Displaying results 1 - 25 of 342
On The Importance Of Personal Narratives: An Approach To Academic Reference Interviews
Online/Virtual Event
As a form of conversation, reference interviews are uniquely positioned to facilitate relationship building, collaboration, and community care. This can be especially salient in academic settings where productivity, efficiency, and achievements are built into the community’s expectations. In this webinar, Tricia Clarke, PhD, explores the relevance of personal narratives as part of the academic reference interview.
By embracing practices that view academic reference interviews and research appointments as more than mere transactions, librarians can create spaces for patrons to share personal narratives, which fosters a sense of belonging and well-being among students, faculty, and staff and helps to encourage healthy interpersonal relationships among librarians and patrons.
Attendees will gain:
Insight into the power of personal narratives
An understanding of the transformative potential of encouraging personal narratives
during reference interviews and research appointments
A look at best practices which can contribute to building a more inclusive and
supportive learning environment in the academic landscape
About our presenter:
Tricia Clarke is the Community College Engagement Librarian at the University of the District of Columbia, a historically Black land-grant university and the only public university in Washington, DC. She has loved libraries throughout her entire adulthood and much of her childhood, which was spent growing up on the English-speaking Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago. She has a doctorate in Folklore and her research and professional interests include cultural heritage, community engagement, and supporting and contributing to diverse and inclusive communities. She is passionate about fostering literacy and cultivating a rich cultural learning environment.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
Teaching Strategies For Librarians
Workshop
When it comes to teaching information literacy to patrons, librarians offer a variety of instructional techniques to help them optimize and enrich their research activities. These include various teaching strategies and multiple instructional tools, from collaborative learning to utilizing audiovisual aids to story reenactments. This interactive workshop will introduce a wide range of teaching strategies, providing examples of lesson plans that work with each one. Participants are encouraged to bring their own lesson plans or topics they are planning to cover to discuss what teaching strategies might work best for them.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Identify multiple types of teaching strategies
Understand which strategies work best for different topics
Utilize these instructional tools in their lesson plans
This two-hour, in-person workshop will take place at the Brooklyn Public Library's Central branch in the Info Commons lab.
About our presenter:
Selenay Aytac, PhD., MA, MBA, MS is Professor of University Libraries at Long Island University, New York. She received a Senior Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the Bogazici University Telecommunication and Information Technologies Research Center in Istanbul. She was a library research fellow at the Princeton University Library for the AY 2019-2020. She was the recipient of 2007 ALISE/Bohdan S. Wynar Research Paper Award with the paper Recent Library Practitioner Research: A Methodological Analysis and Critique.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
METRO’s Digitization Project Grant: Information Session
Online/Virtual Event
This webinar will be facilitated by METRO’s Digitization Project Grant Program Managers, Allison Sherrick and Traci Mark. Allison and Traci will review the main components of the grant process, including:
The program’s information sheet
Eligibility
The application process
There will be a Q & A period at the end of the session. Please be sure to review our grant documentation before you arrive and bring any questions you might have.
This session will be recorded.
Bibliometrics For Librarians
Online/Virtual Event
Bibliometrics, also known as an analysis of scientific literature, is one of the most popular data analysis techniques used among librarians. Although it originated in the library and information science field, these days it is commonly used among many others to assess and evaluate certain literature or trends within a specific context, helping researchers measure the impact a work has on academic literature as a whole. The proliferation of web-based indexes, particularly Scopus and Web of Science, has made it easy to retrieve and analyze large volumes of bibliometric data. This workshop will introduce major bibliometric techniques that make use of such indexes, and will showcase some examples of published work that demonstrates its use in LIS.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Evaluate individual author's, institutions’, or countries’ scientific productivity
Examine the scientific growth or trend of any given research field
Investigate the scientific impact of any given publication
About our presenter:
Selenay Aytac, PhD., MA, MBA, MS is Professor of University Libraries at Long Island University, New York. She received a Senior Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the Bogazici University Telecommunication and Information Technologies Research Center in Istanbul. She was a library research fellow at the Princeton University Library for the AY 2019-2020. She was the recipient of 2007 ALISE/Bohdan S. Wynar Research Paper Award with the paper Recent Library Practitioner Research: A Methodological Analysis and Critique.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
RESCHEDULED: Climate Change Exposure For The METRO Region, Part 2: What Can Libraries Do?
Online/Virtual Event
NOTE: This webinar was originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 23, but has been rescheduled to a new date.
In the second webinar of a two-part series, Eira Tansey (Memory Rising) will discuss a recent study carried out for METRO to contextualize and understand climate change exposure for the region. New York City and the state of New York have some of the most ambitious climate action plans in the country. We’ll discuss examples of actual strategies libraries are already using to reduce their environmental impact and adapt to climate change, as well as emerging areas of climate action collaboration between librarianship and other sectors.
Participants will:
Learn how to locate existing climate change policy resources in their sector/geographic area
Understand ways of embedding climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies into library work
Be able to identify areas of potential collaboration with professionals from other fields
Find more info about Part 1 here.
About our presenter:
Eira Tansey is an archivist, researcher, and consultant based in her hometown of Cincinnati/the Ohio River watershed. She is the founder of Memory Rising, which provides research, consulting, and archival services with expertise in climate change, environmental and labor movements, and Ohio Valley regional history. She previously worked as an archivist at the University of Cincinnati and Tulane University. Eira’s research on archives and climate change has been profiled by Yale Climate Connections, VICE, and Pacific Standard, and has been honored by the Society of American Archivists. Her most recent publication is A Green New Deal for Archives.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
PLIX Creative Learning: Summer Mind-Body Connection
Online/Virtual Event
Let’s simulate summer break with creative learning! In this workshop, we’ll explore the mind-body connection and create a wearable (that may not yet exist) to express, communicate, and track your summer aspirations. You’ll learn about the creative learning spiral, and how to celebrate your patrons’ process AND product. In creative learning, there’s no “one right way.” Just like how we’ll encourage you to explore and tinker, we hope that you’ll do the same for your patrons.
Participants will:
Experience a hands-on creative learning activity that emphasizes the mind-body connection
Explore the creative learning spiral, and recognize yourself and your patrons in it
Learn strategies for celebrating the process of creative learning, not just the product
This workshop comes with a mini activity kit that gets shipped to you via snail mail, so we’ll need your mailing address. Space is limited to 20. If you register but then know you will no longer be able to attend, please let us know by February 22nd so we may open your spot to someone on the waitlist.
This is the second of two workshops on creative learning with the Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX) at the MIT Media Lab. You can attend this workshop without attending the first.
About our presenter:
Ada Ren-Mitchell loves playful learning. As the Learning Programs Designer of the Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX) at the MIT Media Lab, she can't believe her job involves hanging out with amazing librarians around the world! Over the past 13 years, she juggled professional development in STEM education, STEM education research, multi-modal gesture research, and web and graphic design. Ada likes to wrap her brain around complex systems, and tries to make sense of it all through community co-creation, visual information design, and prudent science communication. In her spare time, she enjoys sending snail mail, carving stamps, sewing clothes, and crafting interactive finger-foods for her friends and family.
