For The People Newsletter Vol. XXXVIII
For everyone working to strengthen and expand public libraries
Friends and Foundations Network Update
As spring struggles to arrive on the East Coast and summer shows up too early on the West Coast, the Friends and Foundation Network has launched, and our future is bright! We held a very enthusiastic kickoff open house in February, with members in attendance from across the country. We were so happy to have Tara Dunderdale, a Friends volunteer with the Monroe County (Indiana) Public Library and an FTP Trustee Network member, to talk about her experiences in her Friends group. (She was Zooming in under a tornado warning that resolved safely, so we are extra appreciative of her time and energy!) The organizing team was especially struck by people’s immediate willingness to share ideas and questions about their own Friends of the Library or Library Foundation group, as well about others’ experiences.
Our first Network meeting in March was just as rich and collaborative, with members coming in with such nuanced and interesting questions that we are rethinking our curriculum a bit to expand the expertise folks are already coming in with. Among the rich topics raised were developing productive relationships with library staff, Friends groups as necessary points of intergenerational connection, and important community programs that Friends groups can help bring to their libraries. We were also treated to a presentation by Chris Tebbens, a Trustee of the Ypsilanti District Library who is also an FTP Trustee Network member and a Data Collection Project volunteer, and played around with FTP’s Library Seat Lookup Tool. The Network’s spirit of collaboration and openness will enrich the monthly learning and discussion sessions we have planned. A community of shared values and praxis is already forming, and we are really excited to guide it forward!
And the more the merrier: whether you are already involved in your Friends group or looking to join and bring a leftist angle, please sign up here to join us!
Here’s What Happened at the Library This Week
By Shana Agid
In 2005, my librarian friend Emily Drabinski told me a story: When the Patriot Act required librarians to surrender patron information to law enforcement and made it illegal to reveal those requests, some libraries adopted a practice of weekly reporting that no request was received. Silence became information when needed.
Now, libraries continue to be a site of struggle. We made a book to share stories about libraries as public spaces for learning, practice, and organizing, where people can be and become their whole selves. Here’s What Happened at the Library This Week, the title a reminder of that resistance strategy from twenty years ago, is a pocket-sized book with perforated pages to be torn out and given away. Each page shares a one-sentence story and one action to support your library.
I made the books in my letterpress shop, printing 500 books for Emily to take on a summer 2024 library tour. It is exciting to get these books into people’s hands, if challenging to get people to use them. (No one wants to tear pages from a handmade book, but I can make more!)
As we say in the book: Expand the library, expand the public good.
We are raffling 5 copies of Shana’s book.
🔊 Why Libraries Matter in a Fascist Moment
In this episode of Movement Memos, steering committee members Katie Clark and Mariame Kaba speak with Kelly Hayes and organizer Alison Macrina about why public libraries matter, not just as places to borrow books, but as vital public infrastructure. They discuss libraries as spaces where people can gather without spending money, learn together, and build the kind of shared intellectual life that authoritarianism seeks to destroy. The conversation explores book bans, censorship, austerity, AI, political education, and the bipartisan defunding of public goods, while making a powerful case for libraries as sites of struggle, possibility, and collective survival.
https://truthout.org/audio/why-libraries-matter-in-a-fascist-moment/
FTP loves to hear from folks around the country about their experiences with their public library systems. Please reach out to us at forthepeoplelibraries@gmail.com if you would like to share a reflection in our newsletter.
Local Library of the month!
This month’s local library is New Hanover County Library! Written by Thom R
The New Hanover County Library saved me. I was in a dead-end job with no direction, and books from this library set me on a path to becoming a tenured professor. Free access to knowledge is life changing.
We want to feature your local library in our newsletter! Thanks to Thom R for writing in this month. Send us a photo and 100 words about what your library means to you and your community.
🏛️ Library Land Updates
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.
