News
The archive of PLG's news
PLG's news can be found in the home page and in this section. You can also subscribe to the news feed, follow us in Facebook, Twitter or ALA Connect, or join us in PLG's listserv. Also, don't forget to check our blogs!
2023
23 August 2023 | Maggie Grabmeier is the 2023 winner of the Miriam Braverman memorial prize for her essay "Out of Bounds: Sexual Harassment from Patrons in the Public Library." Read more about Maggie in her write up of her experience attending the ALA conference in Chicago.
18 January 2023 | PLG is now accepting submissions for the Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize! The deadline for submission is May 1, 2023. See the submission requirements for more information.
2022
Aug. 7. Daniel Fisher is the 2022 winner of the Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize for his essay "A Promised (but Ultimately Unreachable) Land."
Apr. 15. PLG announces hiatus status. For details see the April 2022 letter sent to members.
Feb. 1. Call for submissions for Braverman Prize.
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. View the press release.
May 22. Issue #48 of Progressive Librarian, "Libraries & Archives Under Occupation," is now available for download!
Feb. 27. Call for submissions for the Braverman Award. Deadline is May 1, 2021.
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
Sep.08. The editors of Progressive Librarian are examining the current state and future form of PLG's journal following the release of our upcoming issue. New times need fresh eyes and minds in every realm of life, and the same is true of Progressive Librarian which has been in publication for the last three decades. When a new direction has been determined, we will certainly inform our readers. In the meanwhile, stay tuned for Issue 47, currently in the works, and be sure to keep abreast of the ideas, analysis, and narratives coming from those who keep a critical eye on librarianship. Venues for critical views within the profession can be found at: In the Library With a Lead Pipe; Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies; and Journal of Radical Librarianship.
May.29. Yoonhee Lee is the 2019 winner of the Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize for her essay "Towards Universal Access to Knowledge: The Invisible Labor of Digitizing." See the press release.
Apr.17. Longtime PLG member Kathleen de la Peña McCook wins the 2019 Joseph W. Lippincott Award.
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
Aug.08. Full text of Progressive Librarian Issue #46 is now available.
Jul.02. Issue #46 of Progressive Librarian (Winter 2017/2018) has been published.
Jun.12. PLG announces its activities at ALA Annual in New Orleans (June 21-26, 2018).
Jun.11. Alessandra Seiter is the 2018 winner of the Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize for her essay "Libraries, Power, and Justice: Toward a Sociohistorically Informed Intellectual Freedom." See the press release.
2017
Jul.17. PLG blog is launched.
Jun.22. PLG's activities at ALA Annual in Chicago (June 22-27).
May.23. Matthew Weirick Johnson is the 2017 winner of the Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize for his essay Personal Health Data, Surveillance, & Biopolitics: Toward a Personal Health Data Information Literacy. See the press release.
May.15. Issue #45 of Progressive Librarian (Winter 2016/2017) has been published.
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.
May.01. PLG's new website launched.
Apr.23. PLG-CC responds to petition "Protect Feminist Books at Vancouver Women's Library".
2016
[To be updated].
2015
Apr.01. March issue of PLG Bulletin published.
2014
Nov.01. September/October issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Oct.07. Miriam Braverman Award guidelines announced.
Sep.05. July/August issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Jul.31. PLG endorses the Gaza Statement (Librarians, Archivists, and Information Workers call for end of siege on Gaza).
Jul.07. June issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Jun.03. 2014 Miriam Braverman Award winner announced.
Jun.02. April/May issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Apr.07. Submission period for the Miriam Braverman Award opens. Deadline for submissions is International Workers' Day, or May Day, Thursday, May 1, 2014.
Apr.04. March issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Mar.04. February issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Feb.11. Day We Fight Back Against Mass Surveillance. PLG endorsed the 13 Principles (International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance) in late 2013. We also responded to the NSA mass surveillance issue in a letter to Open the Government.org.
Feb.04. January issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Jan.03. December 2013 issue of PLG Bulletin published.
2013
Dec.04. November issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Nov.13. PLG endorses the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance.
Nov.17. October issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Oct.23. PLG Coordinating Committee's letter to Open the Government.org regarding surveillance.