2024 STEM Information Professionals Mini Conference NYC: New Ideas, New People, New Technology
Conference
Please join us for the first annual science librarian and science information professionals mini conference at Barnard College in New York City, co-sponsored by Barnard College, New York University Libraries, Columbia University Libraries, The Cooper Union Library, and the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO).
This mini conference aims to bring together STEM librarians, library workers, LIS students, and other STEM-focused information professionals to build community, share ideas, and discuss critical approaches to instruction and research.
Our closing keynote speaker will be Peace Ossom, MLS, MS, AHIP, who will present "New Ways to Data Today: The Evolving World and Demands for Research Services in Academic Libraries." Ossom is the Associate Director, NNLM National Center for Data Services at NYU Health Sciences Library and Associate Curator, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Ossom's expertise includes research data services, scholarly communications, and health sciences information literacy. In recognition of her research, Peace received the 2021 Texas Woman’s University Hallmark Alumni Award as well as the Medical Library Association’s 2020 Ida and George Eliot Prize which recognizes the most effective article in furthering medical librarianship. She has experience in a wide variety of roles, and is an active educator, teaching both “Research Data Services in Libraries” at San Jose State University’s graduate iSchool program and “Public Health Informatics” at The University of Texas at Arlington’s undergraduate public health program.
Date: Thursday, March 14 and Friday, March 15, from 9am to 5pm each day
Location: The Milstein Center at Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, and online
Price: In-person $15 registration fee includes both days of the conference and lunch (for those observing Ramadan, we will have takeaway containers). Please register for the in-person event here.
Virtual Option: If you would prefer to attend remotely, we are offering that option at no charge. Please register for the virtual session here. Zoom login instructions for individual tracks will be emailed to registrants closer to the event date.
Registration is open through March 1, 2024.
Have you got an idea for a session or workshop? Submit your proposal ideas by February 9, 2024, using this form: https://barnard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5bvewd2d4K78Nj8
Abolitionist Futures: A PLSN Discussion Group / Artistic Expressions From The Inside
Online/Virtual Event
Want to learn more about prison abolition? Looking to explore the role of information in the prison industrial complex? Excited to discuss ways we can collectively offer resources to address violence caused by mass incarceration? Join the club (literally!). The Prison Library Support Network is collaborating with METRO to host Abolitionist Futures: A PLSN Discussion Group, which will meet quarterly on the second Monday of the month at 7:30pm.
In 2024, we will continue to curate a rotating calendar of media resources for discussion, including: books, podcasts, videos, zines, and more! We’re also re-committing to the “futures” part of our discussion group by intentionally building in time during each meeting to share actionable steps for practicing everyday abolition.
Also new in 2024! We’re aiming to be joined by special guest facilitators (authors, librarians, and more) with a range of experiences relating to prison abolition. More details to come!
If you’re on our PLSN listserv, you’ll receive information throughout the year on how to join each discussion group, who our featured guest will be, and which materials we’d like you to engage with before joining. As a reminder, both upcoming discussion content and past years of discussion materials can be found on this doc.
Join us for the first Abolitionist Futures meeting of the year: Artistic Expressions From The Inside. Engage with visual, written, and performance art created by incarcerated individuals; and hear from special guest, journalist Emily Nonko, about her work as director of the Writing for Liberation track of Empowerment Avenue, a collective founded in 2020 to support incarcerated writers and artists. Emily will discuss inside-outside organizing strategies, how to support the creative work of incarcerated people while centering their voice and agency, and fairly compensating incarcerated folks. She will be joined in the second half of the discussion with incarcerated journalist Kwaneta Harris.
As always, our discussion materials are free to access and contain a variety of media formats. Before joining the meeting please read, listen to, and explore these materials:
The Only Door I Can Open, virtual art exhibition - CLOSES MARCH 3RD
The Underprivileged Oasis, art exhibit by Alvin Smith
Artist statement and gallery of trans incarcerated artist Shelly Levy
Kwaneta Harris' writing
The Empowerment Avenue Substack compiles the art and writing from the Empowerment Avenue collective once a month
"Inside Music" Ear Hustle podcast episode (48 min)
Optional:
Prison Art: Drawing is an Outlet and and Source of Income for Incarcerated People
Free Minds poetry blog
About our guests:
Emily Nonko is the Director of Writing for Liberation for Empowerment Avenue. She is also a social justice and solutions oriented journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. A visit to San Quentin State Prison in 2018 changed the trajectory of her career and she would go on to work closely with the journalists there to help bring their writing outside prison walls. After co-founding Empowerment Avenue with Rahsaan "New York" Thomas, she has overseen the outside logistics of Writing for Liberation, is the co-editor of the Press in Prison guidebook, and has advised countless publications and journalists on how to meaningfully work with and transfer power to incarcerated writers.
Kwaneta Harris is a former nurse, business owner and expat, now incarcerated journalist. She brings experiences from each profession to illuminate how the experience of being incarcerated in the largest state prison in Texas is vastly different for women in ways that directly map onto a culture rooted in misogyny. Her powerful and shocking stories expose how the intersection of gender, race and place contribute to state-sanctioned, gender-based violence.
Please review METRO's Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services here.
PLIX Creative Learning: Beautiful Symmetries In Your Library
Online/Virtual Event
Infuse Creative Learning into your library programming this summer! Try out the PLIX Beautiful Symmetry activity, exploring and recreating the patterns of your favorite spot in your library. You’ll be introduced to the core concepts of creative learning, the role of the facilitator, and ways to engage patrons’ diverse interests, moving people away from making the same thing.
Participants will:
Experience a hands-on creative learning activity that highlights symmetries in your library
Get to know the 4Ps of creative learning, and the role of the facilitator
Learn strategies for curating diverse inspiring example projects, and recognize ways you already engage patrons’ interests
This workshop comes with a mini activity kit that gets shipped to you via snail mail, so we’ll need your mailing address. Space is limited to 20. If you register but then know you will no longer be able to attend, please let us know by February 8th so we may open your spot to someone on the waitlist.
This is the first of two workshops on creative learning with the Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX) at the MIT Media Lab. Learn more about the second workshop here.
About our presenter:
Ada Ren-Mitchell loves playful learning. As the Learning Programs Designer of the Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX) at the MIT Media Lab, she can't believe her job involves hanging out with amazing librarians around the world! Over the past 13 years, she juggled professional development in STEM education, STEM education research, multi-modal gesture research, and web and graphic design. Ada likes to wrap her brain around complex systems, and tries to make sense of it all through community co-creation, visual information design, and prudent science communication. In her spare time, she enjoys sending snail mail, carving stamps, sewing clothes, and crafting interactive finger-foods for her friends and family.
