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 in the evening. The June event brings together activists working on the frontiers of immigrant justice, community defense, cultural fortification, and political solidarity, all of which have grown increasingly urgent in light of the escalating criminalization of immigrants and people of color, dismantlement of the social safety net and civil rights enforcement, and heightening of economic injustice. These threats have already funneled or are poised to funnel more money and resources into the carceral state’s varied institutions and agents. How can we mobilize and resist? How can we resource and show up in solidarity while holding space for our differing proximities to privilege and power? How can we work across sectors and siloes to build movements that represent our shared humanity? This event’s speakers, from Mijente and Organized Communities Against Deportations, will share their organizing and advocacy strategies to inspire visions and vehicles for us all to move this critical and intersectional work. Speakers: Cinthya Rodriguez, Mijente Antonio Gutierrez, Organized Communities Against Deportations Mijente was born in 2015 after the #Not1More Deportation campaign in recognition that we needed to build a vehicle to confront the challenges of our time and respond to the growing threats to the Latinx community. For too long we have been conveniently portrayed as a voting bloc that only cares about immigration. To add insult to injury, we’ve seen immigrants’ lives worsen. Our futures are peddled and traded off as if they are pawns in a political game. It’s said that if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu—or they expect you to pick, cook and serve the food. We believe that the change we need isn’t just going to happen, we have to make it happen. To do that, we’ve got to organize. We’ve got to become the people who make things happen rather than those that things just happen to. At Mijente, no venimos de rodillas. We want to feel pride and confidence in our communities’ ability to not just survive, but thrive and bring about tangible change. We believe our people can’t afford 4 more years of despair, fear and growing systematic criminalization. Our plan of attack is to win Sin, Contra, and Desde el Estado: by creating self-sustaining networks of care; exposing harms and challenging power through direct action and narrative work; by mobilizing Latinx voters against authoritarianism. Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) emerged out of the fearless movement led by the young people of the Immigrant Youth Justice League. We are an intergenerational collective of undocumented, unapologetic, and unafraid organizers building a resistance movement against deportations and the criminalization of immigrants and people of color in Chicago and surrounding areas. Many of us know first-hand what it is like to live as undocumented people in this country and have ourselves experienced the brutality of detentions and deportations. We defend our communities, challenge the institutions that target and dehumanize us, and build collective power through grassroots organizing and cross-movement building. We fight alongside families and individuals challenging these systems to create an environment for our communities to work, organize, and thrive with happiness and without fear.

Join us for a guided tour of The Noguchi Museum, the first museum in the United States to be established, designed, and installed by a living artist—Isamu Noguchi—to show their own work. Guided tours are led by museum educators and explore select works in the Museum’s collection and special exhibitions while introducing the life and vision of Isamu Noguchi. In keeping with Noguchi’s interest in the visitor’s personal experience of the Museum, groups will be encouraged to share their observations and interpretations throughout the course of the tour. Please note: Space is very limited for this unique, free opportunity. Please join the waitlist if there are no longer spaces available, because spots do open up at the last minute. If you have secured a spot but then find you’re unable to join, please let us know as soon as possible so we can open your spot to someone on the waitlist.

Join us for a tour of the International Center of Photography's William Randolph Hearst Library, part of ICP's full photography center in the Lower East Side. The library is dedicated to the entire discipline of photography and houses an extensive collection of photobooks and other resources. 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. Please join the waitlist if there are no longer spaces available, because spots do open up at the last minute. If you have secured a spot but then find you’re unable to join, please let us know as soon as possible so we can open your spot to someone on the waitlist.

With uncertainty swirling around our professional lives, we notice that we're feeling similarly to how we did in the spring of 2020. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, METRO staff gathered with library workers on virtual community chats to help support one another and process the situation. The current moment seems like a necessary time to revisit this communal space, so we'll be hosting a community chat in May to see what library workers across New York City and Westchester County are experiencing, and to consider how we might help one another through it. Please join METRO's Mary Bakija and Becca Quon for an open community discussion with the following agenda: Welcome and introductions Poll: What is the top concern for you / library workers at your institution right now? Guided discussion: Based on these concerns, what do you / your colleagues need most to best support you? Where are you finding joy, in your work and outside of it? Call for future agenda items/moderators: Would a monthly community chat be useful right now? If so, what shape might you like that to take? Please note, this will be a Zoom Meeting, which allows participants to be on mic and/or on camera if they so choose. To encourage open discussion, the Meeting will not be recorded.

