCheck.org
    http://www.factcheck.org/
    Nonpartisan, nonprofit Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania examines the statements of major candidates.

    Govtrak
    Track the activities of your representatives via customizable RSS feeds
    http://www.govtrack.us/

    New York: State and Local Government websites
    http://www.statelocalgov.net/state-ny.htm

    New York State Board of Elections
    http://www.elections.state.ny.us/portal/page?_pageid=35,1,35_8617&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

    New York City Board of elections
    http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/index.html

    Open Congress
    http://www.opencongress.org/
    OpenCongress brings together official government information with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind what's happening in Congress.

    Portal:2008 U.S. Congressional Elections - Congresspedia
    Wiki guide to national and local elections. Contains information about congressional records and links to relevant local blogs.
    http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wiki_the_Vote

    Project vote smart legislation tracking for Congress and State legislatures
    http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote.php

    THOMAS
    http://thomas.loc.gov/
    Federal legislative information freely available to the public, hosted by the library of congress

    Campaign Finance Information

    Campaign Finance - Money, Political Finance, Campaign Contributions
    Contains reports about donations to political campaigns.
    http://www.campaignmoney.com/

    Federal Election Commission Home Page
    The official homepage of the Federal Election Commission. Here you will find a great deal of election finance reports, disclosures and data.
    http://www.fec.gov/

    Opensecrets.org--Money in politics data
    A project of the Center for Responsive Politics, Opensecrets.org provides users with large amounts of data on national and local campaign spending.
    http://www.opensecrets.org/

    Historical Election Data

    Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
    Historical data about previous election results.
    http://www.uselectionatlas.org/

    NARA | Federal Register | U.S. Electoral College
    The National Archives and Records Administration maintains this web page that explains the electoral college, contains historical election results and teaching resources.
    http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/index.html

    Voting and Registration Data
    Historical voting and registration data from the US Census bureau.
    http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html

    SOME OTHER MAJOR ELECTION GUIDES HAND-CRAFTED BY LIBRARIANS

    The University of Michigan Government Documents Center guide to 2008 election information.

    http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/elec2008.html

    ACRL 2008 Election Guide
    Links to online information from the Association of College and Research Libraries.
    http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2008/january08/elect08rescrces.cfm

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    Radical Reference members' blogs

    Radical Reference Members: Please list your blog here, and annotate it if you like. Note: most of the entries are from 2007 and might need updating.

    And check out our nifty blog aggregator.

    Radical collectives and groups

    Radical collectives and groups

    This page lists a selection of radical collectives, contacts and other groups across the US, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. Feel free to add! LAST UPDATED 11/05/08

    Directories

    Slingshot Organizer

    Alabama
    Birmingham
    Cave Nine
    http://www.myspace.com/cave9
    2237 Magnolia Ave S.
    Birmingham, AL 35205
    A show space, an art space and sometimes hosting workshops and classes. all-ages, non-profit.

    Huntsville
    Flying Monkey Arts
    http://www.flyingmonkeyarts.org/
    Lowe Mill, 2211 Seminole Drive
    Huntsville, AL
    Flying Monkey Arts Center is a not for profit community arts collective that encourages, supports and promotes events, workshops and studios featuring but not limited to music, film, theater, dance, puppetry, visual and performance art with a focus on experimental works for mature audiences.

    Alaska
    Anchorage
    The Wasteland
    http://www.myspace.com/thawastelandak

    California
    Oakland
    AK Press

    Indiana
    Bloomington
    Microcosm Publishing

    Maryland

    Red Emma's

    Atomic Books

    Minnesota

    Arise Bookstore and Resource Center

    Bat Annex Free School Library

    Coldsnap Legal Collective

    Extreme Noise

    Food Not Bombs

    Hard Times Collective

    Ladyfest Twin Cities

    Mayday Books

    Radical Cheerleaders

    Seward Cafe

    Sisters Camelot

    Twin Cities IWW

    Nevada

    Food Not Bombs Las Vegas

    Pennsylvania

    Wooden Shoe Books and Records

    The Big Idea Bookstore
    http://www.thebigideapgh.org/

    Pittsburgh Food Not Bombs
    http://pgh-fnb.gpacattack.org/index.php

    Researching Corporations, Front Groups, and Corporate Influence on Government

    These links can help you research the influence of business (aka big business, corporations, big corporations) on government, the media, and other areas of life. This information is often difficult to find as this kind of influence tends to be exerted through a wide variety of means such as campaign donations, pseudo-grassroots organizations, PR and advertising campaigns, lobbying, professional organizations, research funding (or obstruction thereof), and more.