COPY BYTES: Digitization And Libraries, Part 2
Online/Virtual Event
Digitization is defined as the process of converting information from a physical format to a computer-readable one. Libraries utilize digitization as a means of preservation and to broaden the dissemination of information beyond their brick and mortar buildings. But how can libraries balance the needs of their patrons in the digital age while still protecting the intellectual property rights of the creators that they collect? This is the second of a two-part series led by Kiowa Hammons that is focused on policies and best practices for libraries and digitization within US copyright law.
Following the second session, attendees will be able to:
Understand how digital access strategies such as e-Resources, web archives, and Controlled Digital Lending affect libraries
Assess the existence, and need for, a “Global Digital Archive”
Identify potential collection strategies in the new normal of born digital archives and audio and moving image materials
See more information about Part 1 here.
About our presenter:
Kiowa Hammons has more than 10 years of experience in intellectual property rights. As the Manager of Rights Clearance at The New York Public Library, he leads a team focused on facilitating digitization projects of library collection materials: including copyright reviews, licensing, metadata implementation, and educating staff on copyright policies. Previously Kiowa worked in rights clearance at Penguin Random House and The Whitney Museum of American Art. Kiowa holds a Masters in Library and Information Sciences from The Pratt Institute, with an emphasis on Information Policy, Art Librarianship, and Archives.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
Book Banning In 21st-Century America: A Book Talk With Emily J. M. Knox
Online/Virtual Event
Thursday, February 22nd 2024 from 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Emily J. M. Knox, associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, joined Mary Bakija, Program Manager at METRO Library Council, for a discussion on her book, Book Banning In 21st-Century America, on Thursday, February 22. Below is a transcript of the conversation, which has been edited for clarity and length.
Mary Bakija: To set some stage for our audience today as you did in your work, we'll be referring to people who put in requests for books to be removed, restricted, or relocated from libraries or curricula as challengers. Can you explain why you chose that terminology rather than something to do with banning or censoring?
Emily Knox: There are a couple of reasons. Generally in the freedom of expression world, we call them challengers because censor has a very negative connotation. I actually have an article on how being called a censor is similar to being called a racist. Also, when you call someone a censor, it focuses on the outcome as opposed to the process, to their request. The request is that something happens to this material. They have challenged where this material is located in a public institution. Yes, they may want to censor something, but that does not actually mean that that will be the outcome.
MB: Why might it be important for librarians, educators, and others facing these challenges to understand the worldviews and motivations of these challenges?
EK: What I think is so fascinating about people who challenge books is that they think that books are important. I'm often confronted by people who think these people are ignorant, they don't believe in reading, those sorts of things. But in fact, what I try to get to in my work is that people who challenge books actually truly believe in reading. They believe books will change lives. I think this is important for librarians and library workers to know because if you understand it from that point of view, you are getting a truer idea of what they're saying, which is not so much that, "I don't think that reading is good," but that, "I think that reading is so powerful that I want to remove this work this book from your collection because It will make people the type of person that I don't want them to be."
Most people who work in libraries tend to like books. I have people read books to change their knowledge structures, what they understand about the world. We believe that books can be a democratizing agent. Where we differ is that, in librarianship, we don't know what that outcome will be. So people who challenge books, they worry that they know what will happen if you read this book. But if you think about our ethics and the Library Bill of Rights, I don't know what might happen if you read this book. You might be introduced to all sorts of things, and you may or may not agree with them. That's the difference.
MB: Something you touched on a bit there is how much fear there is for what change might come after reading a book. One of the more interesting fears that you note in your book is this idea of "difficult knowledge," where books or the ideas that are presented in them are things that adults find challenging to grapple with themselves, and so it's even harder to imagine doing that with their kids. Can you talk about how fear plays into book banning?
EK: This is Kerry H. Robinson's theory, and I think it really encapsulates what goes on when people think about banning a book, especially for children. There are a lot of topics that are very difficult to discuss. I was just at a public hearing where a woman said, "I don't want my child to learn anything about sex." In any way, heterosexual, homosexual. You could tell that it's the discussion of sex that is difficult. How do you talk to your children about this? Lot of the topics that are being challenged right now are really actually quite difficult to discuss. How do you talk about what gender is? We have a lot of easy ways of saying it like gender and sexuality are not the same thing, but how do you explain that to someone who's 7? In our society we don't have good sex education, we don't have a shared understanding of our history, and that is really what comes up in these book challenges.
MB: And we don't have the kind of language to discuss these things in life, in general. You mention that in the book, too, about how providing kids with the language to discuss these things is sometimes of vital importance in their lives. Can you talk about that?
EK: When I work on the new edition, I'm going to extend this to adults, because what these books also do is give adults language to be able to discuss these things.
The most impactful anecdote I can think of about this idea is how Robie Harris, the author of It's Perfectly Normal, talked about how a parent came up to her and said, "Your book saved my child's life." There is a discussion of sexual abuse in the book, and the parent said that her child came up to her and said, "This is what my daddy does to me." Would the child have been able to say that without that book, to be able to verbalize the horrific thing that was being done to them? Because of that book, the child was removed from the situation.
But it doesn't even have to be that traumatic. The thing about books like Gender Queer is that they tell you about a person who lives a different life. I read that book, and being non-binary is not something I know much about. That book gave me more language, more understanding. This is really what books can do, they help you think more about other people, whether you agree with them or not.
MB: One thing that happens a lot with book challenges is that the discourse around them is all done by adults. You go to a meeting where people are talking about a book challenge, it's adults talking about kids. How much have kids been able to provide their own voices to these conversations?
EK: I was at a hearing on Tuesday. There were not many kids there. There were some young people, maybe 16 or 17, but there were no children at all. This was an argument between adults.
We need to train kids to be leaders on freedom of expression in their communities. I tell people that if something comes up, encourage your kid to go to the meeting. They are welcome to do public comment. The kids actually have the most powerful voices. The other thing about this is that they'll see democracy in action, and all other sorts of really great things.
Getting more kids' voices involved in this is vitally important. There are so many examples of how organizing has worked over history. On the one hand, it's a little disheartening that we keep having to do it, but it's also very lovely to see.
MB: Something that comes up a lot in your work is the issue of the public's distrust in established experts like librarians and educators, particularly when it comes to "protecting" kids and establishing the "right" development for them. What have you learned about that?
EK: One thing is that these are feminized professions. It's difficult to be seen as an expert when you're in a feminized profession. In fact, in our society, we see things like education, learning to read, as things could happen in the home. It also gets reified in this very strange way, because by definition if you are working in a library and you are a woman, then you are not doing your thing at home. So this all gets kind of messed up together.
Also, people have no idea what librarians do. People do not know how the books get on the shelf. When you explain it to them, it doesn't make sense, they don't quite get it. When it seems like your expertise is black boxed, it's difficult to convince people of it in many ways.
The challenge cases are really overdetermined because they're not about libraries or schools at all, they're about all sorts of other things. They're about books, but not about books. They're all of these issues wrapped up.
