For The People Newsletter Vol. XVII
For everyone working to strengthen and expand public libraries
Summer is here and it’s the perfect time to talk to your neighbors about public libraries. Libraries and Lemonade is a fun way to raise awareness about public libraries and the important role they play in our communities. This article offers some historical background about lemonade stands. We hope it inspires you to set up your own Libraries and Lemonade stands in your communities this summer!
SPECIAL EVENT | JOIN FOR THE PEOPLE + RUN FOR SOMETHING
Love Is Not Enough: How We Can Strengthen & Expand Public Libraries
Thursday, August 1st from 6:00pm-7:30pm Eastern Daylight Time / 3:00-4:30pm Pacific Daylight Time
Even if you love your public library, odds are you might be in the dark about how your local library board functions, and who makes decisions about what books are on the shelves (or not). On Thursday, August 1st, Join Run For Something and For The People: A Leftist Library Project to get the inside scoop on how public libraries function as political institutions, and learn how you can make a difference in strengthening and expanding them.
You’ll leave with specific actions, toolkits, and resources you can use right away to make a difference in the face of book bans, censorship, privatization, and loss of funding. We’ll be joined by RFS endorsed candidates who are currently serving on library boards, other elected and appointed members of library boards from many different types of communities, as well as current candidates and folks seeking appointments for a panel discussion followed by a Q&A.
This session is ideal for anyone who’s interested in seeking a seat on their local library board, as well as for folks at other levels of state and local government who care about the vital role libraries play in our communities. So channel your inner Summer Reading kid and join us!
Register now (for free) and share the link with friends who also want to help public libraries!
Reflections from New Friends Members
Friends of the Library groups are an easy way to get involved with your local public library. We’ve asked current friends to share details about their experience and what sorts of activities they’ve gotten up to - here’s what Keren in Brooklyn, NY had to say.
Which local friend group did you join and why did you join?
I moved to Sunset Park in January of 2023, and immediately knew I wanted to get involved with our local library - libraries have always been such a safe and welcoming space for me, especially growing up low-income and the child of immigrants in the Bronx. Someone posted about the Friends of Sunset Park library group in a neighborhood Facebook page and I showed up to my first meeting a few weeks later!
What projects have you had a chance to work on through that group?
Our group has been really active this year! I’ve participated in the planning and execution of our bake sale, our tote bag + book sale, and our tabling efforts to get community members involved in the NY City Council budget process. My favorite work with the group has actually been this advocacy work - in March, I organized several of our group members to submit testimony to the City Council Preliminary Budget Hearing, and Chair Carlina Rivera called our group member Ted’s testimony “very compelling." That felt like a huge win!
[You can watch Ted’s testimony by clicking the video link on the March 12th meeting via the NYC City Council’s website, and then skip forward to 4:21:22]
What has been the best and also the hardest thing about being a part of that group?
The best part of being a member of the Friends of Sunset Park library group is building community with other members - we’re all so deeply invested in supporting our local library, and that commitment shines through at every meeting.
The hardest part is actually a really exciting problem to have - figuring out what our focus should be! We have so many great ideas and so much drive, so it can feel difficult to hone in on a few main areas of focus. Something we’re doing to combat this difficulty is splitting our group up into multiple subcommittees - which will ensure we can get even more done each year! Right now, our subcommittees will be focused on: community engagement, fundraising, and advocacy. I’m really excited for this next step, and I can’t wait for everything else we’ll accomplish!
Note: Have you recently joined your local Friends of the Library group? If yes, please send us your answers to the questions above at forthepeoplelibraries@gmail.com. We’d love to feature you in a future newsletter!
It’s Libraries and Lemonade Season!
Show your support for public libraries this summer by sharing the impact they make on your community while serving up some cold lemonade.
With a social media toolkit, materials to have at your stand (including coloring sheets, scavenger hunts, and fact sheets to fill in with information on your library!), and stats on the benefit of public libraries, For the People has all the things you need to make your support of libraries loud.