Social media can help you build professional and social community, find jobs, learn from others, share your work, ask questions, and hear about new ideas and projects. After the implosion of multiple other social platforms, the Bluesky platform has become one of the best options to keep accessing those benefits. This webinar will be aimed at GLAM folks considering trying out Bluesky, or who’ve dipped a toe in but not felt comfortable using it yet. During this session, participants will learn: A few simple steps to get started on Bluesky How to find and build community How to have a safe and lower-stress social media experience there And you won’t need to take notes, as there’s a detailed written guide for your reference after the talk! About our presenter: Dr. Amanda Wyatt Visconti (they/them) is Director of the Scholars’ Lab, a community research center for experimental and digital humanities learning at the University of Virginia Library in Charlottesville, VA. Their educational background is in libraries and literature; professionally, they’ve worked in academia, libraries and archives, tech, and the digital humanities community that spans all three. They’re a big fan of DIY (do-it-yourself) scholarly/learning communication, and in addition to being a frequent social media user (literaturegeek.bsky.social), they blog (LiteratureGeek.com), develop websites, do a variety of craft and makerspace work (e.g. https://amandavisconti.github.io/DHMakesMethodz), and author and catalogue zines (ZineBakery.com).

Effective leadership is built on empathy, compassion, and intuition, fostering trust, collaboration, and innovation within teams. Empathy allows leaders to actively listen, understand different perspectives, and create a supportive environment where employees feel valued. When employees feel heard, morale and engagement improve, leading to higher productivity. Compassion goes beyond understanding—it involves taking meaningful action to support team members in overcoming challenges. A compassionate leader provides encouragement, resources, and guidance, strengthening relationships and building loyalty. Intuition helps leaders make quick, informed decisions by balancing experience, data, and instinct. While logical analysis is important, intuition allows leaders to navigate uncertainty with confidence. Trusted leaders know when to rely on their intuition and when to seek additional information. By the end of this session, attendees will: Understand the role of empathy, compassion, and intuition in a leadership capacity Gain strategies for integrating these qualities to inspire their teams and drive meaningful success Learn ways to create a positive work culture where individuals and organizations thrive About our presenters: Sharon Palmer is a Regional Director at Brooklyn Public Library. In this role, she oversees ten neighborhood libraries and supervises over one hundred employees. Having worked at Brooklyn Public Library in various capacities, Sharon remains passionate about library services and is a strong advocate for collaboration and teamwork among staff. Additionally, she enjoys working with various community partners to positively impact communities. Sharon has been the recipient of three Bklyn Incubator awards that provides funding for staff to implement community-based projects: S.E.E (Shop, Eat and Exercise) Yourself Healthy, Cooking, Crocheting and Coping and Journey to Parenthood: How library staff can support pregnant people. Although Sharon’s primary roles focus on leadership, team building and project management, she enjoys planning and hosting innovative virtual programs for adults. Under Sharon’s leadership, staff at four libraries obtained the prestigious New York City Charles H. Revson monetary award for outstanding customer service. Additionally, Sharon previously presented on a variety of topics at the ALA,BCALA and NYLA conferences. Le'Andre Peoples is a dedicated professional with a wealth of experience in the field of library services. Starting as an Office Aide, Le’Andre's career journey has seen him excel as a Technology Resource Specialist, Circulation Manager, and presently as the Regional Assistant. In his current role at the Brooklyn Public Library, he assists the Regional Director and manages the Regional Office. Beyond his administrative duties, Le’Andre is committed to the professional development of the support staff and himself. His vision extends to expanding branch operations and, thanks to his extensive clerical, technological, and administrative expertise, he's a sought-after contributor to various committees and library initiatives. Taina K. Evans is a Regional Director at the Brooklyn Public Library who has been instrumental in transforming library services through innovative community-focused initiatives. Her groundbreaking "Our Streets, Our Stories" project launched in 2013, aims to collect and preserve oral histories from diverse Brooklyn neighborhoods, while her involvement in the "Branch Tap-Ins" program addresses staff resilience in the post-pandemic era. Evans has consistently demonstrated leadership in enhancing library engagement, supporting staff well-being, and amplifying marginalized community voices through her strategic and compassionate approach to librarianship. She is actively involved with the New York Library Association, currently serving as the President of the New York Black Librarian Caucus roundtable.