MB: You mention that you don't see challengers to be political actors exactly, but that it was better for your study to explore their arguments using sociotheoretical frameworks. Can you explain that? And have your feelings changed at all about that since this was published back in 2015?
EK: I see my research work as being about book history and print culture. The thing is, some challengers are political actors, and some of them aren't. Some of them are really upset about taxes going to institutions that they don't like. But some of them are much more focused on, "I don't want my child to know about that," which is not quite the same thing as being against the institution itself. What I try to say to people is that I take challengers' arguments seriously, and I try not to group them all together as just one thing.
We are seeing more attacks on public institutions. At the end of that board meeting I was at, somebody said, "I don't want my taxes to go to this library anymore." That is pretty much where we are headed. Because the library is in many ways a socialist institution where people share their resources. It becomes an issue of control. By definition, you don't control public institutions. There can be accountability in them. But any given taxpayer does not control the public institution. That makes a lot of people very upset.
MB: Your second edition is expected in 2025. What have you been updating?
EK: One thing I did not talk about was diverse books, so I will be talking about what they are, why they get challenged. Then I kind of smush together public schools and public libraries in the book. I will talk just a bit about some work I've done, just so people know that I understand that those are all different things. Also, I was a witness for a Senate hearing on book banning and so I'm going to probably add a chapter on that as well. In my article, "Silencing Voices," I talk about how LGBTQI books are always about sex, no matter whether they have sex in them or not, so I'm doing a bit more research on why that is understood that way. But the thing is, the arguments have not changed a lot.
MB: Have you ever had any personal or professional ethical challenges as you're doing this research?
EK: When I talk about freedom of expression and intellectual freedom, I understand people not wanting to inflict harm on others. We have been talking a lot about diverse books lately, but before this all happened, I was mostly talking about challenges from the left, and thinking about: Why is it important to not engage in some censorship practices for books that you might consider to be harmful? I'm a big believer in separating professional and personal ethics. Also, I think this goes to my issues of understanding, like you have to understand people's arguments to argue against them. I try to think about certain framings. And I realized that my frame is always that, in essence, this is where censorship leads. Because of how power works in our society, it is inevitable that the most marginalized voices will be silenced. So I spent a lot of time arguing with people about whether this is a harmful book, especially about anti-trans books. What I try to get people to understand is that yes, this is a book that could be harmful. We don't know the outcome of that. But when you start arguing, "What will happen when someone reads a particular book?" That always ends up with someone else saying, "Well, I am not going to let this other person, whose voice we rarely hear, speak."
You can't learn about social justice without intellectual freedom because by definition the people who do not want a more just society will censor books that have to do with justice. So I try to keep myself grounded in that.
MB: An audience question: Are you aware of a best practices outline for book challenge policies?
EK: The Intellectual Freedom Manual is being updated. I believe there are updated practices. You can call the Office of Intellectual Freedom and they'll send you the updated practices. Some of them include a finality clause—so if a decision is made on a book, it cannot be revisited within three to five years. When a decision is made, that is it. There are other things about having to read the book. I like the one where someone has to suggest an alternative book, that's always very interesting. I've also heard of libraries charging fees for the request for reconsideration. Please talk to your attorney first, run this by a few people before you institute something like that, but it is something to think about because challenges take time. This is of course somewhat of a gamification, to lessen the amount of forms that come through.
Finally, just make sure your policies are up to date. It's not that everybody will follow the policies, but you have to be able to say when someone didn't follow the policies. Someone might come to the board meeting, but you want your board to ask if they followed the policy. That is also enforceable in court.
MB: Another audience question: Do you think that the legislation in West Virginia will affect libraries in other states that seek to enact similar legislation allowing prosecution of librarians? Do you expect librarians to leave their positions, or for there to be arrests?
EK: I do expect librarians to leave their positions and significant numbers. We're already seeing this. It's also true of teachers. Who wants to be bothered? That's really what it is. There might be arrests. That's very possible given our current climate in the country. They will be in the states that you expect them to be in. I would never say that that would not happen. The actual strategy is about chilling effects. It's not so much about arresting somebody, it's about putting the fear of being arrested in somebody's mind. In fact, that has already been effective. The fear that something could happen is actually all that is needed.
MB: A lot of these workers leaving has to do with not just with the pandemic and how that's led to an overtaxed system of workers, but now these issues are added to that. What are some ways this burned out segment of workers can protect ourselves and our colleagues so that we're not facing arrest for the work that we do?
EK: You can show up if something happens. That's one big thing to do. The board meeting I went to was overwhelmingly pro-library. People don't actually like people messing with their library. That so many people showed up in support of the library makes a big difference.
MB: Is there one takeaway that you'd like to leave people with?
EK: Read banned books. There's a list of 850 from Representative Krause that were challenged in Texas. There are lists all over the place. Purchase these books for your libraries. I'm not so worried about the top-list challenges, it's the mid-list challenges that I worry about. Are those mid-list books getting on shelves? I hope so. Read these authors. Have diverse collections. Just do the things that libraries do.
Tour & Social Hour: Rule N° 5, The Library Is A Growing Organism At NYU
Presentation
Join us to tour Rule N° 5, The Library Is a Growing Organism, an interactive audiovisual installation currently on view at NYU Libraries.
"A library is a growing organism," reads the fifth "rule" of library science as penned in 1931 by S.R. Ranganathan. In a world where "library" and "book" have taken on vast new meanings, it's the last of Ranganathan's five guiding principles that prompts us to continuously respond to our environment and deeply interrogate the ways we curate, collect, organize, and preserve information for generations to come.
As much as the home to all the world's memory has changed since 1931, one aspect of the Library has remained constant: it is created and maintained by workers who, more often than not, remain unseen and under-recognized. While many books investigate the history and cultural meanings of libraries, popular titles are frequently authored by scholars external to the diverse and intricate work that happens within their walls. Rule N° 5, by contrast, is a collaboratively-created installation that centers the voices of the workers at the heart of these institutions.
Rule N° 5 is an interactive audio experience: we invite you to open doors and drawers, plug in, and push buttons to explore and contemplate what it means to collect the world's knowledge, preserve the past, and shape the future. Tune into transmissions from the magical, mysterious, complicated, and controversial world of libraries.
Planning your visit:
Meet at NYU Libraries main lobby, 70 Washington Square South
Visitors must register at least 1 week in advance
Visitors must show ID upon arrival
Before the tour, Amanda Belantara & A.M. Alpin, co-creators of the installation, will provide a brief introduction. After guests have had time to explore the installation, we will reconvene for a Q&A.
Following the tour, we will gather at a nearby space to discuss the exhibition and connect with colleagues.
Please note: Space is limited, so if you’ve secured a spot but then find you’re unable to join, please let us know so we can open your spot to someone on the waitlist.
