Virtual Storytimes at the Jersey City Public Library

with Ms. Tyara

by Shane Smith, Public Information Officer

Jersey City Free Public LIbrary

Tyara Tucker has been beloved by the Jersey City Free Public Library’s youngest patrons ever since she first started doing story hours in the Bonetti Children’s Room in 2010. But in recent months “Ms. Tyara” has become a local social media star as well.

Ms. Tyara first went live with a Virtual Story Hour on the JCFPL’s Facebook page on March 16. Since then her weekly story hours and craft programs have grown to reach a wide audience, with her videos regularly nearing or cresting 1,000 views. 

“The Children’s Room would get packed with people just for Story Hour alone,” Ms. Tyara recalls. “I figured since they couldn’t come to the library due to COVID-19, we could at least bring Story Hour to them in their homes.”

The Video Story Hours by Ms. Tyara and the other children’s specialists at JCFPL set the stage for the Library’s rapid expansion of virtual program offerings, which could now rival any library in the country for type, frequency and reach.

When the Governor’s Executive Order closed library buildings in March, almost every library in the state immediately looked for ways to continue reaching their patrons with programming; and almost every library immediately reached the same conclusion: the internet, of course! Posting videos and streaming live to social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube was an obvious play; what wasn’t so obvious was how to do so successfully.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, JCFPL mostly used social media outlets like Facebook to promote in-person programs and update the community on library news. Since the closure of library buildings, the Library has been learning more ways to use online platforms to keep patrons connected and informed, and showing the community that they can depend on the Library in a time of crisis.  

The Library’s efforts have been welcomed by the Jersey City community. Library patron Domenica Nastus recently reached out to her local City Councilperson to acknowledge the Library’s virtual programming.

“My two littles transitioned right into zoom with Ms.Tyara,” she wrote. “At a time when life was upside down, consistency was important. This program is a gem for our community and it means a lot to our family.”

The Library has taken advantage of the flexibility of Facebook to offer programs for all ages and of all types, including meditation for older adults, virtual concerts and dance parties, seminars for small businesses and employment assistance, a weekly Queer Movie Night, and more. The Mayor of Jersey City and other local community leaders have appeared as guest hosts for story hours. Many of these programs have been offered in community languages such as Spanish, Hindi, Arabic and Tagalog. This year’s Summer Reading Program was held entirely online, including an SRP for adults, a first for JCFPL. 

The Library has also actively expanded its use of other platforms, especially YouTube and Instagram. In April, Library Director Jeffrey Trzeciak began providing weekly community updates live on YouTube, and JCFPL’s channel has since filled up with everything from author talks on the history of redlining to American roots music concerts. The Library is also using YouTube as a place to archive programs that have appeared on Facebook and other outlets.

JCFPL’s growth into the digital space is not limited to programming. The Library has expanded its digital collections, and worked to improve patron access to resources by providing instant digital library cards, increasing available checkouts on popular titles and categories, and undertaking targeted outreach to communities that can directly benefit from online resources like Tutor.com and JobNow.

The Library has no plans to slow down on virtual programming, even when it becomes safe to resume programs in person. Instead, JCFPL is taking the lessons learned from its pandemic response and applying them to the future. The Library assembled a Program Committee to establish best practices for virtual and in-person programming, including standards and guidelines that cover all stages, from planning to promotion, and production to evaluation.

This committee is also deploying standard audiovisual equipment throughout the system and developing plans for training staff. And the committee is thinking ahead too, for example by evaluating how the Library can safely and effectively use platforms like Discord and Twitch to engage young adult patrons.

“Virtual programming at JCFPL has increased exponentially since March as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while the context isn’t ideal, we are very excited to be able to offer more programs to the community of Jersey City,” says Tricia Clarke, who leads the JCFPL Program Committee. “The Program Committee was established to make sure that we continue to provide excellent programs long after the pandemic ends.”

