Drexel Progressive Librarians Guild

Philadelphia Anti-War Rally

2009-10-09T09:23:00.002-04:00

On October 17th, the Philadelphia October 17 Mobilization Committee is organizing an anti-war demo in downtown Philadelphia.

For more information:

http://phillyoctober17stopthewars.blogspot.com/

Peaceful Anti-War Protestors Attacked by Cops

2009-10-08T10:56:00.003-04:00

The Rochester SDS organized a peaceful Funk the War event when a squadron of overzealous cops who obviously had little else to do started arresting and bashing protesters (one protester was arrested for swearing at a cop). Over 10 people were arrested and two required hospitalization.

Books Through Bars Benefit at National Mechanics!

2009-09-28T12:08:00.006-04:00

As part of Philadelphia's annual 215 festival, there will be a dance party and benefit for Books Through Bars coming up on Saturday, Oct. 3rd from 10pm to 2am.

It's at the National Mechanics Bar at 22 S. 3rd St. in Old City.

Here's festival information: http://sites.google.com/site/215festival

A Facebook event for Bibliodiscotheque: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/event.php?eid=137410271641

And the event schedule flyer for the 215 festival: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3494/3950952976_287053d903_b.jpg

Please pass the word!

~posted by Alison

Leadership and Power in Anarchist Organizing

2009-09-09T14:23:00.002-04:00

Monday September 14th 7:00PM
with Uri Gordon
@ Wooden Shoe Books
508 S. 5th Street
Phila PA 19147
sabot@woodenshoebooks.com
www.woodenshoebooks.com
215-413-0999

Issues of internal hierarchy and inequality arise regularly in groups
dedicated to anarchist organizing. In this talk, visiting anarchist author Uri Gordon presents the discussion of leadership and power in his new book "Anarchy Alive!” (www.anarchyalive.com. What are the sources of inequality among activists? And can these be addressed by a move to more formal and accountable structures? Talk followed by open discussion.

Uri Gordon is an Israeli activist and author. He completed his PhD on
contemporary anarchism in Oxford while organizing with the Dissent!
network, Indymedia and Anarchists Against the Wall. Today he teaches at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.

Banned Books event at Drexel

2009-09-09T14:22:00.001-04:00

Banned Books, Banished Writers and Historic Bonfires: Tales from the Rare Book Collection

Reception Wednesday September 30th from 4 to 6 p.m
on the lower level of Hagerty Library.

In conjunction with ALA’s Banned Books Week September 26 – October 3rd ! This exhibition, curated by Laurie Rizzo, displays written works that have been cause for conflict at one point in time or another. All the books in the exhibition are from Drexel’s Rare Books Collection. Materials chronicle 1700 years of banning, banishment and burnings over ideas so controversial that church and state alike sought to prevent their spread. The event is open to all and includes complimentary homemade refreshments.

Join us Tuesday, August 11, for a talk with Rory Litwin

2009-08-10T15:34:00.002-04:00

We're pleased to be co-sponsoring a talk tomorrow with Rory Litwin of Library Juice Press. We hope you'll join us!

From Duality to Dilemma: Balancing the Library on Mission, Community and Democracy

Tuesday, August 11 at 5 p.m.

Drexel University Rush Building, 30 N. 33rd Street, Room 14

Rory Litwin is a reference and subject librarian at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and owner of Litwin Books and Library Juice Press, a small publishing house that publishes books (paper books) on issues in librarianship from a critical perspective. Library Juice Press is an outgrowth of the e-zine Library Juice, which Litwin published via email and the web from 1998 to 2005, and which is now a blog. http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/ He has served on the editorial board of Progressive Librarian, the Coordinating Committee of PLG, the Action Council of ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table, and ALA Council.

Bob Helms at A-Space, June 22nd

2009-06-15T13:36:00.002-04:00

Alison Lewis passed information about this talk onto us. Hope to see you there!

****

Bob Helms will be speaking at the A-Space on Monday, June 22nd, at 7:30 p.m. Bog is a historian of alternative local history, in the vein of Howard Zinn. His topic is Chaim Weinberg (1861-1939), who was an immigrant union organizer in Philadelphia in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Bob edited Weinberg's memoirs, Forty Years in the Struggle: The Memoirs of a Jewish Anarchist, published by Litwin Books in collaboration with Wooden Shoe Books earlier this year. Bob can be an entertaining and enlightening speaker, so if you're interested in radical, alternative local history, come on out! The A-Space is located in West Philadelphia at 4722 Baltimore Avenue, right on the #34 trolley line. Their website can be found at http://www.the-aspace.org/.