Fridays in May: QBIPOC Peer-Networking Program Information Session
Online/Virtual Event
This meeting will be facilitated by Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning and Engagement at New York University and Traci Mark, Program Manager at METRO. Traci and Shawn will review the main components of the peer-networking program, including:
The program guide
Program tours and workshops
The application process
There will be a Q&A period at the end of the session. Please be sure to review our program guide before you arrive and bring any questions you might have about our QBIPOC Peer-Networking Program.
This session will be a zoom meeting. Cameras are optional. This session will be recorded. If you cannot attend the session, you can view the recording at a later time.
COPY BYTES: Digitization And Libraries, Part 1
Online/Virtual Event
Digitization is defined as the process of converting information from a physical format to a computer-readable one. Libraries utilize digitization as a means of preservation and to broaden the dissemination of information beyond their brick and mortar buildings. But how can libraries balance the needs of their patrons in the digital age while still protecting the intellectual property rights of the creators that they collect? This is the first of a two-part series led by Kiowa Hammons that is focused on policies and best practices for libraries and digitization within US copyright law.
Following the first session, attendees will be able to:
Outline the purpose of digitization for libraries
Identify protections that libraries have within US copyright law for digitization projects
Understand best practices to consider when embarking on a digitization project
See more information about Part 2 here.
About our presenter:
Kiowa Hammons has more than 10 years of experience in intellectual property rights. As the Manager of Rights Clearance at The New York Public Library, he leads a team focused on facilitating digitization projects of library collection materials: including copyright reviews, licensing, metadata implementation, and educating staff on copyright policies. Previously Kiowa worked in rights clearance at Penguin Random House and The Whitney Museum of American Art. Kiowa holds a Masters in Library and Information Sciences from The Pratt Institute, with an emphasis on Information Policy, Art Librarianship, and Archives.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
Reading Together: Secrets To A Long Running Graphic Novel Book Club
Online/Virtual Event
Please join law librarians Eileen Dolan, Ellyssa Valenti Kroski, and Chris Walunas, as they chat about running a consistent book club since the before-Covid times, through early Covid, and into our present. The club’s transition from in-person to virtual meetups in 2020 amplified engagement through the collective pedagogy of reading together. Reading graphic novels together revealed community and expanded awareness of the genre for these law librarians. The group is seeking grant funded support to create a graphic novel collection for the New York Law Institute.
This webinar is presented by the Northern New York Library Network (NNYLN), in collaboration with METRO and LLAGNY.
Climate Change Exposure For The METRO Region, Part 1: What Are The Implications For Libraries?
Online/Virtual Event
In the first webinar of a two-part series, Eira Tansey (Memory Rising) will discuss a recent study carried out for METRO to contextualize and understand climate change exposure for the region. New York City and the state of New York have some of the most ambitious climate action plans in the country. We’ll discuss how libraries in the region fit into this picture, and also examine some of the larger climate change policy concerns for libraries and archives around the country.
Participants will:
Learn to distinguish between mitigation and adaptation
Be able to identify relevant aspects of a climate action plan
Understand climate change issues for the New York City region and libraries
Find more info about Part 2 here.
About our presenter:
Eira Tansey is an archivist, researcher, and consultant based in her hometown of Cincinnati/the Ohio River watershed. She is the founder of Memory Rising, which provides research, consulting, and archival services with expertise in climate change, environmental and labor movements, and Ohio Valley regional history. She previously worked as an archivist at the University of Cincinnati and Tulane University. Eira’s research on archives and climate change has been profiled by Yale Climate Connections, VICE, and Pacific Standard, and has been honored by the Society of American Archivists. Her most recent publication is A Green New Deal for Archives.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
Abolitionist Futures: A PLSN Discussion Group, December / Nickel and Dimed: The Prison Commissary
Online/Virtual Event
Want to learn more about prison abolition? Looking to explore the role of information in the prison industrial complex? Excited to discuss ways we can collectively offer resources to address violence caused by mass incarceration? Join the club (literally!). The Prison Library Support Network is collaborating with METRO in 2023 to host Abolitionist Futures: A PLSN Discussion Group, which will meet quarterly on the second Monday of the month at 7:30pm.
While the group's facilitators (and host) are affiliated with libraries, you do not need to be a librarian or information professional to attend this group. We invite you to join with kids, double task with your dinner, have your camera on OR off, engage with the materials, and contribute to the discussion however you feel comfortable. Do not feel pressure to read, listen to, or watch everything listed! This is a casual space.
The final discussion of the year will look at the day-to-day price tags incarcerated folks face when accessing prison commissaries and other essential services on the inside:
PLSN Presents: What Is a Prison Commissary? (PLSN's Instagram)
The Whole Shabang (Ear Hustle podcast, 46 min)
Optional:
The Company Store: A Deeper Look at Prison Commissaries (Report from the Prison Policy Initiative)
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
Interlibrary Loan Special Interest Group Fall Meeting
Interest Group Meeting
The METRO-ILL Fall 2023 meeting welcomes everyone interested in resource sharing and interlibrary loan topics. Bring any resource sharing topics/questions/ideas that you would like to discuss. Or, we may take on some topics such as learning/enhancing best practices when dealing with tough requests, resources for searching difficult to fill requests, tips/suggestions for system cleanups (maintenance), e-book chapter lending, etc.
Tour & Social Hour: Americans and the Holocaust Exhibition at City Tech
Presentation
Please join us at New York City College of Technology (CUNY) in Downtown Brooklyn on December 6 from 3:00-4:30 pm for an exclusive tour of Americans and the Holocaust, an 1,100-square-foot traveling exhibit currently on view for a limited time. Sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Americans and the Holocaust is based on contemporary scholarship and asks what Americans did and did not do before, during, and immediately after the Second World War. Americans and the Holocaust has been touring fifty libraries across the country since 2021, and City Tech is the only venue at which to view it in the Greater New York area.
Planning your visit:
Visitors will enter at the City Tech Community Service Center, 287 Jay Street, and go through a security check in.
Visitors must show ID.
No bags are allowed.
No food or drinks in the exhibit space.
Public transit: https://www.citytech.cuny.edu/about-us/directions.aspx
Following the tour, we will gather at a nearby space to discuss the exhibition and connect with colleagues.
Tour & Social Hour: Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center at AMNH
Presentation
Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of the American Museum of Natural History’s new Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center. Described as “an Alice in Wonderland space with a column dressed up to resemble a mushroom” by the New York Times, the new Reading Room displays collections that highlight the history of the Museum, and the Alcove Gallery showcases holdings from the Library's Rare Book Collection and other special collections. Founded in 1869 and one of the largest natural history libraries in the world, the library features a unique collection of natural science books, journals, archives, photographs, moving images, art, and more.
Following the tour, join us for a social hour at a nearby location to connect with fellow local library and archives workers.
Please note: Space is limited, so if you’ve secured a spot but then find you’re unable to join, please let us know so we can open your spot to someone on the waitlist.
Built to Last: Leveraging Federal Investments for Digital Equity, Session 3
Online/Virtual Event
Thursday, November 16th 2023 from 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Session 3: Embracing the Future
See more information about the full three-part series here.