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 guide 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.

ACRL/NY Professional Development Committee and METRO invite you to the Spring 2025 Workshop Program. In today’s digital age, libraries must go beyond traditional promotion to effectively reach and engage diverse audiences. Program participants will be provided with the tools and strategies needed to market their services, programs, and resources in creative and impactful ways. Participants will learn how to: Develop a clear, compelling brand identity for their library Create targeted marketing campaigns to reach specific community groups Utilize social media, email, and digital platforms to expand their reach Engage with local leaders, community groups and media to boost visibility Tell compelling stories that resonate with patrons and stakeholders Measure and analyze marketing efforts to ensure success By the end of this session, participants will be equipped with actionable insights and marketing techniques that will help them increase foot traffic, foster community engagement, and elevate their library's profile in the community. About our speaker: Victor Caputo is the CEO of Supernova Consultants. He began his career as a journalist before entering the library field and worked as Director of Public Relations/Programs for 24 years. He served as a Library Director for six years before engaging his consulting business full time. He has lectured extensively on management, project management, marketing, and customer service. To become an ACRL/NY member, please use the following link to join or renew your membership: http://acrlny.org/join-us/ All ACRL/NY events, programs, and discussion groups are guided by our Code of Conduct. For more information, please see http://acrlny.org/about2/code-of-conduct/

Presenting information and public speaking are an everyday part of being an information worker. You may have to lead a group meeting, speak at a conference, or host a program for patrons. This workshop, which is geared toward LIS students and early career professionals, will be presented in two parts. In the morning, we will focus on skill building on public speaking, proposal writing, presentation building, and stepping out of your comfort zone. After a lunch break, we will do presentation karaoke! Instead of choosing a song to sing, you will choose a topic to present on for 2-3 minutes. Public speaking isn’t your cup of tea? Never fear! Just like regular karaoke, the activity is meant to be fun and low stress. We will give you plenty of time to prepare day-of and strive to create a welcoming, judgement-free karaoke space. After participating in this workshop, everyone should be able to: Explain the life cycle of a presentation, from thinking up an idea to presenting Distinguish between different types of presentations and settings for public speaking Identify their comfort with various types of presentations and settings for public speaking, and tools for overcoming nerves and putting themselves forward Practice public speaking and presenting in a safe space There is nothing to prepare in advance, but it is helpful to come up with the topic you’d like to present on. Your presentation can be whatever you’d like – serious or silly, argumentative or informative, or anything in between. A few prompts to get your presentation topic brainstorming started: What is your most controversial hot take? What is a hobby you have? What is your favorite book or genre of books? What is the best song ever written? About our presenter: Emma Karin Eriksson (she/her) is an activist-academic whose personal and professional life is driven by a commitment to social justice. Believing deeply in people over property and profit, Emma sees libraries as a place of liberation. She is the Manager of Youth Civic Engagement and Creative Expression for the Brooklyn Public Library, a radical facilitator, and zine maker. To learn more about her, her work, or to get in contact visit www.bit.ly/emmakarin. Lunch will be provided. Please bring a laptop!

