Actions and position statements
PLG's activities throughout time
Past PLG positions, actions and news have been also published, among many others, at Kathleen de la Peña McCook's Librarian blog (web.archive.org) and at Rory Litwin's Library Juice.
2021
Nov. 3. Prison Education Programs Resource List released.
May 23. Eli Holliday and Ashley Huot are the 2021 winners of the Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize.
2020
Aug. 20. In response to protests that emerged this spring in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, PLG compiled a new resource list. The list includes statements from individual Black colleagues and from LIS organizations. The list also includes resources for anti-racist work and that focus on protesters' demands for the defunding and reform of police forces and prison abolition. These are complex matters that deserve close attention all by library workers and members of the communities we serve.
Apr.27. A new resource list has been added to the PLG website. Resources to Counter White Nationalism in Libraries was compiled by Library Workers Against Racism (LWAR). LWAR is an informal network of library workers in the U.S. committed to anti-racist activism in public, academic, and school libraries.
2019
Feb.18. PLG releases a statement on the racist incident reported at ALA Midwinter.
Jan.13. PLG announces its activities at ALA Midwinter in Seattle (January 25-29, 2019).
2018
Jun.12. PLG announces its activities at ALA Annual in New Orleans (June 21-26, 2018).
2017
Jul.17. Launch of PLG blog in English.
Jun.22. PLG's activities at ALA Annual in Chicago (June 22-27).
May.08. PLG announces its activities at ALA Annual in Chicago (June 2017).
May.06. PLG-CC Open Letter to Evanston Public Library Board and Director.
Apr.23. PLG-CC responds to petition "Protect Feminist Books at Vancouver Women's Library".
2016
PLG Edmonton votes to dissolve chapter, June 28. | Statement from PLG Coordinating Committee on the Dissolution of Edmonton Chapter, June 29.
2014
PLG endorses the Gaza Statement (Librarians, Archivists, and Information Workers all for end of siege on Gaza).
2013
PLG endorses the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance.
PLG responds to the NSA mass surveillance issue in a letter to Open the Government.org.
PLG Resolution on Divestment of Holdings in Fossil Fuel Companies and Libraries' Role in a Peaceful Transition to a Fossil-Fuel-Free Economy.
2012
PLG Statement on Censorship and the Tucson Unified School District.
2011
PLG Statement on Occupy Wall Street.
Response to McMaster University librarian Jeff Trzeciak from the Edmonton chapter of the PLG.
PLG Stands in Solidarity with Public Employees.
2010
PLG Coordinating Committee issues a Statement on Wikileaks and the Library of Congress, December 4.
2009
PLG Opposes the Actions of the Hyatt Company. Read the Resolution on the Boycott, October 14.
PLG supports the Right to Read Campaign in Gaza. The right to read is realized in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to include access to information, intellectual freedom, and right to communicate. Endorsing the Right to Read Campaign is in line with the 1997 Resolution on IFLA, Human Rights and Freedom of Expression. Endorsed June 21.
PLG Calls for Elsevier to End Corrupt Publishing Practices and for Library Associations to Take Advocacy Role on Behalf of Scientific Integrity, May 12.
PLG endorsed Historians Historians for Peace and Democracy Statement.
2008
PLG Statement on WiFi in Libraries and the Precautionary Principle, June 16.
2007
PLG stands in solidarity with the striking Vancouver Public Library workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 391 as they fight for a fair and equitable contract that addresses pay equity, improvements to employee benefits, access to training, fair treatment of part-time and auxiliary library workers, protection against contracting-out and technological change, August 1 (web.archive.org).
PLG Coordinating Committee endorsed a campaign by the Center for Constitutional Rights calling on Congress to restore the time-honored right of habeas corpus to prisoners being held at Guantanamo, May 1.
The CPUSA Archive Donation to NYU, March 19.
PLG Supports the Petition to the U.N. General Assembly to Try President of the United States George Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, February 13.
"I'm Alright, Jack". Mark C. Rosenzweig on Bush Budget and Libraries. February 12. (web.archive.org)
PLG Endorses AHA Resolution on United States Government Practices Inimical to the Values of the Historical Profession, January 11.
Mark Rosenzweig's essay The Global War on Terror.
PLG endorsed the Iraq Moratorium, an organized method of protest for the third Friday of each month (beginning in 2007).
2006
PLG re-affirms its support for the Declaration of Cultural Human Rights, December 20.
PLG supports the bookmobile project of Libros para Cuba (Books for Cuba), November 6.
PLG Condemns Violent Treatment of Mostafa Tabatabainejad at Powell Library, UCLA, November 27.
PLG supports Indianapolis librarians, August 6.
2005
PLG Opposes John Roberts' Confirmation to the Supreme Court, September 21.
PLG Opposes ALA Award to Laura Bush, April 27.
San Francisco Bay Area PLG delegation supports read-in to keep Salinas Public Libraries open, April 2.
2004
Resolution Against the Use of Torture as a Violation of the American Library Association's Basic Values, ALA Council, June.
Librarians Say No to Occupation!
2003
Statement concerning the dismantling of the State Library of Florida, March 11.
2002
Statement in opposition to library worker involvement in the US Department of Justice "Terrorism and Information Prevention Systems" Program.
2001
Emergency Declaration for a Halt to Preparations for Bombing Afghanistan, September 26
Seattle Statement Citizens Shaping the Network Society (web.archive.org).
Open letter from librarians against the murder of people exercising the right to protest against corporate globalization at the Genoa conference, July 25.
Marriott Boycott, June 19 (at Library Juice).
2000
Presentation to the Vienna meeting of progressive librarians by Mark Rosenzweig, entitled What Progressive Librarians Believe: An International Perspective.
Ten Point Program developed by Mark Rosenzweig for the groups which met at the Vienna Conference of progressive librarians sponsored by KRIBIBIE | En español: Diez puntos de Viena.
Letter on Socially Responsible Investing.
1999
PLG contingent at WTO meeting.
Political Censorship at the NEA.
1998
Letter protesting US treatment of Iraq, December 18.
1997
Legal Repression against Oakland Protestors Supporting Liverpool Dockers.
PLG: Why We Keep on Going.