As U.S. states and territories prepare to receive and deploy a $65 billion federal investment in American broadband infrastructure and digital equity to ensure internet access for all, how can communities prioritize funds to build models for digital equity that serve their long-term needs How might we begin to envision and talk about what the outcomes of this historic funding will look like now, with a focus on building for the future? This three-part convening, hosted jointly by the Centri Tech Foundation, the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, and the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council will bring together emerging and longtime digital equity leaders and practitioners and a diverse set of stakeholders to discuss forward-looking approaches to sustainable broadband adoption and digital equity.
In this third and final webinar in our Built to Last series, we hear from emerging and longtime champions of digital equity who are adapting tools and strategies to help shape and inspire the future of digital equity work beyond this current investment of federal funding. We also share the ways frameworks and principles like the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society's Visions of Digital Equity principles, the Digital Equity Research Center at METRO’s Digital Equity Ecosystems Measurement Framework, and the Centri Tech Foundation’s Digital Advancement Principles can be used to build an inclusive digital economy and strong futures for communities.
Learning Objectives:
Learn about the work of emerging digital equity leaders
Understand different frameworks for moving digital equity work forward
Identify ways to apply lessons learned in state and local Digital Equity Plans
Keynote Speaker:
Pamela Price, Deputy Director for The Balm In Gilead, Chief Technical Officer for Women in Reality FilmTV, Inc (WIRF Media), and President, From the Bottom Up Foundation
Dr. Fallon Wilson, originally announced as keynote speaker, is unable to attend.
Moderator:
Kate Rivera, Executive Director, Technology Learning Collaborative
Panelists:
Reyda Taylor, Strategic Advisor, Travis County (Texas), supporting the Broadband and Digital Equity Program
Brittany Woods-Orrison, Broadband Specialist, Alaska Public Interest Research Group
Lidia Flores, Early Childhood Program Manager, Long Beach Forward
Matt Rantanen, Vice President Tribal Broadband, GoldenStateNet and Director of Technology, Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association and Tribal Digital Village
About Our Speakers:
Pamela Price currently serves as the Deputy Director for The Balm In Gilead managing the various faith and community-based initiatives of the organization. In addition to her role as Deputy Director, she also serves as the Chief Technical Officer for Women in Reality Film TV, Inc (WIRF Media) and President of From the Bottom Up Foundation based in Atlanta, GA.
Mrs. Price holds a B.S. in Public Health and has more than 20 years of experience working with national and government agencies to develop and implement multi-faceted programs to meet the societal and cultural needs of women and under-served communities. As an exemplary leader with an innovative mindset, Pamela provides strategic direction and support to multi-sector organizations in the areas of project design, implementation and evaluation, to strengthen their overall efficiency and capacity to deliver impactful and sustainable programs and services. She is a representative member of national committees, coalitions, and advisory boards, and excels in working with both public, and private sector institutions. Mrs. Price is a national speaker, advocate & educator, routinely participating in briefings, webinars, and conferences on issues ranging from mental health to genetic counseling to digital equity and workforce development. She has served as a member of the U.S. Army Nurse Corp and has excelled in both government and non-governmental agencies providing leadership and guidance on program management, quality improvement, and project development. Mrs. Price is adept at leveraging national, state, & local partnerships with leaders in pharmaceutical, academic, entertainment,financial and educational industries to create, pilot, and scale programs that improve the quality of life for our most vulnerable communities and future generations.
Kate Rivera is the Executive Director of the Technology Learning Collaborative in Philadelphia and serves as the principal consultant of Kate Rivera Solutions. The Technology Learning Collaborative (TLC) is a digital equity coalition in Philadelphia, and it has a mission to advance the digital literacy, access, and inclusion dialogue by fostering professional collaboration, training, and networking among organizations and institutions dedicated to advancing these domains. Kate Rivera is also an independent consultant who offers support to nonprofits and other mission-driven organizations in areas such as project management, program and strategic planning, grant writing, and more. Her areas of expertise encompass digital inclusion, youth workforce development, and civic engagement.
Reyda Taylor is a Strategic Advisor at Travis County, supporting the Broadband and Digital Equity Program. Reyda first began working with Travis County in 2022, as a Fuse Corps Executive Fellow. Prior to her work supporting Travis County, Reyda led and co-led data ecosystem and participatory evaluation initiatives, as the Senior Consultant for Data and Evaluation at Mission Capital, in Austin, TX. Reyda particularly loves the entrepreneurism of new initiatives, founding her own business PKE Insights, co-founding Capacity Catalyst, and co-founding the Texas Applied Anthropology Summit. For over ten years in the nonprofit and technology sectors, Reyda has been building and scaling innovative, collaborative research and data initiatives. Reyda is passionate about equity and knowledge-sharing and is on a mission to make research and evaluation more accessible and adaptable. Reyda has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Florida and a BA in Psychology from Ouachita Baptist University.
Brittany Woods-Orrison is a Koyukon Dené woman from Dleł Taaneets, an Alaskan village along the Yukon River. She grew up on her ancestral homelands learning how to harvest traditional foods and being taught her culture. Brittany attended Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, Alaska, then continued her student-athlete career at Menlo College. Brittany traveled around the Western United States learning about the lands, the waters, and the Indigenous stewards for a couple of years before returning home to Alaska to be the broadband specialist for Alaska Public Interest Research Group and Native Movement. Brittany now works on digital equity, cultural revitalization, food sovereignty, reconnecting to the land, and deep community building.
Lidia Flores is the Early Childhood Program Manager at Long Beach Forward. Having begun community college with the goal of becoming a veterinarian and later learning about Child Development and Elementary School Teaching, Lidia has acquired a background in various helping professions. As a graduate of Cal State Long Beach with a major in Human Development, Lidia applies their passion of helping to their work with the Long Beach community. Lidia works directly with Long Beach parents of young children and plays a significant role in managing and guiding projects and activities within the Best Start Central Long Beach (BSCLB) network.
Matt Rantanen has been the director of technology for the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association (SCTCA) and the director of SCTCA’s Tribal Digital Village initiative for 21 years, designing and deploying networking that supports the tribal communities of Southern California. A lineal descendent of Cree (First Nations, Canada), Finnish, and Norwegian ancestry, Rantanen has been described by his peers as a “cyber warrior for tribal community networking” and is considered an expert on community and tribal networking. Rantanen helps SCTCA’s 25 member tribes with technology development and strategy. Rantanen was appointed co-chair of the Technology and Telecom Subcommittee of the National Congress of American Indians. In this role, he works with tribes to draft telecom policy and promote better opportunities for tribes within the federal government. He also serves on the advisory board of Arizona State University’s American Indian Policy Institute.
Built to Last: Leveraging Federal Investments for Digital Equity, Session 2
Online/Virtual Event
Wednesday, November 15th 2023 from 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Session 2: Seizing the Moment
See more information about the full three-part series here.