While all of these explorations and early successes have been exciting for JCFPL, the Library is also aware of challenges that come with investing in a digital strategy. In particular, the Library does not want to lose sight of the estimated 18% of Jersey City residents who don’t have reliable home internet access, as well as the many who don’t regularly use social media. Partnerships with other local agencies like the Jersey City Housing Authority and the Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services to distribute hotspots to city residents have helped to increase access, but there’s more work to be done. The Library is hiring a Coordinator of STEAM Programming and an Emerging Collections & Technologies Librarian to devise and implement strategies for connecting more of Jersey City’s residents, workers and students to digital resources, collections and training within JCFPL. 

It is impossible to overstate the scale of the tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has come with human, economic, and social costs of vast and still-unknown proportions. Yet, through this and all other crises, public libraries remain symbolic cornerstones of the community; perhaps more importantly, the community relies on public libraries to adapt and continue delivering critical information and services, no matter what is happening outside the Library’s walls. 

If there is a silver lining in this disastrous stormcloud, it is that public libraries are stepping up to meet the moment, relying on their centuries of expertise in identifying and responding to community needs. As the Jersey City Free Public Library learns how to adapt traditional library services to unprecedented needs, the lessons of this crisis time will surely make for a more robust response to the new challenges we will continue facing in the future.

The League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area

by Carmel Loughman, Director, Communications

League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area

The League of Women Voters Montclair Area (“LWVMA”) is a 100-year-old, non-partisan organization, whose mission is to empower voters and defend democracy. Our mission is more important now than ever in these times of disease, political uncertainty, entrenched divisions. 

In this pandemic era, the established methods of both registering to vote and voting have changed by necessity. In NJ as of September 4^th, persons can now register to vote on-line (with some limitations) and the general election will be vote-by-mail. The public needs accurate and timely information on these changes from a trusted source - the League of Women Voters. 

However, new methods must be utilized to educate the community on these changes.  To that end, we must now rely on digital media outlets and social media platforms, in conjunction with limited in-person contact. Thus, these past couple of months, we have been reaching out to other community organizations such as local libraries, houses of worship, food banks, civic groups, government entities, etc. to establish partnerships to assist in the furtherance of our registration and educational goals.  These partners have also contributed to the army of volunteers who have signed on to work on these goals. Notably, LWVMA’s  particular focus at this time is: to register voters and to educate citizens, all Essex County towns but particularly in underserved areas such as Newark, Irvington and the Oranges.

With respect to registering voters, we have a two-fold approach - in-person events and digital media information dissemination. Our partners have provided us with opportunities for on-site voter registration events by giving us names of persons to contact and/or leads on event dates with expected in-person foot traffic.  For example, LWVMA members have registered voters on-site at the DMV, church food banks, Newark City Hall, BLM rallies, local supermarkets, naturalization ceremonies, etc. We have shared up-to-the minute information with our partners on the new vote-by-mail mandate and on-line registration method in the form of Press Releases, voter flashes, and FAQs , with the expectation that our partners will disseminate this information to organizational membership and contact lists through their own media platforms.  

With respect to voter education, we have participated by invitation as speakers on virtual panels held by schools, senior centers, AARP, and civic organizations.  Young volunteers have created two clear and clever short videos on “How to Register to Vote” and “How to Vote-by-Mail” that we shared with our partners who in turn sent to their membership/contacts. For example, our “How to Register to Vote” was recently screened at Newark Moonlight Cinema (drive-in) during the premiere of the new movie featuring Stacey Abrams, “ALL IN: The Fight for Democracy”. 

Thus, our partners are vital as a channel to disseminate the information we create, to offer us speaking opportunities, to run our informational videos, and to alert us to dates for in-person voter contact. We would look to librarians to help us run voter registration drives, mail-in-ballot tutorials, get out the vote educational campaigns, to target the young people in the librarian’s sphere of influence to encourage voting and civic participation, and to embrace the use of technology to get out the message of the importance of voting.  As Congressman John Lewis said “…The vote is the most powerful non-violent change agent you have in a democratic society.”

