Main Page/Meetings/Philly2021/Notes

Notes

Using wiki markup formatting

• all kinds of info about markup formatting is here: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting
• asterisks are how you make bullet points
  • more asterisks give deeper levels

1. likewise, number signs make numbered lists
2. and this
   1. more number signs make deeper levels

• if you want to make section subheadings, use the equals sign (=) on either side of the heading text. The number of equals signs should be one more than the heading itself, eg this section uses five equals signs for its heading, so a subheading in this section would be formatted with six equals signs like this:

subheading

• this is just demonstrating a subheading :)

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Community Agreements

• Inclusivity
  • Progressive stacking
• Remembering our/my context
• Forgiving
• Write big, speak up, and use the mic
• Provide grace
• Freedom to move
• Acknowledgment for CA(? notetaker note: idk what this means) flexibility
• In lieu of clapping (loud, takes up time) silent applause by waving hands
• Recognize power & privilege
• One mic, one speaker
• Ask up - jargon gesture and/or explain your acronyms

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LFP Community Culture

When you talk about LFP to others, how do you describe our values, goals, and culture?

• Very accessible, no imposter syndrome
• Not part of ALA
• Some code switching depending on the audience - with trusted people might talk more about our anti-capitalist values, with others might just mention the justice orientation or that we use a power analysis, but with less detail.
  • Difference in language talking to peers rather than library admin
  • However for some laying out explicitly what we are about is a way of weeding out folks who might not really align with our values. It's a feature, not a bug.
  • A BIPOC member mentioned that when talking to other BIPOC about LFP & its goals that ppl have had questions/hesitations due to skepticism and past experiences with white leftists, many who do not or do not adequately consider race in their political analysis
• More depth-than-breadth oriented. The level of activity commitment is a bit of a barrier to entry, so to some might feel exclusionary, but it speaks to the work and practice that is part of the expectation
• Thinks of it in contrast to ALA - ethic of care
• When thinking about the goals, often don't know exactly what the goals are. Lots to learn, but difficult to imagine 5 year goals, application, etc, without clearly stated goals.
• A community of practice rather than a professional membership org. It's about both the community component (being actively in community) and the practice. Some might consider it a higher barrier to entry, but perhaps this is something we should explicitly lay out in our values about our members, that we don't want to become a membership org where people just pay dues and join and do nothing further. If you want to be part of our community, that does require some work -- not beyond what you are able to commit to, but it IS more than just something you join on paper.
• Values - pro-labor, pro-racial-justice, abolitionlist
• Someone would like clarity as to whether we should call our members information workers, librarians, etc....
• Educate, Advocate, Examine

How do we want to be perceived? What are the steps we could take together to encourage that perception more broadly?

• Want people to take us seriously! "Oh crap, LFP is involved!" let us strike fear into the hearts of the powerful
  • Could be easily embargoed/written off if perception goes too far in either direction of "super leftist extremist group" OR "just another membership entity"
  • As to what that would take, perhaps some more visibility. Not sure what that would take.
  • Outreach to MLIS students, teaching librarians about the issues around police, etc, bc many of us did NOT learn about this in library school and have to learn about this extracurricularly
  • One person assumed they couldn't participate until they had graduated with their MLIS and an "official" librarian
• Highlight the word grace in perception - esp in context of tech literacy, etc, we can get a bit cliquish and have an us-versus-them mentality. This is something we could work on, and adjusting that mentality will help with outreach as well
• Focusing more on empowerment than advocacy. Not just a semantic difference - empowerment is helping people be their own advocates in the ways most helpful for them.
• As experts and instructors, would like for when people think about issues around privacy, etc, we are seen as the first resource to locate expertise, speakers, etc.
• We want to be seen as a group that people can be called upon for assistance not just education
• "If it's not about ending white supremacy, I'm not a part of it." Want the anti-kyriarchical/* (note from notetaker Deborah - I'm using this word as an aggregate term for the various systems of power rather than listing patriarchy, colonialism, imperialism, white supremacy, etc etc each time. [1]. perspective to be a critical part of our perception (and practice, and goals!)
• Need to be an alternative to neutral-to-outright-terrible perspectives and orgs that is visible and clear
• Bat signal! There is need for help beyond education, especially in point-of-crisis. We have some who are working on a project related to this but could be expanded upon.
• LFP has been helpful to many in our group in their personal journeys towards radicalization, and we could work towards actively thinking of ourselves as being helpers on that journey
• Re: perceptions of cliquishness - how can we be more useful to library workers directly, and how to we build further then ways that this is an org that is of use to people who are not members/more central to our organizing body? Do we have capacity to do things like offer toolkits for local library staff? Local level kitchen-table privacy crews?
• One remarkable thing about this org is our agility and flexibility (unlike certain orgs where change is glacial at best)

Within LFP, how can we best appreciate and celebrate each other? What skills or resources do we need to make this happen?

