Nicole Pagowsky

From the Editor

Kristen Curé

Tis newsletter gives just a glimpse into the wide scopeo PLG-UA members and SIRLS student interests.Some o us who are involved with small libraries shareinsight in the progressive ways that such projectsrespond to their communities. Molly Osborn’s experi-ence starting a small library in Belize led her to look at a much larger-scale literacy and library project that works in many developing nations—Room to Read—and analyze how to measure its success. In anotherarticle, I share rom my experi-ences organizing the small library at the local Girl Scout Council’snew youth lounge and invite youall to the Grand Opening. We have also included articleson our major activities rom thepast semester: a panel on progres-sive librarianship organized by Rachel Cannady, the Lost FilmFestival organized by Jacy Bell,a yoga and relaxation undraiserorganized by Rebecca Bliquez.See the letter rom the President,Nicole Pagowsky, or a highlighto the activities planned or nextsemester. In this issue, you can also glance at what we have beenreading. Nicole Pagowsky gives a review o RadicalCataloging: Essays at the Front. Patricia Escarcega pro-vides a look at Scrolling Forward and shares a questionand answer session with author David Levy.Finally, I’d like to direct your attention to our webpublications. Last Spring, Sho Ikeda served as PLG-UA’s rst webmaster, establishing our presence on the

Progressive Librarians Guild

UA Chapter-- Spring 2009 Newsletter

Volume 1, Issue 2

From the President

Nicole Pagowsky

Fall semester 2008 brought some changes to PLG-UA with the addition o new members and becomingmore widely known on campus and in the commu-nity. With these changes, we also have some excitingplans or Spring semester 2009. We ocially became a campus organization in Febru-ary o 2008, using that Spring semester to establishour structure, complete necessary paperwork, andparticipate in other groups’events. Over the summer, wepublished our rst newsletterand geared up or Fall semester,in which we attracted a broadermembership and organized avariety o our own very success-ul events. We had a panel event onSeptember 17th, 2008 at theMain Library, with a theme tobetter introduce ourselves toSIRLS and the campus: Whatis a Progressive Librarian? Mary Feeney, om Wilding, and Kay Mathiesen participated in thepanel, creating a very lively andinormative discussion.On October 30th, 2008, properly timed pre-election, we planned a visit rom Scott Beiben and Lost FilmFest, which through grants and unding by the Gradu-ate and Proessional Student Council (GPSC), Schoolo Media Arts, Hanson Film Institute, and SIRLS, theevent was able to be ree to attendees, and was open toall o campus and the greater ucson community.Our Fundraising Coordinator, Rebecca Bliquez, ledanother Yoga Fundraiser Workshop or us on Novem-ber 16th, 2008, as she is a certied yoga instructor.Continued on next pageContinued on next page