🎞️ Two Documentaries That Explain This Moment in Libraries and Book Censorship via Well Sourced
Congress Maintains Most Federal Funding for Libraries, Museums, and Archives. - EveryLibrary
Some concerned for Bay County Library System after post online by James Felton for WNEM
Sioux City library faces possible branch closures amid proposed $2M budget cut by Kaylie Dahms
‘Same Ingredients, Different Recipe’ in Proposed U.S. Book Ban by Nathalie op de Beeck
Literary Hub » The American Library Association’s workers have formed a union. by James Folta
In 2013, CPS tried to ban a book. It didn’t go well. A new graphic novel tells the tale. by Christoper Borrelli for The Chicago Tribune [gift link]
STATE OF BLACK BOOKSTORE REPORT by the National Association of Black Bookstores
Q&A: Public libraries counting on bill to combat huge cost of e-books by Joanna Gagis
Libraries Are Becoming Telehealth Hubs in Rural New Mexico by Margaret O’Hara
Measure to ban ‘explicit’ books from libraries falters as clock runs out in Wyoming Senate - WyoFile by Charley Sutherland, Jackson Hole
Memphis Mayor appoints new library director of Memphis Public Libraries by Shayna Norwood
Why We Must Fight to Stop HR 7661 Before It Destroys the Lives of American Children by Maris Kreizman
Utah adds 4 books to growing list of 27 titles now banned from all public schools by Carmen Nesbitt for Salt Lake Tribune
The Greenville Eight and Library Discrimination, Then and Now via Kelly Jensen
New York City is giving its iconic Carnegie Libraries a makeover - Fast Company by Diana Budds
Youth programs at Pickens County libraries canceled until further notice by Lauren Miller
‘I will not comply’: Tennessee librarian refuses to move LGBTQ+ books by Christopher Wiggins
With Gaza’s Libraries in Ruins, Palestinians Fight to Preserve Historical Memory | Truthout by Eman Abu Zayed
The Last Video Rental Store Is Your Public Library by Claire Woodcock
Why comics creators must fight the proposed censorship of H.R. 7661 by E.B. Hutchins
The Dreaded NYC Library Budget Dance Continues by Mariame Kaba
Barriers to Reentry by Nathalie op de Beeck
📢 Take Action
Last month, FTP shared a visual representation of IMLS data from FY22. Later this year, we hope to release more data like this, getting down to the local level and examining metrics like how library resources compare to police budgets. If you’d like to help with this, please let us know!
Petition: Don’t Let the Federal Government Regulate Your Reading - EveryLibrary
Sign NYC PLAN’s letter to city council: City Council, we demand half a percent of the overall city budget for libraries!
NYC: Call your City Councilmember - NYC Public Library Action Network
Deadline: June 15 | Send your zines to the Zine Pavilion at ALA Annual 2026 in Chicago. Mail your zines to: ALA Zine Pavilion 3 Elm Creek Drive #310 Elmhurst, IL 60126
🎟️ Upcoming Events of Interest
💬April 1–April 3 | Minneapolis, MN | PLA Conference. Register here. Open only to public library professionals.
🗓️April 1 | Anaheim, CA | Applications for tabling at OC Zine Fest open.
📚April 4 | Redding, CA | 11am–5pm Red City Zine Fest at Redding Old City Hall.
🖼️ April 4 I Brooklyn, NY I The Warehouse Exhibition Opens at Bedford Library - Register here. The Warehouse is a collaboration between artist and writer Vic Liu, organizer Mariame Kaba, and Bedford Library, in conjunction with Justice Initiatives. Visit the exhibition website here.
April 4 | Miami, FL | 12–5pm Miami Zine Fair at Paradise Plaza in Miami’s Design District.
🗓️Deadline | April 11 | Chicago, IL | Chicago Zine Fest applications due.
📚April 11, 12 | Los Angeles, CA | 12–6pm Heavy Manners Library Zine Fair at Heavy Manners Library
🗓️Deadline | April 15 | Vermillion, SD | Apply to table at the Vermillion Zine Fest
📚April 18 | Manchester, NH | 11am – 4pm Luna Moth Zine Fest at the YWCA at 72 Concord Street.
🗓️Deadline | April 17 | Davis, CA Apply to table at the Print & Zine Fest at the Third Space Art Collective.
📚April 18 | Lancaster, PA | 12–5pm Lancaster Zine Fest at Southern Market. Free to attend.
📚April 18 | Bisbee, AZ | 10am–1pm Second annual Bisbee Zine Fest at Copper Queen Library
🎉 April 19-25 National Library Week: https://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek
📚April 25 | Everett, WA | 11am–5pm Evergreen Zine Fest at The Bayside Cafe. All ages. Masks required. Masks will be available at the door.
🗓️Deadline | April 26 | New York, NY Apply for the Summer Educator Residency with NYPL’s Center for Educators & Schools | The New York Public Library. Dates: July 27–31, 2026. Apply to participate in a one-week program for teachers invested in teaching with the Library’s collections.
💬April 30 | online | American Library Association, Social Responsibilities Round Table: Health Equity in Action: Libraries, Communities, Opportunities.
UPCOMING: 📚May 9 | New York, NY Black Zine Fair. RSVP here!