Diversity & Outreach Section

by Carina Gonzalez, Somerset County Library System

Representation matters.  If you agree, then the Diversity & Outreach Section is for you.

When many people think of representation they first think of race and ethnicity.  But the D&O section seeks to make visible any group of people who have ever felt “other.”  We could provide you with a list, but labels are always changing and lists can be exclusive.  D&O is all about being inclusive and we would love to include you. 

We address the needs of New Jersey’s diverse populations with supportive encouraging outreach efforts and corresponding library services which are directed at both patrons and library staff.  D&O also hosts a Diversity & Outreach Conference every spring focusing on a different underserved population.  Last year’s conference focused on the differently abled while this year’s conference was to focus on those patrons in need of social services.  It has unfortunately been indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19.

In addition, we create and sponsor conference programming for the annual NJLA conference.  At last year’s conference we sponsored and/or organized 10 events.  If you have an idea for a conference proposal that would fit well with the goals of the Diversity & Outreach section, we would love to hear it.

The Diversity and Outreach Section was created in November 2013 as a combination of the Special Populations Section, the Bookmobile Roundtable, and the LGBTI Roundtable.  It has grown to include members from all around the state who work in libraries both urban and rural, affluent and in need.  In order to meet our members where they are, most of our meetings are online using Zoom, a free online conferencing solution.  When we do meet in-person it is usually the fourth Thursday of every month (except when accommodating holiday observances or conferences of course) and at various locations north, central, and south.  These meetings last about two hours and coffee and snacks are always provided at the in-person meetings!

We are currently in the process of updating our website.  Our vision is to make it a location where you can not only get information about the D&O section, but about diversity and outreach resources in general from other local conferences to must-read books to organizations who specialize in representing specific groups.  In the meantime, please contact our current president, Carina Gonzalez at njladiversityandoutreach@gmail.com for more information.

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A Few Things I’ve Learned About Librarianship

Leslin Charles, Instructional Design Librarian

Library Faculty, New Brunswick Libraries

I never planned to become a librarian but boy am I glad that I did. Here’s my journey. I had a jaded view of librarians after my high school librarian one time named a friend of mine among a list of ‘persona non grata’! The list was at the entrance to the library! And that was my first and only experience of a real-life application of that term. I never forgot Mrs. SheShallRemainNameless nor how she made us all feel. But I can’t recall what the infraction was that my friend had committed. This experience many years later would influence my approach to librarianship. I would be the antithesis of her.

After becoming a trained teacher, I taught hearing impaired students in my native Trinidad and Tobago. I came to the US to pursue a graduate degree ‘in anything’. I just wanted one. Prior to moving here, I came one spring to find a course of graduate study. I went from university to university speaking with reps in various departments and to get a feel for the institution. I was fortunate that I had family here so I could spend my two weeks in this pursuit. My last stop was Queens College, CUNY. Touring this institution completely transformed my opinion of librarians. I found out that being a librarian could quench my natural propensity for ‘always wanting to learn something’. I could work in corporate, in a museum, and wait…what? I could work in an institution of higher education. Sold! Thanks to Dr. Karen Smith, who I met on the last day of looking, I decided to be an academic librarian. Many years later I realized that Dr. Smith had literally done a reference interview with me. Getting to what I really wanted to know but didn’t know how to ask. I wanted to model her ease in getting to what people really need.

After graduating with my MLIS I discovered information literacy and was well positioned to combine my teaching skills with library skills. At my first library job, my supervisor was very encouraging and supported all my professional pursuits. She was especially keen on joining professional organizations and being of service outside the college. So much so that my professional membership was paid for by the institution.  She modeled what service looked like. I was also encouraged to attend VALE and NJLA annual conferences. This was another teachable experience about how academic librarians should pursue their professional interests and share them with others as a part of a community.