Incredibly relaxing and suitable or all levels o tness,the workshop helped attendees to de-stress beore thebusiest portion o the semester began. Tis undraiser was ollowed by a social brunch at Govinda’s. A number o new members joined us as well, and wehave been lucky to have a variety o perspectives andvoices participating in our group. Because our groupocuses more on positions o Project Managers to planevents and work with the community, we ollow morealong the lines o consensus decision-making, ratherthan being heavily led by a select ew ocers. Ocersare elected through a democratic voting process, andthese individuals take on leadership roles in regardsmore so to administrative tasks. We edited our con-stitution this semester to eliminate the Events Coor-dinator and Social Coordinator positions so we couldocus more on Project Management. Anyone, ocersand non-ocers alike, can volunteer to be a ProjectManager (or part o a Project Manager’s support team),allowing greater involvement rom a wider number o members. Tis helps to make PLG-UA more diverse; italso opens up more opportunities to more members orleadership and teamwork experiences. We are able toocus on events and projects we all care about, with theability or individuals to participate in project manage-ment or events they eel are particularly o interest tothem.Other changes to our structure and constitution in-clude making the reasurer position a stand alone one,rather than an addition to another ocer position. We also changed Vice President to Co-President. Tisstructural change allows or a more seamless transition when new elections occur, as well as better retentiono inormation. When one is elected to Co-President,he or she works with the President closely during thesemester to get a eel or the position, to then becomethe new President the ollowing semester. Te previ-ous President then rotates out o oce, and a new Co-President is elected to repeat the process again. Wehope this also encourages more new members to runor these and other ocer positions since the respon-sibilities might seem less intimidating with a period o introduction.Finally, a peek into our plans or Spring semester 2009: We are going to be collaborating with Proessor Botti-celli to organize a panel or roundtable discussion eventon the controversial topic o the Google Books settle-ment. Tis event should be towards the beginning o the semester.Dawn Hunziker rom the Disability Resource Center will be working with our group to present to PLG-UA members how to make web documents (PDF’s) moreaccessible to those with disabilities. An Intellectual Property Workshop or Progressive Li-brarians is also in the works to inorm participants anddiscuss topics aecting progressive librarians withinthe realm o IP. A group o law and copyright librar-ians are planned to be included in this event. As part o our interest in and commitment to col-laboration with the community at large, we are in theplanning stages with community groups such as ReadBetween the Bars (a ucson books-to-prisoners group),Dry River (an activist community space, written upin our rst newsletter), and potentially the NationalLawyers Guild. We eel establishing these connectionsis extremely important, and we hope to work togetherthrough the means o community service and activismto improve our community by utilizing our skill sets o LIS students and proessionals.I not already a member, we hope you will consider joining PLG-UA this semester, whether you are new to SIRLS, have been in the program or some time,are alumni, or a LIS proessional in town. Everyone is welcome and we encourage as much participation asindividual members are comortable with. Inormationon how to join is located in this newsletter, as well asin our online wiki. Membership orms are included inthese places as well.Cheers! web and in print with our rst newsletter. Te all se-mester brought PLG-UA a new, Drupal based websiteand me, the new webmaster. You can nd our new website here:

http://sirls.arizona.edu/PLG

. Ournew website is still a work in progress and we look orward to seeing how Jez Gaddoura, our webmasteror 2009, will develop it.

Continued rom previous page (From the President)Continued rom previous page (From the Editor)

On Sept. 17th, twenty people gathered to hear what one current librarian, one retired librarian,and one philosophy proessor could oer on thesubject. Mary Feeney, Associate Librarian at theUA Main Library, started the panel by discuss-ing what progressive really means when it comesto core library values. She then went on to dis-cuss SRR (Social Responsibilities Roundtable), which is part o the ALA’s round tables. Mary alsodiscussed an SRR task orce with which she ispersonally involved: the ask Force on the En-vironment (FOE). She mentioned the Roundables and ask Forces as means that librarianscan use to create and promote progressive interests within the proession.om Wilding, Proessor o Practice at SIRLS, andretired librarian and library director, provided someadditional background inormation on SRR’s origins.He also discussed how a ask Force becomes a Roundable in ALA, how our parent PLG organizationoriginated, and the eectiveness o grassroots activ-ism within the library proession. om emphasized theimportance o being as proactive as possible within theproession, rather than being merely reactive.

What is a Progressive Librarian? Panel

Rachel Cannady

Te panel was rounded out by SIRLS Senior LecturerKay Mathiesen’s presentation. Kay asked a series o pro-vocative questions and quotations about what the role o a librarian is. She asked whether neutrality was possibleand i it was the responsible thing to do. Many audiencemembers were involved as the gears started working on what progressivism really means within today’s libraries.

Continued on page 8On Sunday, November 16, 2008, the Progressive Librarians Guild(PLG) held its second Yoga Fundraiser in Room 313/314 o the MainLibrary. Tis undraiser was a yoga class designed to create a state o relaxation and calm and has been traditionally held towards the end o the semester to help alleviate the stress o papers and class deadlines.Te class was led by Rebecca Bliquez, the PLG Fundraising Coordi-nator who is also a certied yoga instructor. Attendees learned posesdesigned to stretch and strengthen the body, breathwork to enhancea state o calm and completed a “Release and Relaxation” meditation.Eight attendees participated in the class and aterwards carpooled toGovinda’s Natural Foods Buet at 711 E Blacklidge Dr in ucson(www.govindasotucson.com) or a social gathering and to sampleGovinda’s delicious vegetarian brunch buet! PLG raised $45 romthis undraiser or our coers. We are excited to have completed yetanother successul undraiser and had a wonderul time. Tank you toall who participated and Namaste!