$50 grants to purchase materials such as lemons, sugar, cups, and more are also available via a form on our website. For questions about running your stand, applying for the grants, or other general ideas and concerns, reach out to libraries.and.lemonade1@gmail.com. When life gives you book bans, let's make lemonade!
ALL CALLS
Data Collection Project: We’re looking for new and returning volunteers to sign up for Phase 02 research (direct outreach). After you sign up, keep an eye on your inbox for details on a coworking session as well, which is a new thing we’re going to be trying out to make this more fun.
Sign up for For The People’s 2025 candidate cohort! If you’re planning to run for your local library board or seek an appointment, we’re here to help you. The waiting list is open, and we plan to kick off the next cohort in early 2025 (January or February). Fill out the cohort application online here.
Are you a currently serving member of a state library board? If so, we want to know about you and help you work with other leftist state library board members! Please send us an email with your details to get connected.
Are you a serving member of a local public library board who’d like to join our community of leftist trustees and candidates? Send us an email at forthepeoplelibraries@gmail.com and let us know about your board, your library system, and your background. (Thanks to folks who have already replied - more from us soon!)
Have you recently been elected or appointed to your library board? We’re tracking folks who have been inspired by or encouraged by FTP’s work, and if that’s you, please send us an email at forthepeoplelibraries@gmail.com to fill us in (and similarly, let us know if you want to join our candidate and trustee community).
Here’s a roundup of interesting reading and listening material that we think you’ll appreciate. Sometimes, articles may be paywalled. In other totally unrelated news, sometimes a fun thing to do on the internet is to use tools like Archive.today or the Wayback Machine.
NYC libraries to get budget funding back — and reopen on Sundays by Elizabeth Kim for Gothamist
Huntington Beach library privatization bidder withdraws proposal by Michael Slaten for The Orange County Register
We Can’t Win the School Culture Wars by Nora De La Cour for Jacobin
Penn Libraries staff file petition to unionize with National Labor Relations Board by Ethan Young for The Daily Pennsylvanian
Pennsylvania Senate passes bill to bar universities and pension funds from divesting from Israel by Marc Levy for The Associated Press
The Free Library’s Author Events staff resigned Monday. Here is what we know. by Elizabeth Wellington and Ximena Conde for The Philadelphia Inquirer
An Open Letter to the Chicago Public Library Foundation from the Cultural Workers for Palestine Chicago by Cultural Workers for Palestine in Sixty Inches from Center
South Carolina to Launch Biggest Censorship Campaign Yet by Edith Olmsted for The New Republic
New York’s First Black Librarians Changed the Way We Read by Jennifer Schuessler for The New York Times
States That Have Banned Book Bans by Kelly Jensen for Book Riot
How Alabama Library Supporters Took Action and You Can, Too by Kelly Jensen for Book Riot
Cuyahoga County library workers vote to strike by Sam Allard for Axios
We Need Our Public Libraries, and Now They Need Us Too by Georgia Jensen for Inequality.org
UPCOMING EVENTS
July 17th - Archives & Heritage for Palestine Seminar Series presents: susan abulhawa hosted by Dr. Jamila Ghaddar and Tam Rayan. Discussing the role of cultural & memory workers in advocating against the destruction of cultural heritage materials as a form of genocide & memoricide.
July 24th - Library Patron’ Union presents: Liberation to the Library: Legal Self Defense. Learn about the intersections of abolition and public libraries and about how to engage in ongoing practice of reducing danger to ourselves, our communities, and our movements from law enforcement. This is in person in Minneapolis but it’s also on Zoom and you can register here)
August 1st - FTP Event Co-Presented with Run For Something: Love Is Not Enough: How We Can Strengthen & Expand Public Libraries
August 1st - How We Work Better Now: a History of Librarian Professionalization. This is a 5 week course from we here starting August 1st and it costs $200.
September 27th - Urban Librarians Conference, Newark Public Library, New Jersey