I joined a few organizations including NJLA and have been able to create and maintain close professional relationships and a network. Over the past 15 years I have had the privilege of serving on the Executive Board, Nominations & Elections Committee, and Strategic Plan Task Force. I have served as Vice President, President, & Past President of the College & University Section. There have been many rewarding activities like collaborating on conference presentations, publishing, and finding ways to support LIS students. One highlight was the penning of “An open letter regarding the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education” to the Board of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). It was a foundational contribution to the national conversation on the Framework that was impacting many academic institutions. This letter garnered 352 signatures from 38 states. Those signing it represented medical, law, naval academy, online, state, and research institutions. This is the power of our collective efforts. 

Through active participation in our professional organizations like NJLA we can effect change.
 

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Professional Development Tips From Your Peers

Mi-Sun Lyu, PMP  
IT/Online Project Manager
LibraryLinkNJ – the New Jersey Library Cooperative

When I was asked to contribute a piece for this Inspiration Corner, I honestly thought I might not have enough wonderful resources to share with my knowledgeable colleagues. Although I’ve been working in NJ libraries for 17 years, I cultivate the freshness of a beginner’s mind by always learning. So, I decided to focus on what inspires me and what I think has made me better at my job.

First, My Love Letter To All The Library Staff I Have Worked With Before. I’d be lying if I said I never had a doubt or some discouraging moments in my career as librarian. I have been disappointed, frustrated, or even outraged over the years. Every time I was upset in a given situation, my gracious colleagues empathized with me, picked me up, and encouraged me to keep moving forward!

Yes, I’m talking about the importance and power of professional networking and mentoring. We often seek these opportunities when we feel like we have time after completing ongoing responsibilities at work. I think, however, it is important to proactively build your professional network and seek mentorship to do your job better and to be ready when new opportunities come your way. Working with the MentorNJ Task Force, I’ve been assisting a group of dedicated discussion leaders for the MentorNJ Online meet-ups since April. These meet-ups are a great opportunity for you to continue to build your network. You will be able to find information, resources, and solutions you might be looking for, get great advice and emotional support from your colleagues, and make connections and build relationships with them. If you haven’t attended any of the meet-ups, I enthusiastically invite you to join us soon!

I often work with library staff at all levels from public, school, academic, and special libraries throughout New Jersey. All those dedicated colleagues didn’t have any obligations to take on more unpaid labor on behalf of the profession, so I never take anything they do for granted. I have boundless gratitude and respect for colleagues volunteering their time and expertise to extend a collegial hand to fellow library staff. Giving them all the credit they deserve is a great way for building reciprocal relationships. At your library or in any other setting, share your appreciation for colleagues’ work, even if they think they were simply doing their job. 

Another important thing I have learned through my years of work in the library field is the importance of transparent and clear communication for success. This has become even more crucial during the pandemic. Changes are difficult enough even when we’ve anticipated and prepared for them. Effective communication plans will help ease the uncertainty in a stressful situation. I’ve also heard many library staff do not feel comfortable or confident enough to pitch their ideas and suggestions at work. You just need practice to share your ideas with your supervisors, and mastering the ‘Elevator Pitch’ might be an effective technique to explore. In 2018, MentorNJ provided a webinar titled The Right and Proper Way to Play Mind Tricks on Your Supervisor, and much of the content is still relevant today. 

Project management (PM) is one of the most important skill sets that is used increasingly by businesses of all sizes and types. I think it is a vital skill especially for library professionals and paraprofessionals because I see that libraries are always developing and completing small projects. As a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), this skill set has helped me not only to manage various statewide initiatives and projects successfully but also to carry out my job responsibilities more effectively in any context. One of the current top trends in project management is inclusion of hybrid project management that combines approaches from both traditional PM and agile methodologies to get the best of both worlds. This is something libraries can adopt to manage all sorts of projects and services in the time of pandemic. Digital Library Federation’s Project Managers Toolkit is a good place to get started with basic knowledge of how PM works. If you are a student, you might want to take advantage of student membership with Project Management Institute (PMI) for $32/year to access over 1,000 free webinars. 

By combining your communication and project management skills, you will be equipped with most demanded professional competencies. More importantly, this approach will help you develop strong leadership skills, which will be very useful no matter what career path you pursue. You can be a leader from any position, as long as you develop the necessary skill sets. 

