Thank you for your interest in METRO’s upcoming events! If you’d like to help shape our programming:
METRO also offers a limited number of scholarships to members who wish to participate in professional development events, networking opportunities, and learning programs (whether sponsored by METRO or not). All current individual members and institutional member employees are eligible to apply.
We are committed to providing a welcoming and productive environment for all. Please check out our Code of Conduct for more information. Please reach out to us with your events-related questions; our email address is [email protected], and our phone number is (212) 228-2320.
Thank you to everyone who came to our inaugural meetup in April! On July 24th at 6:30, the Prison Abolition Book Club returns to discuss the session 2 readings (The Birth of the Penitentiary) from the Black & Pink prison abolition class syllabus (https://we.riseup.net/plsn/black-pink-prison-abolition-syllabus) at METRO.
About PLSN's Prison Abolition Book Club
Want to learn more about prison abolition but not sure where to start? Looking to explore the role of information in the prison industrial complex? Excited to discuss ways we can collectively offer information skills as resources to address violence caused by mass incarceration?
Join the club (literally)! Prison Library Support Network (PLSN) is holding a book club at METRO, where we meet over snacks to discuss readings from the Black & Pink prison abolition class syllabus (https://we.riseup.net/plsn/black-pink-prison-abolition-syllabus). This is a space for anyone looking for collective support in learning about these ideas, regardless of familiarity with prison abolition. Just RSVP, and we'll see you there!
Questions? Email [email protected]
Hola a todos/ Hello everyone!
Join the Racial and Social justice in LIS Meetup.
Let’s discuss professionalism in librarianship, our definitions for professionalism and the ways we sustain neutrality when performing it. We will also discuss who gets to be called and be recognized as a professional and why. In addition, we will be discussing how oppressive professionalism is to certain groups in our community.
The intention of this meetup is to provide a comfortable space where we discuss our ideas of professionalism in librarianship.
If you have the time, please read this blog post by Madison Sullivan before the meetup!
https://acrlog.org/2016/01/19/professionalism/
Each year, more and more scholarly works are made openly available. Indeed, with European research agencies now coordinating to require immediate open access to publications based on research they fund, predictions about the inevitability of open access may soon come true.
As open access becomes the norm, what decisions will scholars, libraries, and institutions make? Will we reproduce existing power structures, guaranteeing the continued dominance of high-profit publishers and flawed impact metrics? Or will we build something different — community-led publishing on community-owned infrastructure, with legal terms that protect the rights and privacy of authors and readers?
We will explore these questions in a symposium hosted by METRO Library Council on Thursday, September 12. This event is planned in collaboration with colleagues from the City University of New York.
We are now accepting proposals for presentations, panels, activities, and facilitated discussions relevant to these questions. Possible topics include but are not limited to:
To submit a proposal, please complete this form by Thursday, August 1. We look forward to hearing from you!
This workshop will help library workers and educators build awareness about race, class, gender, sexuality. Participants will develop language to engage in conversations around these topics in their workplaces and communities. This workshops will help participants advocate for all people’s access to relevant materials, create meaningful programs, and enhance day-to-day library practice. Instruction will refer to prominent texts from the field of culturally relevant education -- particularly literacy education -- as well as films, elements of popular culture, and anecdotes from everyday life, libraries, and classrooms.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
About our facilitators
Jessica Hochman, PhD is an educational consultant and faculty member at Syracuse University. She has 20 years of experience working as a teacher, professor, and researcher. She has taught workshops and courses, and facilitated numerous professional development programs. She helps individuals, groups and organizations use culturally responsive practices to build stronger, more equitable communities.
Tonya Leslie is an educational consultant specializing in culturally responsive practices for schools, libraries and other educational organizations. She has a PhD in teaching and learning from NYU where she worked at the Metropolitan Center for Research and Transformation of Schools supporting school districts nationally to develop strategies for closing achievement gaps and improving systems for equitable outcomes. Her research explores how multiple literacies influence identity development and academic resilience. Currently, Leslie works with educational publishers like Scholastic to build strategies for the development of diverse texts.
Are you interested in leading a workshop in your library, archive, or workplace? Or perhaps you've been teaching for years but want some new strategies? Workshop your Workshop will help you polish your unique content into deeply engaging and unforgettable workshops or classes.
This course will provide you with the tools you need, including ways to build community in your classes, facilitate discussions, and engage effectively with diverse groups of learners. The workshop will focus on culturally responsive practices, which emphasizes honoring the experiences of both teachers and students.
About our Facilitator
Jessica Hochman, PhD is an educational consultant and faculty member at Syracuse University. She has 20 years of experience working as a teacher, professor, researcher, and consultant. She has taught workshops and courses, and facilitated numerous professional development programs. She helps individuals, groups and organizations use culturally responsive practices to build stronger, more equitable communities.
Data, Data, Everywhere: Why Tech Giants Collect Your Data and How To Stop Them
Many of us use digital technology nearly every waking hour of our day. And we’re not alone: studies show that the typical American adult looks at screens for an average of eleven hours a day…. and counting.
The eleven hours spent with our devices produce a steady stream of personal data that can be utilized by tech giants to influence our behavior. More pressingly, our accumulated data can be used against us in the event of, for example, a successful phishing attempt or a data breach.
This workshop will provide a gentle introduction to how the internet works so that we can identify how and why our information is collected, with and without our knowledge. We’ll take a tour of the online information flow, discuss the ways in which our information is used, and describe how even our smallest actions -- like which posts we stop to read and which links we click -- amount to data so valuable that internet companies will do almost anything to keep our attention.
We’ll describe the ways in which we can reduce the impact of all of this exposure. And since this goes beyond us as individuals, we will discuss the ways in which our patrons are exposed to these same issues. We’ll develop creative solutions for what we can do to help.
By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a better sense of the data that’s being collected about you, why it is being collected, and what we can do to protect ourselves and our patrons from relentless surveillance.
About the facilitator
Davis Erin Anderson's work focuses on understanding the impact of technology on culture at large, translating these challenges into real solutions for library staff. She is project lead for NYC Digital Safety, an NYC-funded program that keeps library staff informed about evergreen topics in data privacy and digital security.
Davis worked with Mozilla Foundation to review and update their web literacy curriculum, resulting in the launch of Mozilla’s Core Curriculum for Web Literacy in March 2018. In addition to planning and emceeing METRO’s symposia series, Davis has designed and facilitated workshops on data privacy & security, web mechanics, and personal networking skills for library staff.
We accept payment by credit card or by invoice. Please note that we do not accept cash payment, on site or otherwise.
METRO reserves the right to cancel any workshop or to substitute instructors. In the event of a cancellation, postponement, or substitution, registrants will be notified in advance (if possible) via email and may receive a full refund of the registration fee.
All registration cancellations must be submitted in writing to [email protected]
In order to receive a refund, we must receive your cancellation email at least 24 hours prior to the event start time. If METRO does not receive your cancellation email before that deadline, an invoice will be sent to recoup any unpaid fees. If you are unable to attend a workshop, you may choose to send another person in your place without penalty if you notify us in advance. Refunds are provided by credit card or check and will be processed within about four weeks.
METRO will make private space available to nursing mothers upon request. Please contact us at [email protected] to make a reservation.