As U.S. states and territories prepare to receive and deploy a $65 billion federal investment in American broadband infrastructure and digital equity to ensure internet access for all, how can communities prioritize funds to build models for digital equity that serve their long-term needs How might we begin to envision and talk about what the outcomes of this historic funding will look like now, with a focus on building for the future? This three-part convening, hosted jointly by the Centri Tech Foundation, the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, and the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council will bring together emerging and longtime digital equity leaders and practitioners and a diverse set of stakeholders to discuss forward-looking approaches to sustainable broadband adoption and digital equity.
As every state and territory prepares for five years of federal funding through the IIJA, current initiatives are underway in local communities that are centering equity and justice in their digital equity initiatives. In the second of three sessions in our Built to Last series, we hear from groups that are rising up to the challenge to ensure expanded digital access results in equitable opportunities, and addressing barriers within their local and statewide contexts, such as efforts to push back against embracing digital equity and social justice in their work with marginalized communities.
Learning Objectives:
Understanding Current Initiatives: Participants will gain insight into the ongoing community-based digital equity initiatives in various states and territories. They will learn about the strategies, programs, and projects that are actively addressing digital inequities and focusing on equity and justice.
Navigating Challenges: Participants will explore the challenges and obstacles faced by groups striving to promote digital equity and social justice in their work with marginalized communities. They will learn about strategies and tactics used to overcome political resistance and pushback, gaining insights into effective advocacy and engagement.
Building Inclusive Digital Equity Initiatives: By hearing from diverse voices and experiences, attendees will be equipped with knowledge and inspiration to develop more inclusive and justice-centered digital equity initiatives in their own communities or organizations.
Keynote Speaker:
Angela Thi Bennet, Digital Equity Director, National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Moderator:
Lauren Moore, New York State Librarian
Panelists:
Jordana Barton-Garcia, Senior Fellow, Connect Humanity
Juan Muro, Jr., Executive Director, Free Geek
H. Rose Trostle, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
About Our Speakers:
Angela Thi Bennet directs the allocation of the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Program and help develop guidelines for states to strategically utilize these funds to have a transformative impact in their communities. Angela said of her new role, “As my ability to serve scales to the national level, I remain steadfastly committed to amplifying marginalized voices, empowering local communities to drive solutions, and creating shared standards of metrics to inform interventions and create accountability.”
Throughout her career, Angela has focused on community work and improving the quality of life in her Cleveland and greater Ohio communities. Her vast community and public sector experience include leading East Cleveland’s department of community and economic development, serving as Superintendent of a community school in Cleveland, and the Ohio State Board of Education. In her previous work at a community-based internet service provider, she was instrumental in growing the customer base and helping more than 1,500 individuals benefit from affordable digital access during the height of the pandemic. Angela is an advocate and ambassador for equity and inclusion, using her network and voice to elicit social change.
Lauren Moore is New York State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for Libraries at the New York State Education Department. In that role, she oversees the Division of Library Development, the Regent Joseph E. Bowman, Jr. Research Library, and the New York State Talking Book and Braille Library. She has served in various leadership positions at public libraries and library systems throughout her career, including the Executive Director of the Pioneer Library System where she led the development of 42 small and rural libraries in Ontario, Wayne, Wyoming and Livingston Counties by coordinating shared services. Ms. Moore has also served in leadership positions for various library professional organizations as well as for local, regional, statewide service groups, including the New York State Complete Count Commission. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the School, Healthy, & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB). Ms. Moore earned her Master of Library and Information Sciences degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Rutgers University.
Jordana Barton-Garcia has been an educator, a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) leader, a community development banker, a Federal Reserve researcher/practitioner, a philanthropy executive, and a technologist. She is now Senior Fellow with Connect Humanity.Jordana serves on the Statewide Working Group (SWG) of the Texas Broadband Development Office and is co-leading the South Texas-Rio Grande Valley Broadband and Digital Equity Plan that includes infrastructure expansion, digital workforce development, telehealth, and the South Tx Small Business Broadband Fund. In 2018, she received the “Federal Policy Champion Award” from the Coalition for Local Internet Choice and the “Community Broadband Hero Award” from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. In 2020, she was named, “Salud Hero” (health hero) by Salud America, a program of UT Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame.
Juan Muro, Jr. Prior to his time in the nonprofit world, Juan worked at Starbucks as an Operations and Training Store Manager leading teams and helping to develop talent from within the organization. Juan has put those skills to use at Free Geek and has been working to make the organization better since his arrival in 2018, where he now serves as the Executive Director. At Free Geek he has brought operational excellence, ability to build great teams and a people centric lens to delivering impact. Growing up in the poor neighborhoods of Escondido, California, Juan and his family had little access to resources, especially technology. Juan received his first laptop through a scholarship after entering the foster care system. At Free Geek Juan is able to break down barriers and enable access for others. Free Geek is a digital equity organization in Portland, Oregon. Our mission is to sustainably reuse technology, enable digital access and provide education to enable a community that empowers people to realize their potential.
H. Rose Trostle is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. They have a Master's in Urban and Environmental Planning from Arizona State University and a B.A. in Political Science and Classical Languages from Macalester College. At Arizona State University, Trostle focused on Indigenous Planning: their final applied project was for the Office of Navajo Government Development. Between degree programs, Trostle also worked on the Community Broadband Networks team as a researcher from 2015 to 2018. Trostle is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and grew up in a small town in northern Minnesota, and they are especially interested in infrastructure issues and community development in rural areas.
Making Sense of Your Data: Coding and Analyzing Results from Focus Groups, Interviews, and Observational Research
Online/Virtual Event
Focus groups, interviews, and observation studies produce large amounts of data for libraries to analyze. Depending on which data collection approach was used, you’ll want to apply the correct data analysis approach in order to gain the most from your data. Coding is a necessity when working with focus groups, interviews, and even observational data, and while challenging, is a skill set that can be learned. This session will introduce the basics of coding both qualitative and quantitative data and will share additional approaches to analyzing data to maximize the benefits gained from conducting focus groups, interviews, and observation studies.
By the end of the sessions, attendees will be able to:
Understand the basics of coding qualitative data, including different types of coding approaches
Identify approaches to analyzing observation study data to align with the data collected
Connect data gathered from focus groups, interviews, and observations to overarching questions or concerns faced by libraries
About our presenter
Dr. Kawanna Bright is Assistant Professor of Library Science at East Carolina University. Dr. Bright earned her PhD in Research Methods and Statistics from the University of Denver in 2018. Prior to earning her doctorate, Dr. Bright worked as an academic librarian for twelve years, with a focus on reference, instructional services, and information literacy. She earned her MLIS from the University of Washington iSchool in 2003.
Dr. Bright’s current research focuses on assessment in libraries, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in libraries, the application of research methodology to the study of library and information science, and the importance of the liaison librarianship role in academic libraries. Her work with Dr. Amy VanScoy (University at Buffalo) to investigate the reference and information services experience of librarians of color received a 2014 ALA Diversity Research Grant and was awarded the 2017 Beta Phi Mu-Library Research Round Table Research Paper Award.