Finally, stay connected with the rest of the world, beyond your personal life and job. Building your awareness of current trends in a variety of fields -- even ones that don’t seem related to librarianship -- can help you develop and improve library services and internal processes. Many businesses use a service like Gartner that provides information, advice, and tools for their staff because they encourage staff to look forward and take a broader view of how their businesses fit into a constantly changing business environment. Gartner is an expensive service, but you can benefit similarly from using Google Alerts or making a habit of scanning trending topics on Twitter. Also, there are many websites for you to explore, and major social media platforms offer trending feeds or features. I often think about the significant economic impacts of current pop culture trends in the global marketplace, businesses, and public organizations. Use your knowledge to consider social or business changes that are developing in response to the pandemic. Perhaps libraries could provide services like Gartner to their local businesses. After all, we are THE reliable and accountable information providers! 

Stay connected: 

medium.com

wired.com

inc.com

Gizmodo.com

Trends.google.com

Buzzfeed.com

I also like: 

techcrunch.com 

mashable.com

Professional Development: 

LibraryLinkNJ Webinar Recordings

pluralsight.com (eLearning platform; subscription-base with free trial; Skill IQ Test!)

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"Well...How Did I Get Here, Pathways to Success"

Kate Jaggers

Library Director

Highland Park Public Library

Tell us a little bit about your current position and what you do at your current job.

I’m currently the Library Director at a pretty small, standalone public library in Middlesex County. Working with a small staff requires everyone to be a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades, so I do a little of everything--lately, that’s been working the circulation desk to prepare contact-free pickups, answering the phone, scheduling, modifying and preparing budgets, making purchases, brainstorming program ideas, managing a leaky roof, and working hard to keep everyone informed about what’s going on with library services and access.

Did you always envision yourself working in a public library?

Nope and nope. I grew up in libraries with a mom who I always proudly thought of as a “world famous” Children’s Librarian. I started working as a Page, and then as a part-time Library Assistant, when I was fourteen at my local library. But I was stubborn and didn’t want to be a librarian just because everyone assumed that I would follow in my mother’s footsteps. Instead, I majored in Psychology, and when I graduated with my B.A. with no idea what I wanted to do with my life, my father’s excellent advice was: “You can either keep waiting tables forever, or you can go to graduate school.” Nothing against the restaurant service industry, but I decided to quickly squash a year-and-a-half of graduate school (with no dissertation requirement at Rutgers!) and enter a career field where I knew a position would be available for me (how lucky and naive I was back in 2003).

What was your motivation for pursuing management positions?

With encouragement from an incredible network of librarians early on, I’ve gravitated toward leadership positions in the library world. I found that I enjoyed being the Chair of NJLA committees and loved my time on the NJLA YA Section Executive Board. I felt that I had something to offer libraries and my colleagues, and in exchange really grew a lot through those opportunities. And during my time at Piscataway Library, I worked alongside leaders who really wanted to see the rest of us succeed. I was encouraged to apply for a promotion to Branch Manager after only working at the library a year or so, and when I didn’t get that, I was given the role of Supervising Librarian of a department (left vacant by the person that did get the Branch Manager position!), and haven’t looked back (I was Associate Director when I resigned from Piscataway Library). I’ve tried to truly embrace the concept of “lead from any position,” which seems to have led me to where I am now.

What are your favorite things about your job?

I like working on fitting all of the puzzle pieces together, especially if that means creating a brand new vision for what the final result might look like. It’s so interesting to be able to step back and focus on the big picture to find opportunities for efficiency, creativity, and overall enhancement. Of course, I like the details too, and finding the potential little fixes to bigger issues.

What challenges have you faced that you did not anticipate?

I wouldn’t say that I didn’t anticipate these challenges, but the joy of being the one who makes all the decisions is certainly balanced out by the responsibility of being the one who has to make all the decisions. Figuring out what is best for staff, the public, the organization, and the stakeholders who support the library can be tricky at best. I have also learned that it’s not part of the job to have everyone like you all the time.