    While every effort has been made to link to sites that present accurate information, it's important to view everything you find with a grain of salt. Interaction between a corporate representative and a government official doesn't necessarily mean explicit corruption. Political scientists and other academics have debated the extent, forms, and impact of corporate influence for decades. These complex issues deserve careful consideration from the people most interested in building a more just world - activists, researchers, and other radicals. Activists and independent journalists can always post their questions on the main page to get further assistance with making the most of these resources.

    For now, this guide will focus most of its efforts on US politics - but that can change if you contribute international resources (domestic ones are, of course, also welcome)!

    Categories include: For Starters, Lobbying, Interest Groups, Front Groups, Funding/Tax Info, 527s, "Revolving Door", Think Tanks, Wikileaks Cables, US Government Records, Government Contracts, and Money in Medicine & Science

    For Starters
    Recent LA Times story regarding the failure of many corporations to fully disclose political spending
    From the site: "Despite mounting calls for greater transparency, only a few of the country's 75 leading energy, healthcare and financial services corporations fully disclose political spending, according to a review of company records and state and federal campaign finance reports."

    Corporate Rule
    From the site: "Corporations are one of the most potent forces dictating and circumscribing how our lives are lived and undermining the survival of the world's ecosystems. Ways of effectively challenging their power and fighting for real democracy are being constricted. This project aims to explore the ways in which corporations exercise power over the decisions made in what we call a democracy, and the ways in which their ideologies and discourses facilitate this by co-opting and/or suppressing people's active democratic participation."

    Lobbying
    Open Secrets Lobbying Database
    From the site: "In addition to campaign contributions to elected officials and candidates, companies, labor unions, and other organizations spend billions of dollars each year to lobby Congress and federal agencies. Some special interests retain lobbying firms, many of them located along Washington's legendary K Street; others have lobbyists working in-house. We've got totals spent on lobbying, beginning in 1998, for everyone from AAI Corp. to Zurich Financial."

    Follow the Money's Lobbyist Link
    From the site: "There's a K Street in every state capitol. Lobbyists in the halls of your statehouse can access and influence those who make the laws that affect your life. But they aren't working for you; they're working for corporations, unions and special interests who have their own agenda to pursue. Lobbyist Link helps you make the connection between lobbyists and their employers. Take it a step further and see what those employers give directly to candidates to exert additional influence over the lawmaking process."

    Interest Groups
    Open Secrets Interest Groups - Browse by Industry
    From the site: "Which candidates is the computer industry giving to? What are the patterns in tobacco contributions over the last ten years? Where is the political money coming from within the agribusiness industries? You can answer this kind of question here."

    Front Groups
    Source Watch Guide to Corporate Front Groups
    From the site: "A front group is an organization that purports to represent one agenda while in reality it serves some other party or interest whose sponsorship is hidden or rarely mentioned. The front group is perhaps the most easily recognized use of the third party technique. For example, Rick Berman's Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) claims that its mission is to defend the rights of consumers to choose to eat, drink and smoke as they please. In reality, CCF is a front group for the tobacco, restaurant and alcoholic beverage industries, which provide all or most of its funding."

    Astroturfing
    Note: Great collection of articles on corporate genesis of fake grassroots support (aka astroturf).

    Funding, Donations, & Tax Information
    Media Matters Action Conservative Transparency site: Money Behind the Movement
    From the site: "Who's funding the Conservative Movement?" - Search people, funders, and recipients of money such as the National Rifle Association, the Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and more.

    Follow the Money's Industry Donations - National and State-By-State
    From the site: "Money in state politics plays a pivotal role in shaping public policy in individual states and across the nation. We track political donations in all 50 states."

