The METRO-ILL Spring’23 meeting welcomes everyone interested on 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 on 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.

Join code4lib NYC for a casual, in-person meetup at Urbanspace Vanderbilt, a food hall near Grand Central Terminal. Please contact organizer Michael Rios at mrios27@fordham.edu to receive details on how to locate the group within the space.

Join Climate Stories Project for a three-part series of interactive climate storytelling workshops. Workshop facilitators Jason Davis and Kelly Hydrick will work with participants to gain a deeper engagements with our myriad responses to climate change, increased confidence in their ability to speak with members of their communities about the changing climate, and an enhanced conviction to confront the climate crisis. During the second session, participants can expect to: Learn skills for recording interviews with community members about their climate stories Get an overview on successful audio/video recording and editing techniques Expand the climate storytelling framework from the first workshop This workshop will take place via Zoom meetings. Combined, these gatherings will help prepare you for building your own climate-focused program at your library. About our presenters: Jason Davis is a musician, educator, and the director of Climate Stories Project, an educational and artistic forum for sharing personal stories about the changing climate. Since 2014 he has been collecting and sharing stories from around the world of people speaking about their personal responses to climate change in their home places. He leads climate storytelling workshops in which participants craft their own climate stories and learn to speak confidently about personal and community connections to the climate crisis. Jason also writes and performs music pieces which integrate elements of recorded climate stories, creating a vivid portrait of the changing climate as expressed through sound and personal testimony. Jason has a doctorate in music from McGill University and teaches at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Kelly Hydrick is Program Manager for Climate Stories Project (CSP). At CSP she is the lead instructor for the Climate Stories Ambassador Initiative where she teaches online workshops in climate storytelling and oral history skills to participants from around the world. She also works at MIT Libraries and has a masters degree in Archives Management from Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts. About Climate Stories Project: Climate Stories Project (CSP) is an educational and artistic forum for sharing stories about personal and community responses to climate change. CSP focuses on personal oral histories, which bring an immediacy to the sometimes abstract nature of climate change communication. Some of us may recount dramatic events such as floods and wildfires, or we may address our observations of changes in seasonal patterns and our fears for the future of our families and communities. We may discuss how climate change is forcing our communities to adapt to extreme weather and sea level rise. Or we may speak about how we are getting involved in movements to build more resilient futures and to fight the fossil fuel industry through community organizing or nonviolent protest. There is no "right" way to talk about climate change as it is a vast topic that is increasingly touching every corner of our lives. Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.

Join the code4lib NYC for a code & coffee Zoom the first or second Friday of each month. These calls are generally casual discussions about projects we are working on, cool tools we have come across in the past month, and a casual forum for technical questions of all kinds.

Unfamiliar with Python? Not sure where to start? Want to brush up on basic Python skills? In this session Katie Wolf, Data Manager at Murmuration, will go over getting started with Python, the basics of the language and how they all fit together, and how to begin building scripts and interacting with files. Whether you're an absolute beginner or need a re-introduction, this session will set you up to further explore Python and what it can do for you and your cultural heritage institution. Attendees can expect to gain: Comfort with creating and executing a .py Python program Familiarity with the basic building blocks of Python The ability to open, read, and edit text files with Python There are no prerequisites for this workshop. Please bring a laptop. This in-person workshop will take place in the Info Commons meeting room in the Brooklyn Public Library Central branch at 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238. Tickets are $30 for METRO members and $60 for non-members. Check to see if your institution is a member here. For a deeper dive into Python, join us on Monday, May 15 from 1:00 to 4:00pm for Python: Libraries for Libraries!

Libraries are increasingly engaging with learning analytics at their institutions. This workshop will guide participants in exploring learning analytics, privacy theory, privacy-by-design principles, and much more through exercises from the “Privacy Sourcebook” that was created by Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Kyle Jones. The “Privacy Sourcebook” enables librarians to document their thinking, reflect on their learning, and guide their practice in implementation. The workshop prepares librarians to engage in campus dialogues and initiatives related to learning analysis and parallel assessment and evaluation practices. After the workshop, participants will be able to: Analyze learning analytics and the ways in which they may create privacy harms Adjust a learning analytics practice to strategically minimize privacy harms and maximize specific benefits Advocate for privacy protections in learning analytics policies and practices The workshop is an offering of Prioritizing Privacy, which is supported by an IMLS National Leadership Grant (https://prioritizingprivacy.org/). We would like to thank our colleagues at CUNY Graduate Center for hosting. About your facilitator Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is Professor & Coordinator for Research and Teaching Professional Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently serving as PI for Prioritizing Privacy.