Do you have any advice for people looking to try a new career path?

Not to steal someone else’s line, but figure out what sparks joy in you. And then do the work to make the thing happen. If you want to work in libraries, surround yourself with people who work (and also find joy in) libraries. Get involved in NJLA at any level that you can. Find your people, work hard, say ‘yes’ (or ‘no’ when you need to), and take risks. 

What would your ideal career in “library land” look like?

Great question, especially with “library land” looking so unrecognizable right now. My ideal career in libraries is (1) to be surrounded by passionate colleagues, (2) in an environment where trying new things to see what just might work is the baseline, and (3) with universal financial support because it’s obvious to all why libraries are the most important community resources around.

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Wellness during a Pandemic

Hilary Westgate

Reference, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian

First of all, I wanted to thank Theresa, the editor of this newsletter, for her amazing curated list of online videos and resources for exercise and wellness in the Spring 2020 newsletter.

I also have felt the need to find ways to keep my body moving during this time! I practice yoga with online classes 2-3 times a week; Theresa listed some great free options, such as Yoga with Adriene. I am also following a free running app called Couch to 5k (C25K) and trying to hike new trails, as I have always loved hiking. (I use a mask when I pass anyone else on the trail.) Also, if you have limited time or are restricted in physical movement for any reason, breathing practices borrowed from yoga can be wonderful ways to feel better. Yoga with Adriene offers some great videos about breathing practices. The breathing practice called Nadi Shodhana, or Alternate Nostril Breathing, can help with feelings of anxiety and can help clear the mind and relax the body. As a registered yoga teacher, I always hear from people that the effects of this breathing practice are immediate and very helpful -- and I agree! (As Theresa mentioned, please consult with your doctor before beginning new exercise programs, and please take or leave what is mentioned here.)

Here are a couple of other ideas that have helped me; even simple things have proven to be helpful and important. 

Smoothies

Though this would be unique to each person's individual dietary needs and preferences, I found that making a daily smoothie has been a great practice for me since March. As we know, it was sometimes a challenge to get to stores during the initial phases of the pandemic; many of us might have wanted to reduce the frequency of store trips. Therefore, I started to turn to frozen fruits and veggies to supplement fresh produce. If I could pack 3-5 fruits and vegetables - and sometimes grains and protein as well - into one smoothie each day, I felt that I was really doing better with taking care of myself! I recommend buying bags of frozen fruits and freezing bags of fresh baby spinach, or even freezing fresh fruit that is now in season so that you have it for future smoothies. (You can research the best approach to freeze the fresh fruit you want to use.) Using frozen fruit allows you to skip the ice. Coconut milk and almond milk are great in smoothies, or just water! I sometimes added vegan protein powder, Greek yogurt, oats, honey, spices, or ground flaxseed. I tried all different kinds of smoothies and landed on some favorites -- and there were definitely some weird ones, ha! Here is one favorite: https://www.nourishedtheblog.com/blueberry-and-greens-smoothie/

Wellness Tracking

I had the idea to use my 2020 Passion Planner, which had one been filled with in-person work and social plans, as a wellness and health tracker instead. Each day in the planner, I made my own checklist for wellness, which helped me stay on track with the habits I wanted to repeat. They included taking vitamins, taking a walk or running, drinking a certain amount of water, making that daily smoothie, and/or doing some yoga. I also included things for mental health, such as reaching out to friends or family via FaceTime (I tried for at least once per day) or meditating. I found this to be really helpful, both to motivate me to take care of myself, and also to fill my planner with the good things I had done for myself that day. This could be done for families, too! I also practiced being forgiving of myself when I didn’t check off all the boxes on some days -- being gentle with and forgiving of ourselves and others has also been critically important during this time.

I hope these tips - as simple as they are - are helpful! Please remember that you are always worth the time that it can take to integrate more healthy practices into your life.

