For The People Newsletter Vol. XXVI

For everyone working to strengthen and expand public libraries

People’s Assembly Toolkit Launch

Over the course of a year and a half, For the People Leftist Library Project (FTP) has developed a toolkit to encourage public library defenders to conduct local People’s Assemblies (PA). A People’s Assembly (PA) involves a facilitated gathering where all community members discuss key community issues and collectively problem-solve and decide how to address them.

In the space created by PAs, everyone’s voice, thinking, experiences, ideas, and visions receive equal hearing and value. The PAs empower every participant to exercise their agency and power. Accordingly, PAs are a form of direct participatory democracy that places unwavering trust in those assembling.

Library defenders can conduct a PA to advocate, organize, and mobilize for their local public library. Ultimately, PAs are effective strategies for identifying and addressing the issues most impacting a library institution, its staff, and—perhaps most importantly—its patrons. For example, PAs can address issues related to hyper-policing in public spaces, book bans, and accessibility. Facilitated properly, PAs can uplift and empower communities to co-create their ideal local library.

Elizabeth Flores spent several weeks creating the foundation of this toolkit. We are grateful to them for their intellectual labor and contributions. Several others contributed to the toolkit, including Mariame Kaba, Dylan Flesch, Katie Clark, Lisa Schiff, Shannon Mattern, Jen Hoyer, Melissa Morrone, Anne Kosseff-Jones and Danbee Kim, who designed it. Thanks to each of them.

Join us virtually on April 17 when we will unveil the toolkit for public use. Come learn from Elizabeth and others who will share insights gleaned from the process of creating it. We will also walk you through how to use the resource in your communities. We will provide ASL interpretation. Register here to attend.

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Defend IMLS & eRate!

On March 31, 2025, all staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) were placed on administrative leave, just over two weeks since Donald Trump signed the March 14th Executive Order targeting the IMLS and that much further along the implementation of a long-planned attack on libraries and access to information by the right-wing. IMLS provides critical services to all libraries--public, school, and academic--and thus to people in every community in every state, as anyone can discover (at least right now) via this IMLS map-based reporting tool. IMLS funding goes towards research and a host of direct library services with local and national impact, like Interlibrary Loan (ILL), so that access to materials isn’t limited by a local library’s collection budget (for more, see statements from library system leaders here and here). Similarly critical and also at risk is eRate, a program which enables libraries across the country to provide high-speed broadband internet access, an essential service for the many people who don’t otherwise have a way to get online.

IMLS may be financially gutted or, perhaps worse, reshaped into a propaganda machine by the new director who has vowed to ensure IMLS is fully aligned with Trump’s goals. Resistance is happening though, even institutionally on the part of the IMLS board, but the true power will come, as always, from the people, so below are some easy ways for us to speak up now:

• Contact elected officials using the EveryLibrary Action tools and ask your friends to do the same

• Hand out this IMLS Zine at events and other actions

• Attend your library board meeting and ask them to publicly advocate for IMLS and eRate

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Favorite Library Quotes

FTP asked folks to send in their favorite library quotes…and you did! We will feature them throughout the year.

"I told the Englishman that my alma mater was books, a good library. Every time I catch a plane, I have with me a book that I want to read — and that's a lot of books these days. If I weren't out here every day battling the white man, I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity — because you can hardly mention anything I'm not curious about."

– Malcolm X., The Autobiography of Malcolm X

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Updates from Library Land

Here’s a roundup of interesting reading and listening material that we think you’ll appreciate. Sometimes articles may be paywalled. In other news, sometimes it’s nice to use tools like Archive.today or the Wayback Machine.