    Guidestar Database of Information about Non-Profits
    Description on Sourcewatch: Guidestar "provides an online database with basic financial data and sometimes other information about more than 700,000 nonprofit organizations. To qualify for tax-exempt status in the United States, a nonprofit organization must be registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization. They also must file an annual Form 990 with the IRS, listing their income and expenses for the year, salaries of top employees and other information. Form 990s for the last three years for many organizations can be viewed and downloaded free from GuideStar after registering."

    527s aka Political Non-Profit Organizations
    Center for Public Integrity's site on 527s (aka political non-profits)
    From the site: "A 527 is a non-profit organization formed under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, which grants tax-exempt status to political committees at the national, state and local level. Over the past several years, the term has come to refer to a new form of political organization operating in a gray area of the law. These groups actively influence elections and policy debates at all levels of government, but do not advocate explicitly for election or defeat of candidates."
    Additional note: 527s include organizations from all sides of the political spectrum. The Sierra Club is one moderate example. The "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" (which campaigned against John Kerry in 2004) are another. Labor unions often operate in this fashion, for example the Service Employees International Union.

    Open Secrets' 527 Site
    From the site: "Don't just blame political candidates for all the glossy flyers cluttering your mailbox, for the in-your-face television and radio advertisements and calls at home that interrupt your dinner. Chances are, much of that electioneering is being paid for by one of an untold number of advocacy groups-political action committees (PACs), 527s and other hard-to-track organizations with millions to spend on the 2010 elections. These groups represent a variety of positions on a variety of issues, but they have one thing in common: they influence how you look at the candidates."

    Revolving Door
    Former government employees working for the corporations and vice-versa

    Open Secrets' Revolving Door Search
    From the site: "Although the influence powerhouses that line Washington's K Street are just a few miles from the U.S. Capitol building, the most direct path between the two doesn't necessarily involve public transportation. Instead, it's through a door—a revolving door that shuffles former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists, consultants and strategists just as the door pulls former hired guns into government careers."

    Site Watch Revolving Door site
    Note: Excellent explanation with many examples of how the revolving door works in US politics.

    Project on Government Oversight Revolving Door resources
    Note: News updates and links related to the revolving door phenomenon.

    National Council on State Legislatures Revolving Door Policies
    From the site: ""Revolving Door" Prohibitions Against Legislators Lobbying State Government After They Leave Office"

    Conservative Think Tanks
    Media Matters Action Conservative Transparency site: Money Behind the Movement (Listed twice)
    From the site: "Who's funding the Conservative Movement?" - Search people, funders, and recipients of money such as the National Rifle Association, the Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and more.

    Source Watch Think Tank guide
    From the site: "A think tank (also called a policy institute) is an organization, institute, corporation, or group that conducts research and engages in advocacy in public policy. Many think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax exempt status. While many think tanks are funded by governments, interest groups, or businesses, some think tanks also derive income from consulting or research work related to their mandate.
    In some cases, think tanks are little more than public relations fronts, usually headquartered in state or national seats of government and generating self-serving scholarship that serves the advocacy goals of their industry sponsors.
    Of course, some think tanks are more legitimate than that. Private funding does not necessarily make a researcher a shill, and some think-tanks produce worthwhile public policy research. In general, however, research from think tanks is ideologically driven in accordance with the interests of its funders."

    National Institute for Research Advancement Think Tank Database
    Excellent source of basic information & brief descriptions of think tanks from around the world. Not exactly a radical-oriented resource, but nonetheless essential for anyone researching think tanks.

    Wikileaks Cables
    Cables discussing economic matters

    US Government Records & Info
    Search through the transcripts of Congressional and Senate hearings here.
    Hearings occur at many points of the legislative process (through which a bill becomes a law). These meetings are usually open to the public and are recorded mostly verbatim and published online. You can search transcripts of these hearings to see who testified on a particular bill and what she/he/they said. Be sure to search for the company name as well as any interest groups, professional organizations, or front groups that might advocate on behalf of the company/industry's interests.

    Search the Federal Register (proposed rules, regulations, and comments)
    In the US, Regulations are made by agencies of the Executive Branch like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. Congress passes laws with broad goals, while regulations are used to hammer out the details. These rules and regulations can become law. By searching the Federal Register, you can find out more specific information about how business is regulated in the US (and abroad). It can be confusing to wade through all of these materials so try to be specific in your search.