• Suggestion for some kind of quarterly newsletter, bc the various listserv threads and signal chat are difficult to keep up with
• Would also be nice to have that documentation for purposes of institutional memory, as it helps us see the progression of LFP and what has already been done
• Some kind of online community space that isn't the listserv or signal chat
• Changing our title/name for ourself? Listing ourselves as Privacy Advocates with expertise who are clearly available for consultation, not just student/participants or members.
• Need help with nouns generally! What to call ourselves, this org, our events, etc.
• Internal directory of our various interests and skills
• +1 to celebrating each other somehow. Maybe awards too to recognize achievements?
  • Someone has been keeping an eye out and nominating LFP people for awards :) Has worked with state association to create categories of awards that recognizes the kind of work we do, which helps spread the word about our mission
• Directory could be done through the wiki?
• LinkedIn badges?
• Could break into committees/subcommittees but would be sad if that resulted in siloing
• Re: celebrations & newsletter, could have a simple list of celebrations on the newsletter with photos, etc
• The online space could be a way of addressing a lot of these things! Specific channels for specific topics, and not limiting participation in channels to "committee members" or whatever so anyone can comment, lurk, etc. Also could have channels dedicated to social events, movies, sharing announcements, pets, advice, etc, so people who want to opt out of any of those can do so.

Notes from Alison:

• LFP Discord to come!!
• Internal directory would be useful - Alison may need some help drafting email language to check in with members re: attrition, desired level of participation, etc

Within LFP, how can we best critique and call each other in? What skills or resources do we need to make this happen?

• Not sure how are the best ways but would love some training on this, maybe bringing in a facilitator who can help with nonviolent communication, scripts, tools, etc. How to call in rather than call out
  • Bystander intervention training perhaps?
  • Workshop on how to apologize
  • Venting channel in the discord
  • Scaffolding
• Offer space/time to regroup
• Red/Yellow/Green card type of system?
• Do we need moderators? Should we designate trusted people who have had training, etc, to help with education, de-escalation, etc?
  • Alison agrees it's a problem for her to be the final say on things like this, not just because it's a lot emotionally but because people often don't approach her for various reasons, whether they think she's too busy to deal with something, or other reasons
  • Perhaps we can create a community council that is elected, rotating position, to help moderate code of conduct issues. If we use this model, we can probably find some funds to get those people de-escalation, nonviolent communication training, etc.
• Asking for clarity on what we mean by "critique." Do we mean specifically behavioral interactions?
• What is the process for accountability? An agreed-upon process is really important.
  • With the goal of growth, as people with different values and backgrounds join, it would be good if at this stage we have some conversation about transformative justice models & how repair is accomplished

What are we lacking? What areas do we need to improve? What resources, processes, community documents, etc do we need to do better?

• If we had more documented history on the website it may help reach people outside of MLIS & librarianship
• +1 to earlier idea about community council
• Alison will commit to organizing an LFP-wide meeting dedicated to working on this, getting feedback from the wider LFP community, etc.
• We don't have a formalized decision-making process, which seems to work for us for now, but it may be necessary to move towards something more formalized
• Archiving the work that we're doing. What does it look like to create our institutional memory?
• Scoping what is and isn't considered LFP-work
• Figuring out ownership of projects
• Creating a collaboration space for active projects & project management

What does LFP provide that is not achieved by other organizations?

• LFP was the first application that a member came out in, so it has been a place where they felt very safe to do so
• It was great to be able to even think about joining an org like this as a non-librarian.
  • One person was initially not allowed to apply for LFI because they weren't a librarian and they were able to point to the website stating clearly that one didn't have to be an MLIS degreed librarian to participate, so that was helpful for them
• Compared to other orgs like Progressive Librarians Guild, one value is how frequently we meet, and not only at ALA conferences. In person cohort-building, frequent chats, etc, are a fundamental part of our process.
• This group skews younger than some groups like PLG as well. High energy and enthusiasm.
• Leadership continuity
• LFP is community, and a community that is willing to act. "Move fast and break things." LFP has recruitment down in a way that other orgs like LITA struggle with. One major strength of LFP is our cohesion -- technically might be different cohorts but we are all in the same conversations, not just discussing problems but solutions.

What philosophies or skillsets could LFP contribute to for the development and support of your goals?

• More technical skill sharing! Whether it's workshops we set up for each other or attending external workshops together, like how to set up a secure server, setting up mesh networks, etc etc
• Setting up templates or recording webinars/workshops for sharing with public libraries, etc.
• Also being mentors and peer mentors in other, non-technical capacities :)
• Learning how to build local, regional coalitions
• Dropbox or something for internal-to-LFP folks with recorded workshops and such that maybe others couldn't afford to attend to share skills & such

What else do you want to say about our community culture?

• Question about BIPOC & LFP
  • This room has a lot of BIPOC rep! More than librarianship as a whole.
  • Expanding outreach to paraprofessionals, etc, will also help.
  • Having a lot of BIPOC in the fourth cohort made it easier to recruit/talk about LFP
  • As LFP has grown, the number of BIPOC applicants has increased exponentially over time. Cohort 4 was the most racially and ethnically diverse of all the cohorts - 51%. The Crash Course we just ran was also.
  • Would like to see more explicit discussion of anti-racism and white supremacy from white leftists in these types of spaces and expanding their political analysis beyond class
• Alison circled back around to the non-MLIS library worker point and emphasized that she will be working on making it even clearer that this is for all lib workers, not just MLIS librarians

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Future of LFP

Priority stickies: Funding - funding that isn't IMLS, sustainability, staff that isn't just Alison

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Unscheduled time sessions

Saturday after-dinner activities

The Green Knight movie outing -- time and location TBD, see Deborah

Notes of things to document in our internal directory

• Location (for a map and to coordinate regional meetups, state-specific advocacy
• Languages spoke for help with translating resources!
• Technical skills
• Research Interests
• Ability/willingness to be a kind of informal liaison of LFP interests/priorities to various professional orgs, committees, etc