METRO's Library Assistants and Support Staff Association (LASSA) is pleased to present the return of the Library Assistants Day Celebration! This daylong program provides engaging and actionable programs specifically planned with Library Assistants in mind. Registration and breakfast begin at 8:30 am. When registering for this event, participants may select workshops to attend in two time slots. Due to capacity for each workshop, we ask that you plan to attend the workshops selected during the registration process. Requests for changes to your selections can be sent to events@metro.org. Between 12 and 1 pm: Active Shooter / De-escalation Techniques Retirement Planning 2023 Keeping Yourself & Your Data Safe Vision Board Between 2:15 pm and 3:15 pm: Conflict De-escalation Strategies LGBTQ+ terms and Pronouns in the Workplace GOOGLE Workshop Starting Out: Stocks, Bonds, and Mutual Funds - What's Right for You? Full details about each session can be found below. Room locations are subject to change. Masks are strongly recommended in NYPL locations. Any questions for this event? You can email Anthony Wyche, Events Coordinator, LASSA at anthonywyche@nypl.org. ** “Active Shooter / De-escalation Techniques,” 12 - 1 PM, Room 504 This workshop will describe the actions to take when confronted with an active shooter, and how to assist Law Enforcement. You will learn how to recognize potential workplace violence indicators, and how to manage the consequences of an active shooter incident. John Abraham, Security Supervisor, NYPL "Retirement Planning 2023," 12 - 1 PM, Room 303 Whether retirement is just around the corner or years from now, planning ahead is crucial. It doesn't take a lot of time or money. Tax benefits make it less painless to set aside part of your income for the future. How much money will you need to retire? Are you maximizing your retirement benefits? We'll share practical tips and review basic investing choices. Carol O'Rourke, CFP® & Rhonda Sherwin, AFC® "Keeping Yourself & Your Data Safe," 12 - 1 PM, Room 304 The internet brought both positive and negative changes to society. It's great to be connected with friends and family, but there is a dark side to sharing so much information online. In this session, Davis Erin Anderson from METRO Library Council will share recent challenges to our data privacy online, and provide tips for how to keep your information as safe as possible. Davis Erin Anderson, Program Manager, METRO "Vision Board," 12 - 1 PM, Room 604 A vision board is a visualization tool which refers to a board of any sort, used to build a collage of words and pictures that represent your goals and dreams. The best way to achieve your goals is to keep them on top of your mind, so you’re always looking for ways to move yourself closer to them – and a vision board is the perfect tool to help you do that. During this workshop, we will share a step-by-step creative process of designing a vision board that can elicit deep discovery, meaning, and self-understanding, in a collaborative picture and word format. Attendees are encouraged to bring vision ideas for their board. Cheryl Marriot, DRE, Coordinator of Archives & Special Collections, SUNY Downstate Health Science University "Conflict De-escalation Strategies," 2:15 - 3:15, Room 504 In this workshop, you will be introduced to several techniques that you can use to de-escalate conflict with patrons and your co-workers. After reviewing the techniques, you will get to practice using these techniques using role play (using actual real-life situations!) with the other participants in the workshop. You’ll have some fun and learn some useful tools. Gretchen Smith, Learning & Development Partner, NYPL “LGBTQ+ terms and Pronouns in the Workplace,” 2:15 - 3:15, Room 304 This workshop will provide a broad overview on how to better understand LGBTQ+ terminology and best practices. Employees will leave with a toolkit of tangible next steps to help cultivate an inclusive work space.This workshop is designed for library staff who are beginning their journey in understanding LGBTG+ identities. Sheetal Kale, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Access, NYPL "GOOGLE Workshop," 2:15 - 3:15 PM, Room 615 (PC LAB) Participants will be introduced to Google Workspace tips, guides, and resources. We'll briefly review best practices for writing engaging emails, managing calendars, editing files, using Google Chat, and interacting with folks via Google Meet. By the end of this session, participants will be able to explore the core apps and functions most used in a professional setting. Walter Ferguson, Instructional Designer, Technology Training Programs, NYPL “Starting Out: Stocks, Bonds, and Mutual Funds - What's Right for You?” 2:15 - 3:15 PM, Room 303 We'll explore the basics of investing. We'll show a common sense understanding of three types of financial instruments, and how it can help investors handle portfolio selection, and risk management. Stephen M. Poppel, Ph.D., CFA

