It comes from a loose coalition of #archivists & #librarians, who are standing athwart #history & yelling “Save!” They belong to organizations such as the #InternetArchive, which co-created a project called the End of Term Web Archive to back up the federal web in 2008; the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, or #edgi; & #libraries at major #universities such as #MIT & the University of #Michigan.
As the #Trump regime deletes the bio of Gen. Colin Powell and the story of the 6888th Central Battalion (the 1st all black women battalion) from the Arlington Cemetery website and bans #Books about #blackhistory from being discussed in presidential #libraries it seems like a good time to talk about how to just exist in #america as a black person is a political act.
#BlackMastodon #BlackFedi #bookstodon
https://kyradavisauthor.substack.com/p/the-politics-of-being-black
Update. "#Trump Executive Order Targets #IMLS for Closure"
https://www.wordsandmoney.com/trump-executive-order-targets-imls-for-closure/
"In a March 14 Executive Order, President Donald Trump has targeted seven more federal agencies for permanent closure, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
If some parts of IMLS are "statutorily required" and cannot be shut down by an executive order, the #OMB has seven days to show it.
"EveryLibrary is hosting a petition [to keep IMLS open]…The American Library Association has…weighed in with a statement."
Alert friends & family. The more voices speaking up, the stronger our impact. Share this & encourage everyone you know to call & protest. 
202-224-3121
The longer we normalize these destructive cuts to #education, #jobs, #conservation, & our #communities, the harder it will be to rebuild what we've lost. 
URGENT 
The only federal agency funding America's #museums & #libraries - the Institute of Museum & Library Services (imls.gov) - faces elimination after a March 14th executive order.
Call your reps today: 202-224-3121
Each call takes 30 secs but helps protect resources for millions of people.
@Anneheathen I can also provide direct details about what IMLS funds support, if needed. It is deep as well as wide.
Between this, NEH, NEA, and NSF many of the programs and places folks go for information and entertainment will lose what little financial viability they had. Many shall and mid sized organizations will close.
American Library Association (ALA) Statement on White House Assault on the Institute of Museum and Library Services https://www.infodocket.com/2025/03/15/ala-statement-on-white-house-assault-on-the-institute-of-museum-and-library-services/ #libraries #museums #IMLS
This tickles us just right! "My library kit", complete with the iconic date stamp!
fill out comment cards to leave positive comments. request new materials that you’d like to see added to the stacks. like and share your library’s social media content.
get library cards and use them often (online e-book and audiobook rentals count!). sign up to volunteer at your local library. donate money to your library’s general fund. run for a spot on the library board.
join and participate in your local “friends of the library” group. donate books (if your library accepts book donations). set up your own little free library. vote for library funding when it’s on your local ballot.
Free People Red Freely. Save our #libraries stop #censorship in #education #choice #diversity #women #girls #education #freespeech #knowledge
call your senators and tell them to fight for the IMLS!
if you need any more information about why this is important to literally every community throughout the entire country, let me know, or talk to your local library staff
The Guerrilla-Librarian Resistance
“My dad’s from Bosnia, and that’s informed my outlook on what can be irretrievably lost,” he said, citing the destruction of nearly two million books when Sarajevo’s National Library was shelled in 1992. Now he’s teaching dozens of Americans to save data from their own rogue government
#libraries #DOGE #RESIST
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-data-hoarders-resisting-trumps-purge
Library passport adventures continue — and I found a rare stash of passports at this one! Snagged one for a friend, but if you want to take a library passport adventure in PGH, start at Sheraden!
#libraries #booksky #Pittsburgh
A little library humor to brighten your day. Seen at my local library.
Thank you, mysterious Cathy.
Update. "A Call for Harm Reduction Strategies"
https://katinamagazine.org/content/article/open-knowledge/2025/a-call-for-harm-reduction-strategies
"The new US presidential administration has launched an unprecedented assault on research and higher education. This isn’t just collateral damage from wide-ranging realignment of budgets, which would be bad enough, but an orchestrated attack on academic freedom, research funding, and the institutional autonomy that underpins intellectual progress…Resistance is most effective when collective action amplifies individual efforts rather than occurring in isolation. This means fostering more frequent and open dialogue across all sectors of the academic and research community [e.g. #libraries and #publishers]."
Realized my library card gives me access to the Mango Languages app, so now I've added that to my spanish learning routine! yay libraries! #libraries
Public #libraries should host #Mastodon servers. I really think this could be a good thing.
The county (or city/town depending on how it works in your area) IT department could host it, and people would use their library card to access the server. Or, alternatively, perhaps some kind of private-public partnership could be arranged where a non-profit organization handles the hosting and library staff can administer it.
My thinking is: #fediverse platforms like Mastodon offer a high quality, ad-free social media experience, but there are barriers to entry that will keep most people from benefitting from it. It’s been discussed ad nauseam, but there are the technical barriers. I don’t see financial barriers discussed as often though. It costs money to maintain your own server, and even with many people chipping in, most people aren’t going to pay a few bucks or more a month to use a social media platform. There are of course free client apps, but the best ones cost money, at least in my opinion.
Maybe this isn’t the strongest point to make at a time when libraries are struggling to stay funded and are likely at risk of losing a significant amount of funding, but assuming that’s a problem with a solution, allocating funds to #library budgets to run a Mastodon server (I’m guessing a relatively small line item) seems doable. Content moderation is another issue to be dealt with, but again, I think one not without a solution.
Thoughts?
(she/her) 
