Events & Programs
Throughout the year, SRRT offers a variety of events and programs to educate, connect, and maintain forward momentum in our work to make ALA more democratic and to establish progressive priorities not only for the Association, but also for the entire library profession.
Upcoming Events & Programs
SRRT Afternoon of Social Justice
July 31, 2024 11:00am - 5:30pm Central Time
Join the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) for our fifth annual Afternoon of Social Justice. This free virtual event features scholars and librarians as they present on a variety of topics including jail libraries in the Philippines, support for library workers seeking accommodations, patrons experiencing homelessness, and film viewing and Q&A for the documentary, Breaking the News.
Past Events & Programs
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: Challenging Disinformation and Efforts to Silence Debate/Discussion
Video link to the May 30 dialogue with Dr. Shira Klein of Chapman University and Dr. Sonia Boulos of Antonio de Nebrija University on misinformation and disinformation about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, attempts to silence speech on campuses, the Academics4Peace initiative and other efforts to challenge the hegemonic understanding of the conflict.
Sponsored by the International Responsibilities Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association
Dialogue with Palestinian & Israeli Jewish Peace Activists
Abolitionist Visions and Intersections: Centering Human Relationships and Building Institutional Connections for Social Justice
Date & Time: Tuesday, March 19, 2024, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Central Time. Online, via Zoom
Abolitionism is a positive, proactive, cross-sector project that redirects resources to ameliorate harms; promotes new forms of and investments in community health and well-being; centers the voices, experiences, and concerns of impacted individuals and communities; and addresses systemic, structural, and institutional injustice and deprivation. In both concept and practice, it opens up dimensions of activism, solidarity, and opportunity that expand upon the possible to illuminate the potential. Abolitionist-aligned campaigns and collectives around the world showcase the diversity and breadth of this critical work, demonstrating that there is no one vision of what this looks like—it is and will be the reality created by those committed to upending current systems of oppression and bringing something new into the world. Libraries preserve, document, protect, exhibit, archive, and disseminate information about the range of human experience. They also robustly resource their communities and seek to highlight and understand the impact of information access in people’s lives. In many ways, the library and the prison are diametrically opposed public institutions. Whereas libraries strive to embrace and promote shared humanity, equal access, critical literacy, social belonging, civic engagement, personal growth, and free circulation of information, the prison—a space defined by confinement and restriction—dehumanizes, isolates, withholds, and silences by nature and design. And yet, in practice, libraries and prisons have long been intertwined, and their complex relationship spans over two hundred years in this country.
Current World Events Discussion Series for Library Staff & Community Members
Guided by PEN America’s media literacy guidelines, each session of this series will focus on a particular news topic by discussing two articles from highly reputable and credible sources such as The New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian as well as smaller news sources such as Truthout and ProPublica. Facts and events will be examined within the historical and global context in which they take place. They will also be examined from the vantage point of diversity, inclusion and social justice. Our goal is to promote global awareness and to facilitate a truly educational, fruitful and civil discussion on a regular basis.
Intellectual Freedom, Social Responsibility, and Praxis in Librarianship and Education
(Nov. 15, 2023)
Event description: Intensified battles around book bans, censorship, public and school library funding, Critical Race Theory, African American Studies pedagogy, gender identity, and sexual orientation are at fever pitch across the country, raising critical questions about the nature of intellectual freedom, the purpose of literacy and education, the dissemination of information, and the interrelationships among them. The pervasiveness of these issues also illuminates how race and racism continues to structure key conversations and contexts about information access, pedagogy, and the historical record.
What is behind this most recent wave of the longstanding challenges to intellectual freedom, historical reckoning, and “dangerous ideas” in America? How does it connect or stand apart from previous repression and suppression of information, literacy, and history? And how can the related professions of librarianship and education inform one another’s efforts to uphold information access, historical integrity, and democratic principles? This panel will dig into these key questions and help contextualize, inform, and ignite our collective understanding and advocacy in these areas. Please join us!
Panelists:
- Nicole Cooke, Augusta Baker Endowed Chair, School of Information Science, University of South Carolina
- Carolyn Foote, Co-Founder of FReadom Fighters
- Johannah Genett, Deputy Director, Hennepin County Library
- Robin D.G. Kelley, Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, University of California, Los Angeles