Join Climate Stories Project for a three-part series of interactive climate storytelling workshops. Workshop facilitators Jason Davis and Kelly Hydrick will work with participants to gain a deeper engagements with our myriad responses to climate change, increased confidence in their ability to speak with members of their communities about the changing climate, and an enhanced conviction to confront the climate crisis. During the third session, facilitators will lead the group in debriefing and sharing climate stories and experiences from the previous workshops. Participants can expect to: Learn how to engage library members with climate storytelling Understand and work with the challenging emotions that can arise with climate storytelling Gain ideas for how to use these ideas in your own workshop programming This workshop will take place via Zoom meetings. Combined, these gatherings will help prepare you for building your own climate-focused program at your library. About our presenters: Jason Davis is a musician, educator, and the director of Climate Stories Project, an educational and artistic forum for sharing personal stories about the changing climate. Since 2014 he has been collecting and sharing stories from around the world of people speaking about their personal responses to climate change in their home places. He leads climate storytelling workshops in which participants craft their own climate stories and learn to speak confidently about personal and community connections to the climate crisis. Jason also writes and performs music pieces which integrate elements of recorded climate stories, creating a vivid portrait of the changing climate as expressed through sound and personal testimony. Jason has a doctorate in music from McGill University and teaches at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Kelly Hydrick is Program Manager for Climate Stories Project (CSP). At CSP she is the lead instructor for the Climate Stories Ambassador Initiative where she teaches online workshops in climate storytelling and oral history skills to participants from around the world. She also works at MIT Libraries and has a masters degree in Archives Management from Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts. About Climate Stories Project: Climate Stories Project (CSP) is an educational and artistic forum for sharing stories about personal and community responses to climate change. CSP focuses on personal oral histories, which bring an immediacy to the sometimes abstract nature of climate change communication. Some of us may recount dramatic events such as floods and wildfires, or we may address our observations of changes in seasonal patterns and our fears for the future of our families and communities. We may discuss how climate change is forcing our communities to adapt to extreme weather and sea level rise. Or we may speak about how we are getting involved in movements to build more resilient futures and to fight the fossil fuel industry through community organizing or nonviolent protest. There is no "right" way to talk about climate change as it is a vast topic that is increasingly touching every corner of our lives. Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.

Pervasive current and historical trauma necessitates a new approach to community engagement. It is imperative to take into account the psychological needs of community members and avoid re-traumatization triggers, which “traditional” models of community engagement may ignore or exacerbate. Being trauma-informed can equip libraries and other cultural arts institutions to better serve our complex communities. In this webinar, Ozy Aloziem, MSW, will discuss how adopting a trauma-informed approach to community engagement can create an environment of collaboration and trust and enable individuals to access the resources and support they need. Viewers will learn: What trauma is and why we should care about it What trauma-informed community engagement looks like in practice How individuals may be impacted by doing trauma-informed community engagement How individuals can take care of themselves while helping others About Our Presenter: Ozy Aloziem is the founder and principal advisor of HEAL INC LLC. She is a TEDx speaker, an award-winning Igbo social work scholar, and professor deeply committed to collective liberation, justice, radical imagination, and healing. Ozy was the Denver Public Library's first Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Manager. During that time, she was a 2021 Library Journal “Movers & Shaker” award winner for her racial equity research and advocacy. She is a well-regarded skilled facilitator and speaker and has served as a racial equity and racial healing consultant for numerous organizations across the nation and globe. She is currently living in Mexico City, attempting to learn Spanish and rest.