Universal Design (UD) is a model that tries to reach every student. It is "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." UD goes beyond assuming a statement about the Office for Accessibility in a syllabus is “enough” for students. It provides options for students such as the option to write a paper or create a short video for their final project in any given class. It considers students at the margins of the educational system by providing Open Educational Resources over costly textbooks. Lastly, UD removes barriers rather than trying to “fix” the learner. How can UD guide librarians? In this hands-on workshop from Derek Stadler, Web Services Librarian and Head of Media Services at LaGuardia Community College, participants will: Learn common accessibility obstacles and easy fixes that align library instruction, and library resources and services, with UD principles Contribute to developing an inclusive learning environment for students by using UD concepts and practices Ensure the materials used or developed in library resources and services are accessible. We encourage you to bring documents that you use in your library instruction to work on during the session. If you do not have any, materials will be provided for you. While attendance at Part 1 is not required, attendees are encouraged to catch up with the recording: https://youtu.be/XYpx_6abUmw About our presenter: Derek Stadler is a Professor at LaGuardia Community College, serving as the Library’s Web Services Librarian and Head of Media Services. At LaGuardia, he has organized and co-led several workshops on universal design and accessibility. Derek has a BS in Computer Science, an MS in Library Science, and an MA in History. His library research has been published in Journal of Library Administration, Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, The Journal of Interactive Technology & Pedagogy, New Review of Academic Librarianship, Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy, and the Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning. His history research has been published in Long Island History Journal, New York History, and German Life and Letters.

Barchives, a METRO Interest Group, had such a spirited response to its March event with Bronx Brewery that they're going back for another round. Join Barchives on Saturday, April 5th for the second Bronx-based Barchives featuring the SUNY Maritime archives. Founded in 1874 as the New York Nautical School, SUNY Maritime is the oldest college of its kind in the United States. Archivist Taliesin (Taz) Gamache will share a variety of rare formats from the collections and a history of Maritime’s history in the Bronx. SUNY Maritime College is celebrating its 150th anniversary of training mariners. In this Barchives, Taz will take you through some of the lesser-known treasures. From lantern slides to Big Bird, there are many surprises in Fort Schuyler!

Join the METRO Economics & Business Librarians Group to tour New York Public Library’s Thomas Yoseloff Business Center and Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL). North America’s preeminent public business library, The Yoseloff Business Center offers an array of free resources for those interested in personal finance and investing, small business, financial research, and career services. This free event is open to business and economic information professionals. You need not be a METRO (Metropolitan New York Library Council) member to attend.

Please join us for the Second Annual STEM Information Professionals Mini Conference at Barnard College in New York City, co-sponsored by Barnard College and the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO). This two-day conference, taking place Thursday, March 20th and Friday, March 21st from 8:30am to 4:30pm both days, aims to bring together science librarians, other liaison librarians, archivists, museum curators and workers, library workers, LIS students, and other information-focused professionals who want to learn more about information and research services in the sciences. Attend this conference ready to build community, share ideas, and discuss critical approaches to instruction and research in the sciences. Please find the full conference program here. Registration fees for this conference are on a sliding scale! All levels are self-selected at registration; please choose the level that best aligns with your current situation. All levels receive the same great experience: both days of conference sessions, invited speakers, coffee/tea in the morning, lunches (takeaway containers for people observing Ramadan). Please note: You only have to register once to attend both days! Would you prefer to attend virtually? An online-only option is available for free, but does not include coffee or lunch. All sessions take place via Zoom. Register here! Call for Session Proposals: Submit by February 8, 2025! Do you have an idea for a session or workshop? Find out more about what the conference team is looking for here, and submit your proposal ideas by February 8, 2025 using this form.

Please join us for the Second Annual STEM Information Professionals Mini Conference at Barnard College in New York City, co-sponsored by Barnard College and the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO). This two-day conference, taking place Thursday, March 20th and Friday, March 21st from 8:30am to 4:30pm both days, aims to bring together science librarians, other liaison librarians, archivists, museum curators and workers, library workers, LIS students, and other information-focused professionals who want to learn more about information and research services in the sciences. Attend this conference ready to build community, share ideas, and discuss critical approaches to instruction and research in the sciences. Please find the full conference program here. Registration fees for this conference are on a sliding scale! All levels are self-selected at registration; please choose the level that best aligns with your current situation. All levels receive the same great experience: both days of conference sessions, invited speakers, coffee/tea in the morning, lunches (takeaway containers for people observing Ramadan). Please note: You only have to register once to attend both days! Would you prefer to attend virtually? An online-only option is available for free, but does not include coffee or lunch. All sessions take place via Zoom. Register here! Call for Session Proposals: Submit by February 8, 2025! Do you have an idea for a session or workshop? Find out more about what the conference team is looking for here, and submit your proposal ideas by February 8, 2025 using this form.

The Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education stresses that “Information Has Value,” and that we need to recognize issues of access or lack of access to information sources. A library that does not provide access to academic materials to all students is not allowing them to succeed. For example, how can we ensure that learning materials are accessible for students with limited vision, hearing, or mobility? Universal Design (UD) is a model that attempts to provide information access to all users. It offers materials that are accessible for all learners, with or without disabilities In this workshop from Derek Stadler, Web Services Librarian and Head of Media Services at LaGuardia Community College, participants will: Understand the basics of UD and why using them in academic librarianship is vital Identify ableist practices and assumptions in education Engage in a discussion of what barriers to learning might students be facing and what can be done to eliminate the barriers. Learn more about Part 2 in this series here. About our presenter: Derek Stadler is a Professor at LaGuardia Community College, serving as the Library’s Web Services Librarian and Head of Media Services. At LaGuardia, he has organized and co-led several workshops on universal design and accessibility. Derek has a BS in Computer Science, an MS in Library Science, and an MA in History. His library research has been published in Journal of Library Administration, Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, The Journal of Interactive Technology & Pedagogy, New Review of Academic Librarianship, Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy, and the Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning. His history research has been published in Long Island History Journal, New York History, and German Life and Letters.

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 in the evening. In 2025, we will continue to curate a rotating calendar of media resources for discussion, including: books, podcasts, videos, zines, and more! We’re also building off of last year's renewed commitment to the “futures” part of our discussion group by intentionally building in time during each meeting to share actionable steps for practicing everyday abolition. This calendar year we’re aiming to extend our run of special guest facilitators (artists, 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(s) will be, and which materials we’d like you to engage with before joining. Both upcoming discussion content and past years of discussion materials can be found on this doc. Join Abolitionist Futures for our first meeting of the year featuring special guests from the Arts Justice Safety Coalition. On March 10, we will host a screening and discussion of the film Before Time/After Time. The creative team and cast will join us to share reflections on the film and their experiences and take questions from audience members. Before Time/After Time takes audiences on a journey through the lives of nine returned citizens who share fragments of their lives before and after incarceration. The piece is a tribute to their resilience, compassion, and generosity and an example of the kinds of communities that the arts can create at almost any age—communities where self-realization, shared goals, and transformation are made possible. 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: WATCH Before Time/After Time (to be screened during the discussion group - view the trailer here!) Additional resources to be added soon!

A Beginner's Guide to Failure is a half-day cohort experience that teaches library workers how to embrace and even celebrate failure. Instead of viewing failure as evidence of something lacking, this short course endeavors to help individuals better integrate failure as part of being fully human, taking creative risks, and growing critical skills and mindsets for learning organizations. In other words, despite the common misconception, failure is the rule, not the exception, and more failure actually leads to better ideas, creative solutions, and more productive workplaces! This workshop draws on teachings in emotional intelligence, psychology, philosophy, and culture. Our specific goals and objectives for this workshop are to: Encourage critical engagement and exploration of the concept of failure in our lives, especially, but not exclusively, our work lives Experiment with new ways of failing productively, including design-thinking and prototyping approaches Explore stories of failure in library-settings, normalizing the experience of failure Experience failure as part of a work of beauty and impermanence Help workers orient themselves and develop unique connections to fellow workers in a shared spirit of celebrating failure About the Instructor: A.M. Alpin is a creative librarian and educator who teaches workshops at NYU, the Made in NY Media Lab, and other institutions. In addition to producing countless failures, she is the past recipient of the Sundance Institute's Sheila C. Johnson Creative Producing Fellowship, the American Library Association's Advocacy & Innovation in Library History Award, and the Association of College & Research Libraries' Outstanding Professional Development Award. Her creative work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, the Independent Filmmaker Project, the Austin Film Society, the Southern Humanities Media Fund, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Please note: Lunch is included! Plus, all attendees will leave with a copy of the book Creative Acts for Curious People by Sarah Stein Greenberg.