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Inform Your Activism: Librarians’ Role in Protest

By Eric Schwarz

“While not all librarians are activists in their lives, all librarians impact the lives of activists in their community. And therefore we are connected to activism whether we choose to be or not.”

With that statement, librarian Lena Gluck led NJLA’s virtual keynote on July 1, “Inform Your Activism: Librarians’ Role in Protest.” Gluck, a Reference Librarian at Newark Public Library (NPL), moderated the program. The other members of the panel were two of Gluck’s colleagues at NPL, Ayoola White and Reggie Blanding, as well as Myrna Morales, Director of Leadership Development and Partnerships for the Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers.

The panel discussed how and why libraries are places of activism (and library workers are activists), how libraries have (and have not) been places of activism in the past, arguments for being an activist, and tips on organizing and protesting safely and effectively.

“Libraries have never been neutral,” Gluck said. “Our history includes exclusion and segregation of Black communities … Library desegregation was due not to libraries’ own actions, but rather to Black activists engaging in civil disobedience against segregated libraries.”

“We have power whether or not we want to have it,” said Gluck, who uses the pronoun “they.” “So it’s our ethical obligation to use our power in the service of liberation rather than oppression.”

“Librarians have professionally organized against the Patriot Act in the early 2000s, provided a safe haven for activists and their families in Ferguson (Missouri), and have distributed materials to undocumented people about avoiding ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement),” Gluck said.

Libraries as workplaces should protect workers who engage in organizing and activism, they said. “If you would fire a worker for getting arrested at an action, you don’t support protester safety.”

Librarians should support the safety of protesters as a form of information activism, said Gluck. As an example, they said that librarians should refer questions about protests to the websites of the organizers, not to the police.

Libraries have a special obligation to the community, said Morales, who is studying the relationship among trust, libraries, and democracy as a Ph.D candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “People don’t protest libraries (because) they feel cared for by libraries. Not librarians, but libraries."

White, a Reference Librarian at NPL, said that she was inspired to become a librarian after she saw how the Ferguson (Missouri) Public Library supported the protesters after the killing of Michael Brown in 2014. 

“Growing up I had always gone to my public library and just checked books in and out,” she said. “(I) didn’t know that they could do things such as, they open when other government organizations close, providing mental health resources, (and) providing space for protest art, which are all things that the Ferguson Public Library did.”

“In light of recent events there have been a lot of book lists circulating,” White said. “While these are good, people think that just by reading the books or sharing the book lists, you’re automatically doing the work,” she said.

“People often don’t really question what are on those lists. I’m thinking in particular about the conversations that Myrna (Morales) has mentioned with abolishing prisons or abolishing the police,” White said. “And people may be under the impression that just because they have heard of it recently that it’s a brand-new idea when it’s actually something that’s been discussed and theorized for decades at this point.”

The panel discussed the importance of safety for activists.

Gluck said that they had been at actions where protesters had been physically assaulted, but that physical violence can take other forms as well, such as armed police stationed at the event, and neo-Nazis yelling Holocaust apologism to Jewish protesters.

Morales said that she has been involved in events where there is physical violence, which typically occurs at the end of the event, when police try to kettle (corral) the crowd. She said that it is important to have a buddy at the event and to tell your friends and family the details of the event beforehand.

The discussion included multiple tips on how activists can remain safe and protect their anonymity. 

“If it is a protest that you find out about on social media it is best to avoid posting that you are going on social media,” White said. “People use that to dox you.” Doxxing is a form of harassment in which the identity of a person is revealed by piecing together bits of information on that person available online.

Protesters should be aware of stingray portable devices, used by police to collect information from the protesters’ cell phones during an event. According to a Sacramento Bee infographic, stingray devices collect the locations of connected phones, as well as historical data about phone calls, texts, and location, and some models can capture voice communication, data, and text messages.

Since a protester’s electronic data link to others, that person has an obligation to protect that information not only for himself/herself/themselves, but for members of that person’s community, Morales said.