Join the code4lib NYC for a code & coffee Zoom the first or second Friday of each month. These calls are generally casual discussions about projects we are working on, cool tools we have come across in the past month, and a casual forum for technical questions of all kinds.

Coordinated book banning efforts have been underway for nearly two years, and each week brings with it new tactics from the censors to accomplish their work. This presentation will look at how these groups are organizing, the tools they’re using, and what potential next targets may be. The entire ecosystem of books, publishing, reading, and knowledge are under attack, threatening to make books and access to books a luxury. Join us to explore the reality of why book bans are going to continue and how books represent the bigger agenda of erasure and eradication of marginalized people. The presentation will include how to respond to these challenges, how book bans are contributing to trauma in library workers, and ways to counter the mental health impact of the cultural assault on library workers and educators. Attendees can expect to: Understand the background on several of the groups coordinating nation-wide book bans, including Moms For Liberty and No Left Turn in Education, and discover the tools they use in order to prepare for countering their agenda Develop language around the mental health impacts of book bans and library work in the era of heightened censorship and scrutiny Consider where and how to implement policies and practices to protect library workers and colleagues impacted by book bans About our presenter: Kelly Jensen is an Editor at Book Riot, the largest independent book website in North America. She covers all things young adult literature and has written about censorship for nearly ten years. She is the author of three critically-acclaimed and award-winning anthologies for young adults. She was named a person of the year in 2022 by Publishers Weekly and a Chicagoan of the year in 2022 by the Chicago Tribune for her anti-censorship work. Prior to her work at Book Riot, she was a public librarian for children, teens, and adults in several libraries in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.

New York School of Interior Design’s (NYSID) Archivist/Librarian Julie Sandy will talk about her year-long collaboration with professional curators, NYSID faculty, and design team Darling Green for the “Designing Duo: Sarah Tomerlin Lee and Tom Lee” exhibition in NYSID’s Gallery (on view Fall 2022). The vast majority of the exhibition content was drawn from in-house collections—the couple’s own archives and the NYSID Institutional Archives—which allowed for unlimited access and creative flexibility. Julie will outline her process in creating a parallel online exhibition using Omeka, including structuring the site, creation of digital surrogates and adding metadata. Drawing on her training as a set and prop designer, she will also discuss general suggestions for curating and displaying archival content to tell a cohesive story, whether in a small library case or a larger setting. Participants will learn to: Effectively collaborate and communicate with curators, designers, faculty, and other stakeholders Craft storylines using curatorial selection of archival material Implement tips for creating eye-catching and cohesive visual displays About our presenter: Prior to becoming a librarian and archivist, Julie Sandy held a variety of jobs in the visual arts, including over a decade of designing, sourcing and constructing theater props/set dressing for Broadway and off-Broadway shows. She has served as image editor and collaborator on CEUs, design blogs, and touring lectures, and has worked as an artisan for automated Christmas window displays and trade show design/installation. After receiving her MSLIS from the Palmer School, Julie spent time as a project archivist for Roundabout Theatre Company and La Mama Experimental Theatre Company, where she used her firsthand behind-the-scenes knowledge to describe material and create finding aids for shows, solidifying her belief that it is as important to document the process of creation in design archives as it is to capture the final products. Previous curation projects include the Materials Pavilion for Interiors & Sources magazine at the NeoCon trade show (with Grace Jeffers), mini-exhibits in cases in the NYSID Library, and an MSLIS class project at the Grolier Club. Julie’s career interests include outreach and teaching using archival materials, discovering “realia” and leading others to appreciate the physicality of objects in the collections, and collecting and documenting all sorts of ephemera. In 2015, Julie was a guest lecturer for a studio art course at her alma mater, Williams College, speaking on the topic of “Ephemera as Art.” She also has long-standing personal collections of bookmarks, greeting cards, cookbooks and restaurant menus, among other items.