Join METRO and our sister council, Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC), for this presentation from Ashley Dalle, Interim Chief Librarian about the many free benefits available for adults from the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library is a branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) that provides FREE accessible reading material for patrons who are blind, low vision, physically disabled, print disabled, or otherwise unable to read print, to patrons located in the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties. Andrew Heiskell Library offers materials to borrow in a wide range of formats, including braille, talking books (audio), and magazines, for users of all ages, as well as players and mobile apps. Patrons can also find accessible programming and events, individual coaching in assistive technology, group workshops, braille study groups, the Dimensions Lab for tactile creation, and more. Ashley will present on how to apply for NLS service, the benefit to you, your students, and your patrons, as well as the types of assistive technology courses and workshops that are being offered, for FREE, to library patrons.

Join us for a tour of the Morgan Library & Museum’s Belle Da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy exhibition. The exhibition is devoted to the life and career of its inaugural director, Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950). Widely recognized as an authority on illuminated manuscripts and deeply respected as a cultural heritage executive, Greene was one of the most prominent librarians in American history. 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 very limited, and this is a special opportunity to visit this exhibition for free. Please join the waitlist if there are no longer spaces available, because spots do open up at the last minute. If you have secured a spot but then find you’re unable to join, please let us know as soon as possible so we can open your spot to someone on the waitlist.

Join METRO and our sister council, Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC), for this behind-the-scenes tour and information session with Ashley Dalle, Interim Chief Librarian, who will discuss the many free benefits available for both children and adults from the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library is a branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) that provides FREE accessible reading material for patrons who are blind, low vision, physically disabled, print disabled, or otherwise unable to read print, to patrons located in the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties. Andrew Heiskell Library offers materials to borrow in a wide range of formats, including braille, talking books (audio), and magazines, for users of all ages, as well as players and mobile apps. Patrons can also find accessible programming and events, individual coaching in assistive technology, group workshops, braille study groups, the Dimensions Lab for tactile creation, and more. Ashley will share how to apply for NLS service, the benefit to you, your students, and your patrons, as well as the types of assistive technology courses and workshops that are being offered, for FREE, to library patrons.

Join METRO and our sister council, Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC), for this presentation from Ashley Dalle, Interim Chief Librarian about the many free benefits available for children from the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library is a branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) that provides FREE accessible reading material for patrons who are blind, low vision, physically disabled, print disabled, or otherwise unable to read print, to patrons located in the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties. Andrew Heiskell Library offers materials to borrow in a wide range of formats, including braille, talking books (audio), and magazines, for users of all ages, as well as players and mobile apps. Patrons can also find accessible programming and events, individual coaching in assistive technology, group workshops, braille study groups, the Dimensions Lab for tactile creation, and more. Ashley will present on how to apply for NLS service, the benefit to you, your students, and your patients, as well as the types of assistive technology courses and workshops that are being offered, for FREE, to library patrons. Andrew Heiskell Library offers children's materials to borrow in a wide range of formats, including braille, talking books (audio), and magazines, as well as players and mobile apps, and early tactile literacy kits for early Braille users.

Join us for an exclusive, closed-to-the-public tour of the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures, which showcases some of the most extraordinary items from the 56 million in its collections. We'll see manuscripts, artworks, letters, still and moving images, recordings, and more! Current exhibitions include "Censorship and the Freedom to Read" and "James Baldwin: Mountain to Fire." 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.