Oct.22. Progressive Librarian #41 published.
Oct.14. August/September issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Sep.08. July issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Jul.10. June issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Jun.13. May issue of PLG Bulletin published.
May.20. Related Spanish papers of two Progressive Librarian articles now available: Spanish translation of an article by Naomi Klein originally published in issue 23, and Spanish book review related to a book review originally published in issue 36-37 reviewing Critical Theory for Library and Information Science.
May.07. April issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Apr.03. March issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Mar.04. Call for submissions for 2013 Miriam Braverman Award.
Mar.04. February issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Feb.07. January issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Jan.10. December 2012 issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Jan.07. Two recommended readings for the PLG Conversation and Meeting, Jan 26, in Seattle: MemeWars and "How the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy" (The Guardian).
Jan.07. PLG ALA Mid-Winter events information posted.
2012
Dec.06. November issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Nov.06. October issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Oct.11. September issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Jun.08. The 2012 Miriam Braverman Award winner is announced.
Jun.05. May issue of PLG Bulletin published.
May.07. June issue of PLG Bulletin published.
May.02. April issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Mar.30. First issue of PLG Bulletin published.
Feb.22. Miriam Braverman Award call for papers.
Jan.22. PLG editor Susan Maret's article "True Community" is published in Information, Society and Justice Journal, 4 (2), 2011, pp. 29-55.
Jan.21. PLG Statement on Censorship and the Tucson Unified School District.
Jan.18. SOPA Resistance Day. Learn more about SOPA, censorship, & piracy at Sopa Strike, Article 19, Ars Technica, SoftLayer Blog, District Dispatch, and PC Magazine
Jan.16. Read PLG editor Elaine Harger's review of R. David Lankes' Atlas of New Librarianship.
Jan.15. PLG Meeting, January 21 at ALA.
2011
Oct.15. Response to Beall's "Librarians and the Threat to Free Political Speech" by Mark Rosenzweig.
Oct.13. PLG Statement on Occupy Wall Street.
Jun.30. Response to McMaster University librarian Jeff Trzeciak from the Edmonton chapter of the Progressive Librarians Guild.
Feb.27. PLG stands in solidarity with public employees.
2010
Dec.21. PLG Coordinating Committee issues statement on Wikileaks and the Library of Congress.
Dec.04. PLG endorses Electronic Frontier Foundation Wikileaks letter.
Nov.15. PLG signs "A Petition Against Four More Years of War."
May.30. The 2010 Miriam Braverman Award goes to Kristen Hogan for her essay "Breaking Secrets in the Catalog: Proposing the Black Queer Studies Collection at the University of Texas at Austin".
2009
Oct.14. PLG opposes the actions of the Hyatt Company. Read the resolution on the boycott.
Sep.26. See Progressive Librarian Editorial Board member John Buschman's critique of intellectual freedom for librarians in his text "Who defends intellectual freedom for librarians?" (AAUP's Academe, September-October 2009).
Jun.21. PLG supports the Right to Read Campaign in Gaza. The right to read is realized in Article 19 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.
Jun.01. 2009 Miriam Braverman Award winner announced.
May.12. PLG calls for Elsevier to end corrupt publishing practices and for library associations to take advocacy role on behalf of scientific integrity.
Apr.26. PLG member Lincoln Cushing and Timothy W. Drescher publish AGITATE! EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!: American Labor Posters.
Jan.24. Call for submissions for the 2009 Miriam Braverman Award.
Jan.24. PLG member Rory Litwin gives the keynote address March 7 at the Fourth Annual SIRLS Graduate Student Symposium at the University of Arizona.
Jan.22. Gloria J. Leckie and PLG member John Buschman edit Information Technology in Librarianship: New Critical Approaches (Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood, 2008).
Jan.14. PLG members publish the following research:
- Monica Antonelli, "The Green Library Movement: An Overview and Beyond." Electronic Green Journal 1 (27), 2008 (link).
- John Buschman, "Information Literacy, 'New' Literacies, and Literacy. The Library Quarterly, 79 (1), 2009, pp. 95-118.
- Lincoln Cushing, "Privatizing the Commons: The Commodification of New Deal Public Art." January 6, 2009.