Dr. Bright is also a co-PI on a recently funded IMLS grant project that will utilize survival analysis to determine when and why BIPOC librarians are likely to leave the profession. Dr. Bright is a 2021 recipient of an ECU College of Education Profiles in Diversity Award and a 2021 recipient of a 2021 NCLA Round Table for Ethnic Minority Concerns’ LIS Instructor Roadbuilder Award.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
Built to Last: Leveraging Federal Investments for Digital Equity, Session 1
Online/Virtual Event
Tuesday, November 14th 2023 from 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Session 1: Learning From the Past
See more information about the full three-part series here.
As U.S. states and territories prepare to receive and deploy a $65 billion federal investment in American broadband infrastructure and digital equity to ensure internet access for all, how can communities prioritize funds to build models for digital equity that serve their long-term needs How might we begin to envision and talk about what the outcomes of this historic funding will look like now, with a focus on building for the future? This three-part convening, hosted jointly by the Centri Tech Foundation, the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, and the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council will bring together emerging and longtime digital equity leaders and practitioners and a diverse set of stakeholders to discuss forward-looking approaches to sustainable broadband adoption and digital equity.
The current funding through IIJA is not the first time the federal government has provided significant investments to support local digital equity ecosystems. But it is the largest investment in this field to date. In this first of three sessions in our Built to Last series, we hear from veterans in the digital equity field who have led successful efforts in years past and are continuing their work today.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the historical context for the current digital equity movement
Learn how three communities have built robust and lasting digital equity ecosystems
Recognize a variety of ways communities might leverage funding for long-term solutions
Moderator:
Marta Urquilla, President, Centri Tech Foundation
Panelists:
Juliet Fink Yates, Broadband and Digital Inclusion Manager, Office of Innovation & Technology, City of Philadelphia
Monique Tate, Co-Director, Community Tech NY
Greta Byrum, Principal, Broadband and Digital Equity, HR&A Advisors
Closing speaker:
Dr. Karen Mossberger, Frank and June Sackton Professor, School of Public Affairs, Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, Arizona State University
About Our Speakers:
Marta Urquilla is President of Centri Tech Foundation, a mission-driven organization focused on leveraging digital technologies to advance social and economic outcomes. She has over 25 years’ experience managing programs and leading results-oriented policy approaches to improve lives. Before joining Centri Tech, Marta was Chief Program Officer at Education Design Lab, directing the creation of new education models toward the future of work. Previously, she was Deputy Director at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, where she led efforts to build the next generation of leaders and approaches to scale social change. Under President Obama, Marta served as Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation and as Senior Advisor for Social Innovation at the Corporation for National and Community Service, where she built and implemented the first Social Innovation Fund in the U.S. Government, a model adopted across federal agencies.
Juliet Fink Yates has been working to address digital equity since 2001 when she was managing a small ISP for 10,000 low-income Philadelphians without Internet access for the Critical Path Internet Project. For many years, she worked as the Chief Learning Officer at Philadelphia FIGHT Community Health Centers at the intersection of adult education, technology, and healthcare. In 2010, she wrote, in collaboration with the City of Philadelphia, the broadband stimulus grant that brought $5.4 million to low-income communities to set up computer labs, which became known as KEYSPOTS, in 77 locations, reached out to cultivate the key partners involved in that grant, and helped to design the program’s structure, overseeing a team that managed 28 of those KEYSPOTS. She was a founder of the Technology Learning Collaborative, Philadelphia’s first professional development organization dedicated to digital literacy providers and advocates and was a member of the City of Philadelphia’s Digital Literacy Alliance until she joined the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology as the first Digital Inclusion Fellow.
Monique Tate is a Director for Community Tech New York, educating Community Wireless Network advocates & enthusiasts across the country; in addition to lecturing in Canada and Germany. She began work in this field in 2011 and continues implementing broadband sharing in Detroit & NY. She has introduced thousands to Community Technology and recruited & educated hundreds in Digital Stewardship, Community Leadership, Community Networks, and Digital Justice Coalition building. Monique is Co-Chair of the City of Detroit GO DATA Advisory Commission!
In 2016 - 2020, she deployed and managed the largest community network in Detroit, for the Equitable Internet Initiative, with nine relay sites, three Solar Powered WIFI & Charging Stations, and activated the first Detroit public park (Bennett Playground) with WIFI, serving thousands. This community network is still growing today!!
Greta Byrum is an urban planner specializing in broadband technologies and tech policy, equity, governance through program design and collaborative action research. She serves as Principal for the Broadband and Digital Equity Principal at HR&A Advisors, and is an Opportunity Fund Fellow with the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society with a focus on digital safety and security in the context of the Digital Equity Act. Previous to her work with HR&A and Benton, Greta built the Resilient Communities program at New America, an initiative bringing storm-ready mesh networks to five environmental justice communities in NYC; she founded Community Tech NY, a non-profit organization bringing technical assistance and community organizing support to communities in New York, Detroit, and rural Tennesee; and she also co-founded the Digital Equity Laboratory at the New School and stood up the Just Tech program at the Social Science Research Council. Greta lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley.
Dr. Karen Mossberger is Frank and June Sackton Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University, and director of the Center on Technology, Data and Society. She researches digital inequality, digital government, and the impacts of technology use in communities. She is author or co-author of 7 books, including “Choosing the Future: Technology and Opportunity in Communities” (Mossberger, Tolbert and LaCombe, Oxford University Press, 2021), which was honored with the 2022 Goldsmith Book Prize for best academic book by the Shorenstein Center, Harvard University. She has conducted research on digital inclusion for the City of Chicago, Cuyahoga County, OH, Phoenix Housing Department, and City of Tempe, and her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation, among others. Her center has partnered with the Marconi Society to offer an online Digital Inclusion Leadership Certificate for states, local governments, Tribes, and nonprofits through ASU.
Dealing With Data, Part 2: Services For Research Data Management And Reproducibility
Online/Virtual Event
In this session, Vicky Rampin (NYU) will discuss building and maintaining services for research data management and reproducibility. Attendees will hear about different ways to ramp up and scale different offerings in order to address new federal regulations, wishes of researchers, and preservation concerns. We will also discuss different modalities of instruction, reference, collections, and infrastructure to support these services at different times (starting out and ramping up).
This is part two of a two-part series on research data management. Learn more about part one here.
About our presenter:
Vicky Rampin is the Librarian for Research Data Management and Reproducibility and the subject specialist for data science and computer at New York University. Vicky supports researchers of all levels and disciplines in creating well-managed, reproducible scholarship through instruction, consultation, outreach, and infrastructure building. They also teach one course at Pratt SLIS every fall, Data Librarianship and Management. She loves all things open and contributes to a number of open projects as a part of their jobs and in her spare time.
Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.
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