Join METRO’s Reference and Instruction Interest Group for a conversation about decolonial perspectives - practices and frameworks - in librarianship. For the upcoming 2025 Critical Pedagogy Symposium on Decentering the West, the Case Studies in Critical Pedagogy will feature case studies and a primer for learning about and thinking about anti-colonial theory and pedagogy together. Schedule: Introductory Remarks Primer Miriam Neptune, Director of Milstein Center Exhibitions, Programming and Public Engagement, Barnard College Library The primer on Case Studies in Libraries from decolonial perspectives will be offered by Miriam Neptune, who brings her creative work as a filmmaker to her library practice of engagement. Neptune collaborates with artists to incorporate media, digital projects, and community engagement projects that cultivate decolonial perspectives in library space. Neptune has supported the installations of various in-space, and digital practices, from her co-curation of the exhibition Undesign the Redline @ Barnard, to most recently I Am Queen Mary, a transnational public art project and collaborative sculpture that memorializes Denmark’s colonial impact in the Caribbean and those who fought against it, and most recently Trigger Planting, 2.0, which explores the landscape of abortion access and reproductive injustice in the United States. Neptune will introduce a process of community connection through various interrogations of the library's roles in practice, geographies, and space. About our presenter: Miriam Neptune is the inaugural Director of Milstein Center Exhibitions, Programming and Public Engagement. She has worked at Barnard College Library in various capacities since 2011, and at Smith College as Digital Scholarship Librarian from 2015-2018. She was previously Barnard Library’s Director of Teaching, Learning, and Digital Scholarship, and Interim Co-Dean, and as the Senior Associate Director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women. From 2021-2023, Miriam co-curated the exhibition Undesign the Redline @ Barnard. She also co-produced the bilingual digital humanities project Nos Cambió La Vida: Our Lives Transformed, and was organizer of the annual Scholar and Feminist Conference and an editor of The Scholar and Feminist Online. Miriam is also a filmmaker whose creative work focuses on resistance to anti-blackness, forced displacement, and gendered violence in the Americas, partnering on activist media projects with Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees. Case Study 1: Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024: Reflections on Reporting Gretchen Alexander, Brooklyn Public Library, and Librarians & Archivists with Palestine Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP) is an all-volunteer organization that was founded in 2013, following a two week delegation of information workers to Palestine. In December 2023, two months into the ongoing genocide in Gaza, LAP began the process of attempting to document the destruction of libraries and archives in Gaza. Through our research, we identified two archives, twelve libraries, and eight museums that had been damaged or destroyed between October 2023 and January 2024. Despite cataloging losses across different types of institutions, there are many archives and book collections that remain unrepresented in our report, including personal libraries and school libraries. In the eight months since this report was first published, the scale of cultural destruction has reached a level beyond comprehension. In this presentation, a member of LAP will unpack the process of researching and writing the report. We will highlight how the destruction of archives and libraries represents a fundamental act of colonial violence, an act that has deep historical context in Palestine. By raising awareness and transparency about these significant losses, we engage with our potential as information workers to strengthen our de-colonial frameworks and capitalize on our visibility. About our presenter: Gretchen Alexander is a librarian at Brooklyn Public Library and a member of Librarians & Archivists with Palestine. Case Study 2: SHIFT from SIFT: Infusing Design Justice to Source Evaluation Shannon Simpson, Scholarly Instruction Librarian, Kenyon College Helping students learn how to effectively evaluate information for use in personal and scholarly endeavors is not always an easy nut to crack. Having adapted the CRAAP test to consider more perspectives beyond scholarly voices and to consider the capitalist nature of information and structures of white supremacy that in large part are still in place, CRAAP can take a long time to get through with so many added adjustments. However, switching to the SIFT method didn’t seem comprehensive enough, either. Enter: Design Justice. Design Justice is a set of principles that asks us to consider Indigenous Principles, and those most impacted by design at the heart of the process. While useful for many other aspects of instruction, I recently started utilizing the Design Justice rubric of “Harm and Help” into the SIFT (now my S.H.I.F.T) acronym and found it filled a much needed gap I was looking for. Asking students to consider who information was designed to Help or Harm and who has access, now and when the information may have first been created, helps illuminate information gatekeepers from the past and present, and illuminate and articulate these barriers in their projects while contemplating a world where information could be more freely available for everyone. In this short talk, I will walk attendees through how to interactively engage students with a more decolonized and anti-racist approach to information evaluation using the Design Justice infused approach of the SHIFT method. About our presenter: Shannon Simpson, Scholarly Instruction Librarian, Kenyon College, has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous articles, presentations, research studies, and web material for various libraries, conferences, consulting firms, and print journals. Her writing, instruction, and research is currently focused on information literacy, design justice, critical pedagogies, diversity, and equity. In a previous life, Shannon played in a national symphony in South America and attained a Series 7 brokerage license. Shannon has an MLIS and has completed certificates from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and the Harvard Leadership Institute. Case Study 3: Praxisioners Platicando: Fostering Belonging Through Culturally Centered Learning Daisy Muralles, Equity & Open Resources Librarian & Vanessa Varko-Fontana, Latinx Student Success Coordinator, California State University, East Bay We took a popular educational model often utilized in libraries, the book club, and added a cultural and community building lens as part of that experience. In this case study we will share our pilot project of how a book club acted as a vehicle to hold platicas that allowed Hispanic/Latinx students space to come together with their own cultural experiences as teachers and learners. We explored things that we didn't know that much about within our culture–the unnamed things that somehow we understood as part of our cultural identities and selves but not always sure of where or why they are part of our culture. We are a Latinx coordinator and a Latinx librarian navigating higher education and currently working at a Hispanic serving institution that recently received the Seal of Excellencia. As praxisioners, we recognize that creating these spaces benefits our students as well as ourselves. We need to keep supporting ourselves, as Latinx educators and cultural workers in higher education, to be able to show up for our racially and ethnically diverse students. We need to keep creating spaces that support and retain us, allowing us the agency to pursue cultural programming and learning opportunities we recognize as impactful to our students AND ourselves. About our presenters: Daisy Muralles, Equity & Open Resources Librarian & Vanessa Varko-Fontana, Latinx Student Success Coordinator, California State University, East Bay Conversation