    Government Contracts POGO Contract Oversight Investigations
    POGO is an independent non-profit research organization that studies government contracts, among many other issues.

    Money in Medicine & Science
    Center for Science in the Public Interest Integrity in Science Project
    From the site: "The Integrity in Science (ISS) Project combats corporate influence on science and science-based public policy. We scrutinize more than 200 science-based federal advisory committees for undisclosed conflicts of interest, monitor the media and scientific literature for failure to disclose, and encourage the adoption of strong disclosure policies."

    POGO: Project on Government Oversight - Integrity in Science Investigations
    POGO is an independent non-profit that investigates government corruption in all forms. These investigations focus on the pharmaceutical and health device industries and their impact on government-funded health sciences research.

    Drug Company Payments to Doctors
    This database by ProPublica tracks payments made to doctors by 8 major pharmaceutical and medical device companies. A worthwhile place to start, although it only captures payments by the companies with 36% of the market share in total.

    PLoS Collection: Articles on Ghostwriting
    From the site: "Ghostwriting occurs when someone has made substantial contributions to writing a manuscript but this role is unacknowledged. In medicine, ghostwriting is problematical because it often involves pharmaceutical companies (or the medical communication companies that work for them) producing articles that promote the benefits of their health-care products while playing down their harm, and then masking their involvement in the development of the articles by recruiting academic “guest authors” to lend false credibility and independence. Because ghostwriting misrepresents authorship credit and accountability, it is considered to be unethical, dishonest, and a threat to the integrity of the medical literature."

    Little Sis
    "LittleSis is a free database of who-knows-who at the heights of business and government. We're a grassroots watchdog network connecting the dots between the world's most powerful people and organizations."

    Researching the US Political Right

    Media Transparency


    http://www.mediatransparency.org/default.php
    For tracking funding of the political right, Media Transparency, which "tracks the impact of conservative philanthropy on the media, both through a database of grant information and through original research."

    Right Web

    "Exposing the architecture of power that's changing our world."
    http://rightweb.irc-online.org/index.php
    Lots of profiles of right-wing organizations and people. "Right Web, a program of the International Relations Center founded in late 2003, explores the many ties that link the main players, organizations, corporate supporters, foundations, educational institutions, and government representatives to each other in what we described as a new architecture of power. Right Web primarily focuses on the influence of this architecture of power on the direction of foreign, military, and homeland security policies. Most of the organizations and individuals profiles are now associated with the Republican Party, but this "architecture of power" crosses party lines as does the Right Web program, which also profiles such right-center organizations as the Democratic Leadership Council and leading liberal hawks." Check out their chart on the Bush foreign policy team, a who's who of militarists, social conservatives, and neoconservative ideologues.

    Political Research Associates


    http://www.publiceye.org
    PRA is sort of a progressive think tank. Their Public Eye website provides "resources for understanding and challenging the Political Right." There are lots of articles here, on topics from Christian Zionism to Gay Conservatives, etc.

    Resources on the USA PATRIOT Act

    Here's some information and background on the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act or USAPA) of 2001. Additions? Comments? Please email radlib at ucimc dot org.

    Here's the text of the USAPA courtesy of Thomas.gov. A good place to start on gathering information about USAPA is the Wikipedia entry on USAPA. Dan Tsang, librarian at UC Irvine, has put together a Selected bibliography of Viet Dinh, assistant attorney general under John Ashcroft, and chief architect on USAPA.


    PATRIOT II

    Please do your part to stop the PATRIOT II before it becomes law. One very easy way to take action is to send a free electronic fax through the ACLU's Stop the New Patriot Act. You can simply point, click, and type to send an electronic message to your elected officials.

    For more information regarding how the PATRIOT II will effect you, see: AlterNet: Get Ready for PATRIOT II


    From the American Library Association (ALA):

    From the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU):

    News regarding the USAPA and Libraries/Librarians:

    Tools for Statistics

    Links to statistical sites that cover many topics and specific topics. Please contact Radlib for comments or suggestions.