Books Through Bars Pack-A-Thon

2008-12-04T18:02:00.006-05:00

On Sunday, 23 November, Drexel PLG members and supporters gathered at the A-Space in W. Philly to offer their book selection and packing services to Books Through Bars, a non-profit organization "send[ing] quality reading material to prisoners and encourag[ing] creative dialogue on the criminal justice system, thereby educating those living inside and outside of prison walls."

This was many members' first experience working with Books Through Bars, but everyone felt so empowered and encouraged by the success of the event that another pack-a-thon is currently being planned for mid-December. Email drexelplg@gmail.com if you're interested in joining us!

Happy Anti-Columbus Day

2008-10-13T16:01:00.003-04:00

The Drexel PLG wishes to remind everyone what Columbus Day truly stands for and to encourage members of the community to not allow the whitewashing of history nor the lionization of imperialists (adventurous as they may have been).

RNC Update

2008-09-02T21:09:00.005-04:00

I can't speak for every member of the Drexel PLG, but personally, this makes my heart soar.

State Terror Leading Up to RNC

2008-08-30T19:11:00.013-04:00

The Drexel PLG unequivocally condemns the preemptive police raids that began Friday night at the RNC Welcoming Committee's convergence space. At 9:15pm on Friday night, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department along with the St. Paul police burst through the doors of the convergence space with guns drawn while around 50 activists, including children and the elderly, shared food and watched a movie. All individuals were ordered to lay face down on the floor and were all summarily handcuffed while Minnesota's terror agents executed a search warrant that they said they had but did not show. Activists were then detained, photographed, and after their personal information was recorded, released. Personal computers, hard drives, protest literature and other items were confiscated. The fact that not one single person was arrested attests to the desperate use of scare tactics employed by the police to try and disrupt scheduled protests set for the beginning of next week's convention.

But, that was only the beginning. Starting early Saturday morning, activists' homes all over Minneapolis were raided, once again, in a attempt to intimidate protestors and stifle dissent. Twin Cities Indymedia is doing a good job of posting breaking news as it unfolds. Videos from many of the raids as well as a map showing where the raids are taking place can be found here.

These examples of draconian State power come only 2 days after the Berkeley police and officers from 2 other agencies raided the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley, CA. The police broke down doors and confiscated all computers saying "they may have been used to commit a felony." The officers refused to show a warrant until after they were finished ransacking the building.

These preemptive acts of aggression and violence by State forces must be resisted, opposed, and emphatically condemned by every individual who recognizes the right to dissent and protest as not only legitimate, but imperative, when those in power seek to oppress those who oppose them.

Project 360

2008-08-26T19:43:00.014-04:00

I'm excited that our first post concerns Project 360, a relatively new project adopted by the Drexel PLG.

Background Information

Volunteering at Books Through Bars one night, Prather and I met Molly Russakoff, a single mother of two, who had run Molly's Bookstore in South Philadelphia for 8 years. But, due to the shifting nature of the retail book industry, she was being forced to close her store and to contemplate a new future for the space where she and her family worked and lived.

Her idea was to establish an alternative learning center for disaffected Philadelphia teens frustrated with the less-than-optimal learning/social milieu of Philadelphia public schools. In a city where barely 50% of students graduate from high school and where violence in the school system seems endemic, children and teenagers require and deserve a more nurturing, creative, and self-empowering environment to foster their skills, ideas and dreams. Project 360 carries on the tradition of homeschooling, unschooling -- a term attributed to John Holt and practiced most famously by Grace Llewellyn through her Not Back to School Camp -- and self-directed learning centers such as North Star.

But more than just an alternative learning center, Project 360 will also be home to a new infoshop and community space that will consist of radical publications, a 'zine library, and a host of events ranging from vegan potluck dinners to movie screenings to workshops and social gatherings.

The Role of the PLG

As future (radical) librarians, archivists and information professionals, the members of the PLG support the critical analyzation of existing hierarchical institutions that stifle the innate creativity, cooperation, and liberty that every individual strives to express unfettered by coercive authority figures and ineffectual standardization tests. Thus far our members have been involved in everything from painting walls and taking apart bookshelves to compiling resources for a resource guide that will be used to help parents and teens make informed decisions regarding their self-directed learning. We will also be working alongside Molly and other participants in the acquisition of resources and in helping to establish information hubs within the center. We will be posting periodic updates on Project 360 and community events at the space.

Items still needed: a projection screen, furniture (couches, chairs, etc.) that is in good condition, a mini-refrigerator, microwave, etc. Please contact us if you have any of these items to donate

Film to watch: Jean Vigo's Zero de Conduite (this film will be screened at Project 360 in the very near future)