EveryLibrary Institute Releases a New Issue of The Political Librarian
A new issue of EveryLibrary Institute’s open-access academic journal, The Political Librarian, brings together a wide range of perspectives and experiences that share creative and coalition-building frameworks and projects that will serve all librarians, information professionals, and memory workers as we navigate a season of profound transformation.
A new issue of of EveryLibrary Institute’s open-access academic journal, The Political Librarian, brings together a wide range of perspectives and experiences that share creative and coalition-building frameworks and projects that will serve all librarians, information professionals, and memory workers as we navigate a season of profound transformation.
A new issue of EveryLibrary Institute’s open-access academic journal, The Political Librarian, brings together a wide range of perspectives and experiences that share creative and coalition-building frameworks and projects that will serve all librarians, information professionals, and memory workers as we navigate a season of profound transformation. By seeking articles to deepen alignment in practices, processes, and ideological underpinnings, our call for papers looked to meet the moment and offer hope (and strategic direction) to all memory workers trying to meet it. The authors in this issue exceeded all expectations; their work will be inspiring and generative for everyone facing multifaceted and complex challenges now and in the future.
This issue is the first with Allison Jennings-Roche as Editor-in-Chief. Jennings-Roche brings a combination of scholarly rigor, policy fluency, and frontline library leadership. She currently serves as Associate Director of Digital Initiatives & Collections at the University of Baltimore's Library & Archives and is a Ph.D. candidate in Information Studies at the University of Maryland. Her academic and professional portfolio spans information policy, intellectual freedom, digital collections, and inclusive leadership. A Library Journal “Movers & Shakers” (2024) honoree, Jennings-Roche has authored and edited recent work on the legal and political environment for libraries, including guest editing The Political Librarian and writing for Against the Grain that address governance, neutrality, disinformation, and the criminalization of librarianship.
Read the issue here: https://journals.library.wustl.edu/pollib/
Contributors:
Beyond Schools and Libraries: Trump Administration Information Policies in Archives, Museums, and Galleries
By Paul T. Jaeger, Jason R. Baron, and Diana Marsh
Where Is 60 Years of Data, Information, and Knowledge One Year After USAID Was Fed “Into the Wood Chipper”?
By Tanya Torres and Zachary Baquet
Ellen Starr Brinton: Archivist and Activist for Peace in Time of War
By Wendy E. Chmielewski
Library Patron Privacy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Overview of Existing Law and Policy Recommendations
By Lucie Daignault, Samuel Lim and Catherine Ferri
The Politicization Antibody Effect: How Community-Embedded Directors Can Neutralize Library Politicization
By John Mack Freeman
The Political Threats of Vanishing Culture and the Need to Protect Our Future Memory
By Michael Menna and Lila Bailey
The issue opens with the conversation between Paul Jaeger, Jason Baron, and Diana Marsh, Beyond Schools and Libraries: Trump Administration Information Policies in Archives, Museums, and Galleries, which outlines the shared pressures libraries, archives, galleries, and museums are facing right now, as well as suggestions for shared strategies. As if responding to Jason Baron’s deep concern about the preservation of federal data, Tanya Torres and Zachary Baquet document the heroic data-rescue and preservation efforts undertaken by wrongfully terminated USAID employees. Their article, Where Is 60 Years of Data, Information, and Knowledge One Year After USAID Was Fed “Into the Wood Chipper”?, comprehensively explains the theory, expertise, and human labor behind the quiet but coordinated efforts to protect vital data.
Wendy Chmielewski’s examination of the work and legacy of Ellen Starr Brinton reminds us of the importance of each heritage worker in times of crisis and in times of peace. It can be hard to maintain hope.
The white paper on library patron privacy by Catherine Ferri, Lucie Daignault, and Samuel Lim provides an overview of existing law and policy regarding library patron privacy and artificial intelligence. In order for libraries to maintain the trust of their communities, privacy protection is more important and more complex than ever in the age of AI. This piece is a nod to our future issue, where we will dive in depth into the political and ethical concerns surrounding emerging technology and libraries and heritage institutions.
In John Mack Freeman’s The Politicization Antibody Effect, he discusses the importance of relationships, institutional knowledge, and community connections. His research reaffirms the critical role that “deep community embeddedness” plays in smaller towns and libraries.
In Paul T. Jaeger’s article, Not Defeated, or Attacks on Literacy Are Attacks on Liberty: Identifying and Confronting the Political, Legal, and Technological Changes Promoting and Sustaining the Censorship Movement, he provides a stirring call to action. He identifies the aims of the larger political forces at work and demonstrates how those engaged in active censorship will not discriminate between types of educational, knowledge, and memory institutions, making a compelling case for increased collaboration across professional domains.
The Political Threats of Vanishing Culture and the Need to Protect Our Future Memory by Michael Menna and Lila Bailey offers all memory workers and our institutions the kind of practical but values-driven framework that will allow our shared work not only to meet the moment but also to evolve and thrive well into the future. In closing the issue with this piece, we hope that our readers will be inspired and heartened by organizations like the Internet Archive that are working tirelessly to protect and empower memory and information professionals.
Each article and white paper in this issue offers readers an opportunity to envision what a collaborative information future might look like in practice. The tools, projects, frameworks, and perspectives we foreground in this issue are of critical importance as libraries, heritage institutions, and memory institutions navigate polycrisis and sweeping social change.
Please visit “The Political Librarian”, which is hosted by Washington University Libraries on its Open Scholarship Journal platform.
Upcoming Webinars:
September, 7th
The Political Threats of Vanishing Culture and the Need to Protect Our Future Memory
By Michael Menna and Lila Bailey
September 14th
Where Is 60 Years of Data, Information, and Knowledge One Year After USAID Was Fed “Into the Wood Chipper”?
By Tanya Torres and Zachary Baquet
Call for Papers - Issue 9.2, Fall 2026
For its next issue, Fall 2026, The Political Librarian is seeking articles on the intersection of emerging technology and the political challenges and opportunities facing libraries and memory institutions. Artificial intelligence, surveillance, and “enshittification” are just some of the forces shaping how information is mediated between libraries and the communities we serve. We encourage pieces that wrestle with the political, policy, and practical impacts of emerging technology for libraries as cornerstones of democracy.
A more detailed call for papers will be released in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you have an idea you think might be a good fit for the journal, please feel free to reach out to our editor-in-chief, Allison Jennings-Roche, at [email protected].