CUNY Academic Commons

PLSN is offering a virtual reference training this coming weekend.

WHEN: Saturday, May 10, 2025, 2-4pm ET (11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT)

JOIN HERE: Registration Link

About our Reference Trainings:

Letters are being mailed to us daily, and we need more volunteer help than ever!! After attending a reference training, you will be able to remotely…[Read more]

I’m sharing the event that my colleague Thomas Cleary, Institutional Archivist, is involved with. It’s an in-person event at LaGuardia and looks excellent.
All best, Ian McDermott

Hi All,

As part of the Oral History Seminar (with the final funding coming from the College) we would like to invite everyone to attend a presentation by Andrea…[Read more]

A People’s Assembly (PA) is a facilitated gathering where community members discuss key community issues and collectively problem-solve and decide how to address them. The NYC Public Library Action Network (NYC PLAN) invites New Yorkers to join us on May 17 to discuss library funding and to share our visions for our local libraries. Come spend a…[Read more]

Mariame Kabe just released two new publications. Both are free to download.
Arrested at the Library: interruptingcriminalization.<wbr />com/resources-all/arrested-at-<wbr />the-library
Criminalizing Librarians: interruptingcriminalization.<wbr />com/resources-all/<wbr />criminalizing-librarians

Hello everyone,

Please Join For The People Leftist Library Project (FTP) and Interrupting Criminalization (IC) for a workshop building off of our 2023 Criminalization 101 for Information Workers workshop.

We’ll focus on three main topics: resisting and disrupting ICE in library and information work and workplaces, de-escalation in library spac…[Read more]

The Prison Policy Initiative just released the 2025 edition of its flagship report, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie. The report offers the most comprehensive view of the nearly 2 million people incarcerated in the U.S., showing what types of facilities they are in and why. It also serves as a primer on the size and scope of the criminal legal…[Read more]

The New York Public Library fulfills a mandate to serve populations including incarcerated New Yorkers, homeless populations, people with special needs, veterans and older adults. The Managing Librarian of the Jail and Prison Services Department manages book loan service at New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities, programming at…[Read more]

Saturday, February 22 · 1 – 2:30pm EST
Weeksville Heritage Center
158 Buffalo Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11213

As part of Weeksville’s Black History Month Celebration, we invite you to an afternoon of radical imagination, organizing wisdom, and transformative dialogue. Organizer, archivist and author Mariame Kaba and a panel of movement leaders will…[Read more]

Please join us for “Plotting Abolition” featuring a film screening of Calls From Home followed by a discussion of multi-scalar abolitionist struggles to close prisons and jails, stop the construction of cop cities, and build life-affirming infrastructures from Letcher County, Kentucky to New York City. Join the director of Calls from Home Sylvia Ry…[Read more]

Please come to our quarterly Abolitionist Futures series on March 10 @ 7:00–8:30 pm ET for a screening of Before Time/After Time, followed by a discussion with the creative team and ensemble members.

Join Abolitionist Futures for our first meeting of the year featuring special guests from the Arts Justice Safety Coalition. On March 10, we will ho…[Read more]

Prison Library Support Network Volunteers Meet Incarcerated Information Needs with Grassroots Reference by Mail Service

“People who are incarcerated can’t check social media, read any book they want, look up the latest basketball game score, surf the web to look for new shoes, or use online search engines to research a legal question. T…[Read more]

Archivist Actions, Abolitionist Futures: Reimagining Archival Practice Against Incarceration

This collection of brief essays challenges long-held principles of archival practice by addressing the carceral underpinnings of the cultural professions. Contributors explore how complicity with carceral systems and the Prison Industrial Complex…[Read more]

On December 8th, from 5-8 pm, Library Freedom Project, Library Futures, and METRO are co-sponsoring a Radical Book Buzz with your favorite left and indie publishers. Publishers will take turns sharing about upcoming titles, and will also have advanced reader copies and other swag to share. We’ll also have snacks from Ayat NYC, drinks, door prizes,…[Read more]

You’re invited to PLSN’s final Abolitionist Futures discussion of the year – featuring a virtual (and free!) discussion led by the incredible DEAN SPADE!

WHEN: Monday, December 9, 7:30-9pm (EDT)
REGISTER HERE TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/<wbr />meeting/register/<wbr />tZEpcuChrD8tGdLMvuVc1PgryYHfdw<wbr…[Read more]

This past banned books week in September, senators called on Federal Bureau of Prisons to provide a full list of banned books.

Washington (October 2, 2024) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) joined Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i) and their colleagues, in conjunction with Banned Books Week and the bicameral Congressional…[Read more]

PLSN’s 2nd fundraiser event will be next Sunday, November 3rd! Register now to explore Prospect Park’s waterways, followed by drinks and raffle prize drawings at Lunita Loft!. [Rachel Jones will be attending FYI if anyone from LACUNY is interested in joining!]
If you aren’t able to attend the Prospect Park walk, you can still join us at the Lof…[Read more]

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) has launched an online collection of innovative practices in prison education at the Montreal International Conference on Education in Prison. The collection features 16 case studies highlighting successful initiatives from prison libraries that champion the right to lifelong learning for inca…[Read more]

Abolitionist University Studies: a provocation by Conor ‘Coco’ Tomás Reed in the latest issue of Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education.

Prison Library Support Network recently did a lot of organizational work to make sure we are accountable to each other and our patrons. As a result, our Network is flourishing. There are lots of way to become involved. Check out the October Newsletter!

Hello and happy October!

CLICK ON THIS LINK to read our October newsletter. This issue is d…[Read more]

Join Brooklyn Public Library’s Justice Initiatives for a picnic to celebrate the TeleStory and Welcome Home programs.

Saturday, October 5th, 1-4pm, Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park, 452 Flatbush Avenue.

Delicious food from JustSoul Catering/ Fun Children’s Activities/ Giveaways/ Music/ BPL Resources / Tour of Lefferts Historic House

For…[Read more]