• Texas may change how schools select library books. Critics say it could lead to more bans by Pavan Acharya for Texas Tribune

• A School District Rejected a Black Author’s Book About Tulsa for Its Curriculum. Then the Community Decided to Act. by Phil Lewis for ContraBandCamp

• Saving history: These archivists' mission to preserve social media record of war in Gaza by Charlie Bell and Agnes Ored for SBS News

• How to Build Your Trans Microlibrary by Bethany Karsten for The Transfeminine Review

• Librarian Criminalization Bills Are Growing, But They’re Not New: Book Censorship News, March 14, 2025 by Kelly Jensen for Book Riot

• Must-Reads and Thoughts on Fighting for Our Libraries by Kelly Hayes for Organizing My Thoughts

• How Libraries Serve as Community Hubs featuring Azita Frattarelli for Chapter & Verse: Storytime from the Stacks [Audio]

• Banned Historical Fiction Books by Rachel Brittain for Book Riot

• Federal judge orders Colorado district to return banned books to school libraries by Elizabeth Hernandez for The Denver Post

• A Lifelong Love of Books and Libraries by Phil Morehart for I Love Libraries

• Alabama board defunds local library in first action under new book ban law by Associated Press for The Guardian

• Fairhope rallies around ‘the best library in the state’ after conservative outcry leads to funding cut by John Sharp for AL.com

• The Institute for Museum and Library Services Is Now a Propaganda Machine: Book Censorship News, March 21, 2025 by Kelly Jensen for Book Riot

• How to Support Your Local Library a zine by Darling Arlo

• The local library resisted a takeover. So the county axed its budget by Gregory S. Schneider for The Washington Post

• Ex-librarian gets $225K settlement by Dakota Morissiey for Daily Trib

• US decision to limit Canadian access to border-straddling library prompts outpouring of emotion by Associated Press

• Stephanie R. Toliver: Don’t stay silent. Libraries need support now. By Stephanie R. Toliver for The Chicago Tribune

• Elon Musk’s DOGE Moves to Gut Local Libraries While No One Is Looking by Malcolm Ferguson for The New Republic

• Dems Demand Pete Hegseth Halt 'Orwellian Book Purges' In Military Schools by Jennifer Bendery for The Huffington Post

• The Volunteer Data Hoarders Resisting Trump’s Purge by Julian Lucas for The New Yorker

• Should librarians go to prison for lending The Poet X to Texas teenagers? [video] by Frank Strong for Anger & Clarity

• Call to resist repression: Universities must refuse cooperation with the Trump regime

• Introducing The Blue Skies Statement: An Equitable Policy Vision for Libraries from Library Futures

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Take Action

• Tell Elected Officials to Protect IMLS

• PETITION: Support the Right to Read in DOD K-12 schools

• Tell Your NYC Council Member to Cosponsor the Librarians Count Bill

• Sign the Petition: Stop Punishing Utah Students for Reading!

• Share your story about the impact of federal funding on libraries!

• Tell Congress: Don’t Censor America

• Tell Vancouver Public Library to Reverse Anti-Palestinian Ban

• Increase library funding in the FY 2026 Budget and stop proposed cuts!

• Declaration To Defend Research Against U.S. Government Censorship

• PETITION: Stop Trump's E.O. Attacks on Federal Funding for Libraries

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Upcoming Events of Interest

• March & April - One Book 2025: They Called Me a Lioness by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri; a book reading event organized by Librarians with Palestine.

• ​​Comrades Education's Study & Action for Palestine online course, a learning community for anyone who is committed to a Free Palestine and the well-being of all people, everywhere. Live sessions will be held: March 16, March 30, April 6, April 20, April 27 and May 4 from 4:30 to 6:30pm ET.

• April 7th - Building Spaces of Solidarity and Connection: A Historical, Theoretical, and Practical Lens on Libraries’ Commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Justice (a Virtual Summit sponsored by the Social Responsibilities Round Table)

• April 10th - The Palestine Exception: Censorship in Academic Libraries (virtual)

• April 17th - FTP’s People’s Assembly Toolkit Launch (virtual)

• May 19 - Library Freedom Project (LFP) Book Club: Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 by M.E. O'Brien and Eman Abdelhadi. To join this discussion, email info@libraryfreedom.org

• September 17th - Webinar: 'Global perspectives on prison libraries' sponsored by UNESCO