“If they can get your information they can get the information of people you’re connected to,” Gluck said. They suggested the following alternative tools, which have features to promote anonymity:

• Signal rather than your regular messaging app. Signal is encrypted and offers automated deletions after a period of time specified by the user.
• CryptPad instead of Google Docs. 
• The Tor browser with the search engine Duck Duck Go instead of Safari with Google.

Blanding, a Librarian in the James Brown African-American Room at NPL, also recommended that protesters at an event enable encryption on their phone and dress for anonymity. Wearing a mask to protect against COVID can also help protect a person’s identity, he said.

Gluck also recommended deleting data that are no longer needed. “No one can find information that doesn’t exist. … If you make it hard for (doxxers) to get that information they’ll lose interest. You need to make it as difficult as possible for people to get that information online.

“I was doxxed by some neo-Nazis and had to quickly scrub all of my information offline, especially from those people's-searching sites. The less information that is easily accessible the less likely the harassment campaigns will get too big to handle. I luckily had folks in my life who knew how to get off those different sites. … Not everyone has that information available.”

Gluck advised that people should “never do any sensitive organizing on Facebook.”

“When I was getting doxxed the first thing I did was delete my Facebook. And I’ve never gone back to it. My life is much more peaceful without having to worry about awful data mining and collection in general.

“You have to be careful with what you’re posting on any medium in which they make money off of your information.”

For people who must use Facebook for professional reasons, Gluck suggests a separate profile for activism work, with less information shared.

 “Librarians should be familiar with these principles, both modeling and practicing responsible information security especially since we have so much personal information on our patrons.” 

White concurred that it is wrongheaded to think “I’m not doing anything wrong or illegal, so I don’t need to be concerned with surveillance.”

White added: “It’s important for us to understand what information is out there about us, and how we can control it.” She recommended taking these steps:

• Make sure that your information is not available on background check websites, which can reveal where you have lived in the past and whom you’re related to.
• Use password managers.
• Use encrypted email services, such as ProtonMail and Riseup.

Protesters should be wary of not only the police, but government in general, Morales said. On its website, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that it operated COINTELPRO, short for Counterintelligence Program, from 1956 to 1971. Government surveillance continues to this day, Morales said, and the COINTELPRO moniker has stuck. 

The FBI’s first Director, J. Edgar Hoover, was a clerk and cataloger at the Library of Congress who used his library training to create metadata to track his adversaries while he was FBI Director.

“Hoover used metadata to create instabilities within the Black community, and it’s well-documented, if you read the book F.B. Eyes,” she said. “(The author) documents the way that J. Edgar Hoover took on (ghostreaders) and implemented them in strategic spaces and the Harlem Renaissance and Black literature to create that instability.

“As librarians we have the tools and resources to dismantle COINTELPRO and other kinds of governmental programs and state programs that create instabilities within our movements.”

During the presentation White acknowledged the Native people whose unceded land is now occupied by Americans in Northern New Jersey, in particular the Delaware people, also known as the Lenape/Lenni-Lenape or Hudson people. Morales commented that she was speaking from Massachusetts land once held by the Massachusetts, Mashpee, Acquinnah, and Nipmuck peoples.

A recording of the session is available at: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/w-l8Puvh2ERLWIHhzETzcbw8Ad7qeaa8hCIe8vUPyU1pj6d8RtggqvE5b15IbbX_ (password 6U&5h4@M).

The sponsors of the virtual keynote were: the NJLA Professional Development Committee, NJLA Administration & Management Section, NJLA Reference Section, NJLA Children’s Services Section, NJLA Young Adult Section, NJLA Diversity & Outreach Section, NJLA Librarians of Color Roundtable, New Jersey Association of School Librarians, and the New Jersey State Library.

Email addresses for the speakers:

• Lena Gluck, Reference, Newark Public Library (lgluck@npl.org)
• Ayoola White, Reference, NPL (awhite@npl.org)
• Reggie Blanding, James Brown African American Room, NPL (rblanding@npl.org)
• Myrna Morales, Director of Leadership Development and Partnerships for the Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers (myrna@riseup.net)