Join members of XFR Collective for a hands-on workshop focusing on U-matic tape! For the first half of the workshop, we’ll introduce participants to the U-matic tape, its history, and its preservation concerns. For the second half of the workshop, we will break into two groups split between two U-matic decks. We will clean them while learning about the different parts and mechanisms (including the shuttle button). This workshop is great for people new to digitizing media. It is recommended for those looking to attend the following rack building workshops, but not required. Attendees can expect to: Understand the history of U-matic tapes and how it led to the development of other analog tape formats Experience handling and inspecting U-matic tapes Visual inspection: spotting basic condition issues for the pre-digitization process Understanding why, how, and when to clean decks What we offer is a little technical and fills in the gaps between people who work with physical media collections and people who don't know what a Hi8mm tape is. Fees for this workshop are $20 for METRO members and $40 for non-members. Registration is capped at 10 people. This workshop will be led by Sarah Gentile, Kelly Haydon, and Chris Nicols. About Our Instructors: Sarah Gentile is an archivist with a specialization in cultural heritage. She works in the Conservation Department of The Museum of Modern Art, where she specializes in media conservation. Prior to that, she was Assistant Archivist at Brooklyn Museum’s Digital Lab and later worked at Brooklyn Academy of Music as Digital Archivist project managing the BAM Leon Levy Archives site. She holds a BA from UMass and an MLIS with a certificate in archival studies from CUNY. Primarily concerned with archival access, she strives to think professionally about forever and a day. Kelly Haydon (she/her) is the media archivist at Human Rights Watch. She has managed video and audio archival projects for CUNY-TV, NYU Special Collections, and Bay Area Video Coalition (now BAVC Media). She holds degrees from NYU’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program and School of Visual Arts. Chris Nicols is a multimedia archivist who currently works as a Film Archivist at the New York City Municipal Archives. He holds a Masters degree from NYU, and previously worked at Storycorps, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Miami-Dade College Wolfson Archive. He specializes in digitizing and managing collections of historical and documentary analog moving image material.

This session dives a bit deeper into all that Python can do! Katie Wolf, Data Manager at Murmuration, will help attendees explore Python libraries and use a couple to tailor the Python experience to your needs. During the workshop, we will also take the time to interact with APIs to get a lot of data at once in a format that we can use! Attendees can expect to learn: What Python libraries are and how to use them How to work with data using the Python Library Pandas How to use Python to interact with APIs This is a great session for those with a basic familiarity with Python, but who want to extend their reach a little further. Please bring a laptop. This in-person workshop will take place in the Info Commons meeting room in the Brooklyn Public Library Central branch at 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238. Tickets are $30 for METRO members and $60 for non-members. Check to see if your institution is a member here. For an intro to Python, join us on Monday, April 17 from 1:00 to 4:00pm for Easy Peasy Intro to Python.

Studies by the Society for Human Resource Management show that 41% of employees feel burnt out and 45% feel emotionally drained from work. These studies show that the risk for depression among U.S. workers has risen to 102% and, more specifically, to 305% for those between the ages of 20 and 39 as a result of the pandemic. A bad situation is an excellent time to be good and kind and gentle with ourselves and one another. During times of crisis, it is extremely important to work on our mental health. With the chaos, uncertainty, and speed of life these days, it’s easy to feel stressed, anxious, and burnt out. The good news is there are numerous strategies you can use to help manage these feelings. When things get stressful, we tend to live more in our minds than in the present moment—but finding your “anchor” can help you get grounded again. In this webinar, Ozy Aloziem, MSW, will share some tips for promoting wellness at the individual and community level. Viewers will learn: Why we must prioritize wellness in the workplace How to employ the eight dimensions of wellness How to utilize the elements of organizational wellbeing How to promote wellness at the individual and community level About Our Presenter: Ozy Aloziem is the founder and principal advisor of HEAL INC LLC. She is a TEDx speaker, an award-winning Igbo social work scholar, and professor deeply committed to collective liberation, justice, radical imagination, and healing. Ozy was the Denver Public Library's first Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Manager. During that time, she was a 2021 Library Journal “Movers & Shaker” award winner for her racial equity research and advocacy. She is a well-regarded skilled facilitator and speaker and has served as a racial equity and racial healing consultant for numerous organizations across the nation and globe. She is currently living in Mexico City, attempting to learn Spanish and rest.