    General or Sites that cover many topics

    Specific Topics

    Crime

    Education

    Health

    Immigration

    Iraq

    Labor

    Population & Demographics

     

    Tools for legal reference

    Below are some tools to help with legal reference. Remember, we're not lawyers here at radical reference, but we can at least point you to some information. Thanks to Rebecca for collecting these sites. Please contact Radlib for comments or suggestions of other resources.

    Everybody’s
    Legal Dictionary


    Created by NOLO , a company which specializes in self-help materials. Allows
    search by legal term and retrieves “plain English” definition.

    Find Law

    All -purpose legal research site. The “For Legal Professionals”
    section lets you browse by type of law (federal or state), by jurisdiction (state)
    or by subject.

    Know
    Your Rights


    Online version of a pamphlet by the National Lawyers Guild that explains your
    legal rights if you are questioned by the police, FBI, customs agents or immigration
    officers.

    Know Your Rights Wallet Card

    Print and carry this at a glance resource that advises you to say early and often, "I do not consent to a search."

    Legal Aid Society

    Legal services for those who cannot afford a lawyer.

    Legal Information Institute

    Compiled by Cornell Law School. Good collection of federal material including
    U.S. Supreme Court opinions from 1990 , MY Court of Appeals decisions and state
    laws categorized by topic.

    Midnight Special Law Collective

    An independent non-profit organization dedicated to providing legal trainings and accessible, relevant, democratic and accountable legal support to a wide range of activists participating in the struggle for social change.

    National Lawyers' Guild

    an association dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. The Guild unites lawyers, law students, and legal workers as an effective political and social force in the service of the people. If you are arrested or detained, call the National Lawyers Guild at 212-679-6018. They will also have 400 to 500 lawyers and legal observers in the crowds on Sunday. They are wearing green hats.

    New York Civil Liberties Union

    Articles on efforts to limit police tactics and to protect First Amendment rights
    at RNC. Also contains section on Civil Liberties post 9/11.

    New York Courts and Law Guide

    Compiled by the New York Law Journal and New York Court system. Contains links
    to New York law on legal topics and to information about New York state and
    federal courts.

    NY: American Law
    Sources Online


    Menu based search for New York law. Includes legislation, court cases and regulations.
    Links to NYC Charter and Administrative Code.

    People’s Law Collective

    PLC is operating a Legal Hotline for the RNC. Website contains information on
    the ins and outs of the NYC criminal justice system., directions to the courthouse,
    important phone numbers and advice on local laws, and how to handle the NYPD.

    Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press

    The RCFP has arranged legal help for credentialed press covering the convention.
    Attorneys from Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Schulz, LLP will be available via
    the 24-hour "Media Hotline" to offer cost-free legal advice and representation with regard to convention access and coverage. The hotline phone number is (212) 850-6122. So get your press credentials NOW!

    Homeless Law Blog

    This blog is intended to be a research guide for homeless people trying to learn about their legal rights and liabilities. It presents typical legal questions that arise in homeless life and then answers them by introducing likely areas of law to investigate, showing search terms, and giving leads to primary law sources.

    Video Archives and Resources

    This page has been created in response to a question about video archives that could be useful for activists (and those who love them). We hope the list will grow and welcome suggestions and additions.

    Paper Tiger Television: Founded in 1981. Their website has clear links to history, mission, staff, and funders pages. Its Links and Resources page includes alternative press, radio, and websites. A 12 page Paper Tiger Curriculum Vitae includes PPTV activities and articles about the organization back to 1985. Their Catalog can be viewed as a long list or searched by title words, description, year, or by any of 22 main categories.

    Deep Dish TV: Started producing alternative TV in 1986. Its Catalogue lists many individual progams under each of the main series titles. It lists many other resources, including a main Links page.

    There is a rich collection of moving images at the Internet Archive, which can be searched for relevant subject terms, and then those results can be narrowed by subject, for example search "radical" and limit to "newsandpublicaffairs" gets 14 items.

    There is an excellent collection of sound and video from artistic and cultural avant-gardes on UbuWeb, many of which may be relevant. Try searching terms such as "situationist" etc.

