Lowrider Librarian

Problems in multicultural_collection_development from Max Macias: Info, Tech and Leadership This is a presentation I did in library school back in 2007.

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Star_Trek_uniforms.jpg Kael Moffat Information Literacy Librarian, Saint Martin’s University As librarians, one of our many hats could be expressed as “identity formers.”  At first glance, this may seem like a grandiose claim, but if we look at aspects of our profession in light of Georg Simmel’s concept of the web of group-affiliations, we can see that we do play such an important role.  Simmel was a late nineteenth-century, early twentieth-century German sociologist and philosopher who wrote on such broad topics as the history of philosophy, philosophy of money, and social structure.  One of his influential shorter works, “The Web of Group-Affiliations,” published in 1922, can be used as lens through which we can look at how librarianship affects identity formation. Simmel points out that an individual’s identity is initially imposed on them through the “web of circumstances” of family and oth...

Libraries and the Fight Against Terrorism Libraries can and should be an important weapon against terrorism.  "Librarians are soldiers in the war against ignorance!"  Racism is fundamentally ignorance which leads to hate.  This is a call out to all librarians to help end the ongoing terrorism against people of color in the US. People of color in the US live under a state of domestic terrorism.  This terrorism is conducted via many official channels.  The education system, law enforcement, healthcare, judicial system and other aspects of the state have been and are used against people of color in the US. The terrorism we experience on a daily basis meets ALL the criteria below:  "Domestic terrorism" means activities with the following three characteristics: Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law; Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by ...

Yes, that is a Grumpy T-shirt.   Here is a link to an short interview I did for a multicultural librarian graduate course: https://goo.gl/r93L4g These are the questions I covered:   Questions for 825 Interviews   1. Will you please introduce yourself to the class and briefly describe your current library and position as well as the path that led you to librarianship?   2. In this course, we are exploring how libraries can best meet “the recreational, cultural, informational, and educational needs of African American, Asian American, Latina/o, Native American, and bi/multiracial children, young adults, and adults.” In what ways does your racial/ethnic identity enable you to meet these needs in your library?   3. As a patron in libraries throughout your life, you have probably had both positive and negative experiences related to access and collections. How have these experiences shaped your work as a professiona...

It isn't just getting people the MLS, or MLIS.  I've had mine since 2009 and it hasn't done me much good.  Libraries, the ALA and Education is not really interested in equity, inclusion or diversity,  If they were, then they would put their money where there mouths are and make it a priority.  I have been working in libraries since 1987 and personally have not seen a change in representation.  I also have numbers that prove the field has become less diverse.   I think working together is the way to go, but I also think acknowledging "whiteness" and the privileges that go with it is an important step toward working together.  I'm not even White and I benefit from these privileges because of my lighter skin. I know I have more opportunities (generally) than my darker brothers and sisters. And god forbid they have an accent.  It isn't that hard to acknowledge the privilege--yet people constantly fight this acknowledgement.   We...

Study Finds Illegal Immigrants Pay $11.8B in Taxes BY   ERIC PIANIN ,  The Fiscal Times April 16, 2015 A new nationwide study on the fiscal implications of illegal immigration concludes that millions of undocumented immigrants are paying billions of dollar in taxes into state and local coffers, and that substantially more would be generated if President Obama prevails in imposing a new executive order protecting many of those workers from deportation. The 50-state analysis by the  Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy  released on Thursday found that roughly  8.1 million of 11.4 million undocumented immigrants  who work paid more than $11.8 billion in state and local taxes in 2012, even while they were living illegally in the country. The group’s analysis estimated that illegal immigrants’ combined nationwide state and local tax contributions would increase by $845 million under full implementation of Obama’s 20...

Librarians and Self-censorship Free speech for librarians comes with unspoken conditions I encounter many (often young) librarians in real life and online.  One of the most frequent things people tell me is, "How come you are so free with your speech?  I could never talk about those things--I would get fired." or more often, "...I would never land a job!"   It is striking that librarians consider themselves defenders of free speech and intellectual freedom, but that the above sentiment is held by so many librarians.   Why are librarians scared to speak about important issues? I understand about library constituencies, but I'm not talking about library directors here--I'm speaking about regular librarians, or librarians searching for a job. Last month, I had a session at the Oregon Library Association Conference.  My session was on cannabis resources for librarians.  The session consisted of a panel.  I had invited another kn...