In this workshop, XFR Collective members will give participants an opportunity to build a basic AV rack to digitize analog tape. In this session, we’ll work with VHS tape, following the signal path and using a wiring diagram to connect equipment for converting the magnetic tape material to a digital file. We will use the open source software Vrecord for capturing the signal. Participants will get hands-on experience and a chance to ask questions about the ins and outs of the digitization process. Attendees can expect to: Learn how to build a basic AV digitization rack Using cables, learn how to connect VHS deck, capture card, monitor, computer to follow a signal path Be able to differentiate component and composite What we offer is a little technical and fills in the gaps between people who work with physical media collections and people who don't know what a Hi8mm tape is. Fees for this workshop are $20 for METRO members and $40 for non-members. Registration is capped at 10 people. This workshop will be led by Kelly Haydon, Marie Lascu, and Chris Nicols. About Our Instructors: Kelly Haydon (she/her) is the media archivist at Human Rights Watch. She has managed video and audio archival projects for CUNY-TV, NYU Special Collections, and Bay Area Video Coalition (now BAVC Media). She holds degrees from NYU’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program and School of Visual Arts. Marie Lascu is the Audiovisual Archivist for Crowing Rooster Arts, a non-profit that has spent over twenty years documenting the arts and political struggles of Haiti, and Digital Archivist for Ballet Tech, a NYC public school for dance. She is also an independent archival consultant with organizations such as Third World Newsreel and the Community Archiving Workshop group. She is a graduate of NYU’s M.A. in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program (2012), and is the 2016 recipient of the Society of American Archivists Spotlight Award. Chris Nicols is a multimedia archivist who currently works as a Film Archivist at the New York City Municipal Archives. He holds a Masters degree from NYU, and previously worked at Storycorps, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Miami-Dade College Wolfson Archive. He specializes in digitizing and managing collections of historical and documentary analog moving image material.

Join the code4lib NYC for a code & coffee Zoom the first or second Friday of each month. These calls are generally casual discussions about projects we are working on, cool tools we have come across in the past month, and a casual forum for technical questions of all kinds.

In this workshop, XFR Collective members will teach participants about the basic structure of the analog broadcast signal (including luminosity, chrominance, and hue). Then, they will learn how to isolate and track these different parts of the signal using vectorscopes and waveform monitors and how to adjust them with a time base corrector. Finally, participants will combine their knowledge of the structure of the broadcast signal and monitoring equipment to calibrate their equipment using a set of standard SMPTE color bars so they can be sure to digitize tapes within the legal broadcast range. Attendees can expect to: Understand basic aspects of the broadcast image like luminosity, chrominance, hue, saturation, frame vs. field, and minimum and maximum black and light levels How to use equipment like waveform monitors, vectorscopes, and time base correctors to monitor and stabilize aspects of the broadcast image Use SMPTE color bars to calibrate the equipment involved What we offer is a little technical and fills in the gaps between people who work with physical media collections and people who don't know what a Hi8mm tape is. Fees for this workshop are $20 for METRO members and $40 for non-members. Registration is capped at 10 people. This workshop will be led by Kelly Haydon and Chris Nicols. About Our Instructors: Kelly Haydon (she/her) is the media archivist at Human Rights Watch. She has managed video and audio archival projects for CUNY-TV, NYU Special Collections, and Bay Area Video Coalition (now BAVC Media). She holds degrees from NYU’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program and School of Visual Arts. Chris Nicols is a multimedia archivist who currently works as a Film Archivist at the New York City Municipal Archives. He holds a Masters degree from NYU, and previously worked at Storycorps, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Miami-Dade College Wolfson Archive. He specializes in digitizing and managing collections of historical and documentary analog moving image material.

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. In June, the discussion will focus on the historical and current experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals both in and recently out of prison: The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison, by Hugh Ryan (available at BPL, NYPL, QPL, and Bold Type Books Incarcerated LGBTQ Americans find little to no support system upon release (PBS News Hour video, 9 min) Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.

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. In September, the discussion will focus on the concept of parole and its far-reaching impacts after individuals have been released from prison: Life on Parole (Frontline documentary, 53 min) Parole in New York: Broken, Costly and Unjust (Article from New Yorkers United for Justice) Why Illinois Needs a Parole System (zine) Please review our Code of Conduct, our Statement on Viewpoints, and details on Interpreter Services.

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.