Join the Prison Library Support Network for the last Abolitionist Futures meeting of 2024. We are beyond thrilled to be hosting the incredible Dean Spade as our guest. As part of this conversation, we’ll discuss Dean Spade’s Mutual Aid (a resource PLSN has used directly in its organizing work), and ways that groups like our own can work through difficult conversations, major organizing decisions, and structural change -- all while remaining accountable to our stakeholders (specifically -- the folks inside who rely on PLSN’s work!). While this conversation is free to attend, we will be sharing our 2024 PLSN fundraiser -- ending at the end of December! Attendees are welcome to contribute a suggested donation of $20 after the discussion (all donations through 2024 are matched 5x!) Materials to discuss: Mutual Aid (chapter 5) by Dean Spade. While we’ll be focusing part of our discussion on decision-making structure in organizing work, we highly recommend reading the whole book (available at BPL, QPL, NYPL). Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back! (documentary by Dean Spade). Recommended by Dean Spade: Voices from Within documentary (23 min, available to rent on Prime Video) - explore the film trailer here Explore resources about Calls from Home - a radio show featuring prisoner families’ voices broadcast into rural prisons. You can listen to a recording of a holiday broadcast here, or explore several resources at the bottom of this page. About Our Host: Dean Spade is an organizer, writer and teacher. He has been working to build queer and trans liberation based in racial and economic justice for the past two decades. He is a professor at the Seattle University School of Law. He is the author of Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law, and Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the next) (published by Verso Press in October 2020). Dean’s new book, Love in a Fucked Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together, will be out in January 2024 and can be pre-ordered now with the discount code F<3CKED from Bluestockings Bookstore. More of Dean’s videos, words, and work can be found on his website.

Join Library Freedom Project, Library Futures, and Metropolitan New York Library Council as we host some of our favorite small, progressive publishers like Verso Books, Seven Stories Press, Feminist Press, PM Press, Pluto Press, and more at Francis Kite Club in Alphabet City (Manhattan). We'll hear about new titles, and there will be door prizes and advanced reader copies. Tickets are $20 and get you drinks and food all night!