I hope your Spring is springing. I wanted to ask you all to consider volunteering to be on your state's LSTA Grant advisory boards. I am currently the chair of the Oregon LSTA Advisory council. My place on the council give me a voice that I can use to represent others who are not at the table. There have been many times already where I was able to make an argument that would have not been made (concerning Latino issues) if I had not been there. If we take our places on these and other committees that have a say in where money goes, then more Latino programming may get funded. At the very least, we can represent where we are not represented already. We can create change, we can lead from anywhere we are and we can help one another be strong.

Ola 2015 Presentation from Max Macias This slideshow and talk was the first part of the first library conference session on cannabis resources for Librarians ever. The second part of the session was a panel. Max Macias: librarian, Jake Boone: dispensary owner and Bethany Sherman: cannabis testing facility owner. This presentation was meant to show general types of cannabis resources available in Oregon and other places.  This was not a primer on Cannabis. But you can find that here: http://lowriderlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/07/cannabis-resources-for-librarians.html    Link to handouts:   http://tinyurl.com/o62rr2m   This was not a primer on Cannabis. But you can find that here:  http://lowriderlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/07/cannabis-resources-for-librarians.html

On a web site I frequent someone recently posted a photo from an article on the san Francisco police giving some books to children.  Here is the link to the article: Article I commented on the site that “I hope they gave the kids some books on how to survive a confrontation with the pigs.”  I said this in all seriousness because the police routinely kill people of color in the US.  In fact, citizen survival tactics during interactions with police should be programming in libraries. Using the term pig is English in origin and has also been used to describe police since 1851. Apart from the police brutality based on race there was also some POC on POC bullying going on in this exchange on the board. Immediately, the person who posted the article (a professional in the same profession as me) told me that I should act professional--”Aren’t you a professional Max--we should behave as professionals!” I’m used to getting the “professional” ad hominem fro...

ALA 2015 Presidential Candidates Joe Janes Joe Janes is an academic who uses run of the mill librarian arguments about the importance of libraries.  He sounds like a great guy who is really nice, but didn't have much to say about how he was going to lead ALA. He gave some standard answers like, "We must rethink, reinvigorate, and reinstate our why--our rational for being--above and beyond the familiar." I've heard that for a very long time already with little result.  We won't be getting any real changes with his Joe's leadership.  He will maintain the status quo.  I'm not voting for him. James LaRue James LaRue has been a librarian, a community leader, columnist, radio and tv show host, writer, teacher and a leader of a large organization.  His statement is concise and focused.  You can tell he has experience writing. 1)  We should elevate librarians as community leaders.  "Imagine librarians who catalog their c...

The dysfunctional model of Librarians, who already have great jobs as librarians--writing books for ALA, or other publishers who will then pimp their information out to libraries who can afford the price to these publications. Most often, these publications are on essential library best practices and technology implementations. To put up a barrier to this librarian created information is ethically and morally wrong. It goes against the librarian principle of sharing information. This information should be made freely available to libraries who can't afford the new ALA techSource title, or to small rural libraries who can't afford to attend the 350.00 pre-conference. Shit--I have learned more from Hackers for free than I have learned from librarians sharing their vital information. This site needs to be hackerfied--meaning--it should be converted to an information sharing site: http://www.alatechsource.org When I was first introduced to computers and the internet I...

Racial Microaggressions in Academic Libraries: Results of a Survey of Minority and Non-minority Librarians The Journal of Academic Librarianship Volume 41, Issue 1 , January 2015, Pages 47–53 Jaena Alabi , doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2014.10.008 Abstract There is relatively little literature on racism within the profession of academic librarianship. To investigate academic librarians' experiences of racism, this research project uses the framework of racial microaggressions, which are subtle, denigrating messages directed toward people of color. According to the results of an online survey, some librarians of color have had racial microaggressions directed at them by their colleagues. Non-minority librarians, however, are unlikely to recognize these disparaging exchanges. Keywords Academic libraries ; Racism ; Diversity ; Racial microaggressions Read it here:   http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0099133314...

Lowrider Literacies and Fluencies * 10 Point Program 2015 1. Technology: We demand free access to technology and technology instruction, training and applications that meets our community needs. 2. Mechanics: We demand free access to mechanical technology and instruction. By this we mean we want motor vehicle, heavy equipment and other mechanical training and access that meet our community needs. 3. Reading: We demand free access to books that meet our needs. By needs, we mean: Cultural, Political, HIstorical, Language, Social, Psychological, and Health needs. We also demand books in a variety of formats. 4. Writing: We demand free access to writing and publishing technologies as well as the instruction to become fluent with them, and the ability to apply them to our needs. 5. Critical Political Analysis: We demand free access to critical political science analysis instruction, training and applications of this critical thinking to our nee...