    RESEARCHING ALTERNATIVE MEDIA: At large academic libraries, try searches such as "alternative media" in databases such as Project Muse (81 hits in December 2007), or JSTOR (419 hits in December 2007). JSTOR is a very large full-text database, so very specific searches also work: "alternative television" gets 35 hits. Very large libraries will have Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Search. Using the ISI version of this, A&HSearch combined with SSCI got 9 hits for the phrase: "radical media" and 4 for "alternative video"

    Video.google.com is especially useful for tracing obscure or very recent videos - especially if you know the names of people or places involved. Even a rough search will get interesting results. Search: radical site:edu to try to limit to university or college related videos, for example. But such an approach is extremely crude - it might get chemistry class videos on free radicals, etc.

    Voters' Rights

    Quick and Dirty Webliography for Voters' Rights
    by Karen Lillis, copied here with her permission
    original version

    I. Dear Citizens

    1. You are encouraged to check your voting status before Election Day. Check with your county election office to find out if you are listed as registered.
    2. Call or email your representatives:
      At Project Vote Smart, you can enter your zip code (upper left hand side of page) to find both your Senate and House representatives.

      Or go directly to the Senate and House sites.
      Find your Senators by State in the upper right hand corner. Find your House representative by zip code in the upper left hand corner.

    3. If your eligibility is contested at your polling place, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to request a provisional ballot. See more on provisional ballots at Election Protection or at the Help America Vote Act.

    II. Web Resources for further information and advice on voting and voters' rights

    Help America Vote Act of 2002
    "Provisional Voting Requirements.--If an individual declares that such individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction in which the individual desires to vote and that the individual is eligible to vote in an election for Federal office, but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote, such individual shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot as follows:"

    Voting and the November 2nd election [2004]

    This section includes handy online tools and support for the upcoming election. Radical Reference neither advocates nor discourages voting, our aim is simply to put information into our users' hands. Please contact Radlib for comments or suggestions.

    Most of the mainstream thought today assumes that voting and democracy are the great participatory tools for citizens to be involved in their governments. For another perspective, see "Choose and Lose", infoshop.org's evaluation of voting and elections.

    Election Day Hotline Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683)

    For our more direct-action minded readers, check out November 3, 2004: Day of direct action in Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Houston

    1) General election information: Want good election background and information? There are three good places to start:

    2) State by state election laws: Find elections information for all states, as well as ballot propositions, elections laws etc.

    3) Swing states. There are 11 "swing" states, worth 135 electoral votes. According to Electoral-vote.com, they are: Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio (which Bush won in 2000) as well as Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (which Gore won in 2000). Do you want more information on swing states? Check here:

    4) Live voting tallies. I check Electoral Vote every day and assume that the site will be keeping a live tally. In addition, the New York Times campaign section has a nice interactive mapping feature

    5) Information on ballot measures at the state (and local?) level. See the NASS site above for a good starting point.

    6) election observers. Besides being observers, the organizations below have much good information on their sites about free and fair elections.

    Young Adult Resources -- Globalization

    Globalization Sources for Young Adults

    *********************************************

    How Soccer Explains the World : An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
    by Franklin Foer
    HarperCollins (July 1, 2004)
    ISBN: 0066212340
    for older YA's, maybe a bit controversial, but entertaining and thought provoking nonetheless.

    Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World
    by Bill Bigelow (Editor), Bob Peterson (Editor)
    Publisher: Rethinking Schools Ltd (March, 2002)
    ISBN: 0942961285
    Curriculum planning for teachers.

    Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word
    by Linda Christensen
    Publisher: Rethinking Schools Ltd (October 1, 2000)
    ISBN: 0942961250
    Curriculum planning for teachers.

    Hands Around the World: 365 Creative Ways to Encourage Cultural Awareness and Global Respect (Williamson Kids Can! Series)
    by Susan Milord
    Publisher: Williamson Publishing Company (VT) (August 1, 1992)
    ISBN: 0913589659
    Good for younger kids, 9-12, and teachers.

    Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
    by Manfred B. Steger
    Publisher: Oxford University Press (May 1, 2003)
    ISBN: 019280359X
    Good introduction for older YA's.

    Globalization : Culture and Education in the New Millennium
    by Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco (Editor), Desiree B. Qin-Hilliard (Editor)
    Publisher: University of California Press (April 1, 2004)
    ISBN: 0520241258
    For educators and older teens.

    Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate
    by Naomi Klein, Debra Ann Levy
    Publisher: Picador USA; 1st Picado edition (October 4, 2002)
    ISBN: 0312307993
    This is another excellent opinion book written for adults, but appropriate for older teens.

    Hey, Kidz! Buy This Book: A Radical Primer on Corporate and Governmental Propaganda and Artistic Activism for Short People
    by Anne Elizabeth Moore, Megan Kelso
    Publisher: Soft Skull Press (August 1, 2004)
    ISBN: 1932360352
    This is a really great book! It speaks on kids' level without being condescending. Most appropriate for ages 9-14.

    Steal This Book
    by Abbie Hoffman
    Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows (January, 2002)
    ISBN: 156858217X
    Another slightly controversial choice, and perhaps slightly dated, but a valuable perspective nonetheless. I read this when I was about thirteen, and it changed my life.

    Stand Up, Speak Out
    by Selda Altun, Jabran Ali, Tom Burke, Julien Olivier, Peace Child International
    Publisher: Two-Can Publishers (December 1, 2001)
    ISBN: 1587285401
    Deals with global perspectives on children's rights. Great for ages 9-12. Lots of great illustrations.

    Kids at Work : Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
    by Russell Freedman
    Publisher: Clarion Books; Reprint edition (March 23, 1998)
    ISBN: 0395797268
    Wonderful pictorial essay on child labor for any age.

    Take Action! A Guide to Active Citizenship
    by Marc Kielburger, Craig Kielburger
    Publisher: Wiley (August 9, 2002)
    ISBN: 0471271322
    Focus on social responsibility, appropriate for ages 9-14.

    Globalize It!
    by Brendan January
    Publisher: 21st Century Books (September 3, 2003)
    ISBN: 0761324178
    A great introduction to globalization for kids, appropriate for ages 10-15.

    Hear My Voice: A Multicultural Anthology of Literature from the United States
    by Laurie King
    Publisher: Pearson Learning (July 1, 1993)
    ISBN: 0201818396
    Literature addressing issues of multiculturalism for young adults.

    Freedom of Movement (What Do We Mean By Human Rights)
    by Catherine Bradley
    Publisher: Franklin Watts; 1st American ed edition (March 1, 1998)
    ISBN: 053114447X
    A nicely illustrated book dealing with human rights, good for ages 9-13.

    Listen to Us: The World's Working Children
    by Jane Springer
    Publisher: Groundwood Books (December 1, 1997)
    ISBN: 0888993072
    This is a wonderful and honest book that includes accounts from working children all over the world. Good for ages 9-14.

    The Children of NAFTA : Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border
    by David Bacon
    Publisher: University of California Press (February 23, 2004)
    ISBN: 0520237781
    This is an adult book, but would be readable for older teens.

    Is There No Other Way?: The Search for a Nonviolent Future
    by Michael Nagler
    Publisher: Berkeley Hills Books; 1st edition (February 15, 2001)
    ISBN: 1893163164
    Essays on nonviolence, good for older teens.

    Hard Line : Life and Death on the U.S.-Mexico Border
    by Ken Ellingwood
    Publisher: Pantheon (June 1, 2004)
    ISBN: 0375422439
    Also good for older teens.

    George Soros on Globalization
    by George Soros
    Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1st edition (March 1, 2002)
    ISBN: 1586481258
    This is not really a YA book, but I couldnt' resist adding it.

    Globalize Liberation : How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World
    by David Solnit (Editor)
    Publisher: City Lights Publishers (June 15, 2004)
    ISBN: 0872864200
    Another social activism book for adults, but appropriate for older teens.

    Window
    by Jeannie Baker
    Publisher: Greenwillow (April 26, 1991)
    ISBN: 0688089186
    For younger kids, but it has wonderful pictures and a great message.

    Websites:

    http://youthink.worldbank.org/
    http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/index.html
    http://www.youthlink.org/us/
    http://www.freechild.org/index.htm
    http://www.iyp.oxfam.org/index.html
    http://www.checkyourhead.org/index.html
    http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/
    http://www.peacecorps.gov/kids/
    http://www.globalizeliberation.org
    http://www.sol-plus.net/peace.htm

    del.icio.us links--most recent for:radical_reference