The 2021 Wrap Up
The 2021 Wrap Up
About
We’re excited to share our second annual We Here Wrap Up, where we summarize all we were able to accomplish in the past year thanks to the We Family, Patreon and Seed Circle support, Community School attendees, and our member communities.
Our Mission
We Here™️ seeks to provide a safe and supportive community for Black and Indigenous folks, and People of Color in library and information science professions and educational programs and to recognize, discuss, and intervene in systemic social issues that have plagued these professions both currently and historically.
Our Methods
Member Communities
Our private communities have been in place since late 2016 and are essential for keeping our members safe and supported.
Growing Together
Our mentorship program, established in 2020 and freshly named We Together, is reimagining mentorship for mutual growth and liberation for both mentor and mentee.
Community Learning
We coordinate events as practitioners, learners, and people who contribute to the Library and Information Science community. We are firm believers of learning in community.
Uprooting Knowledge
up//root: a we here publication is a publishing collective that exists to center the work, knowledge, and experiences of folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color within the context of the library and archives community.
We Family
We Here’s Program and Project Leaders
Community School
Learn in Community
Jennifer Ferretti, Founder and Principal
Kristina Santiago, Community School Coordinator
Cindy Teyolia, Community School Coordinator (February - July 2021)
Team We Here
Membership Community Admins
Jennifer Brown, Community Manager
Crystal Chen, Community Admin
Nicollette Davis, Community Admin
Jennifer Ferretti, Founder and Principal
Charlotte Roh, Community Manager
up//root: a we here publication
Megdi Abebe, Editor
Joyce Gabiola, Editor
Sofia Leung, Editor
Jorge López-McKnight, Editor
Kristina Santiago, Editor
Community Study
(be)coming together in Study
nicholae cline, Organizer
Sofia Leung, Organizer
Jorge López-McKnight, Organizer
We Together
Reimagining mentorship for mutual growth and liberation
Crystal Chen, Program Manager
Nicollette Davis, Program Manager
up//root Advisory Team
Jennifer Brown, Advisory Team Member
Jennifer Ferretti, Advisory Team Member and Creative Director
Charlotte Roh, Advisory Team Member
We Reads
Literature that nourishes us
Jennifer Brown
Crystal Chen
nicholae cline, Project Founder
Charlotte Roh
Member Communities
Our Home
Our Member Communities Are Home
Our member communities are the foundation of our work. We ended the year 2021 with 2,064 Facebook group members; 595 Google Group members; and 703 Slack project members, with some members on multiple platforms.
As always, we recognize the ways in which these platforms help us connect virtually, but also the imperfection of these platforms.
Graphic: Pie chart showing percentage of members in each Community: Facebook at 61.4%; Google Groups at 17.7%; and Slack at 20.9%.
Here are a few new things we were able to implement for all of our private spaces during the year 2021.
Week End Round Up
We Here may have several calls, resources, events, happening all at once. To help members keep track, we launched "week end," rounding everything up for ease of search.
Private Space Task Force
After admins and member communities expressed ethical and privacy concerns around our largest platform, we released a call for volunteers for a Private Space Task Force and look forward to working with this group of 10 people in 2022.
Mutual Aid and Mentorship
Recognizing the impact of the ongoing pandemic, we were financially able to offer our second round of micro grants. We also convened our first mentorship cohort. More about both in the following pages.
Public Communities and Supporters
Patreon Community
Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for creators to get paid. Members get access to exclusive We Here content, including the We Here Mixtape, a curated list of what the We Family is loving, tending, and growing each month. We're closing out the year with 617 Patreon supporters, which is a 96-person increase from 2020. We are so incredibly grateful to all of our Patreon supporters. They are the reason we are able to offer mutual aid, pay speakers for free events, send thank you gifts to We Together mentors, and much more. Anyone can join our Patreon community and to receive perks, membership begins at just $5 per month ($60 per year).
Learn more at patreon.com/wehere.
Patreon Supporter Perks
We're always seeking to add new perks to being part of our Patreon community. Join us to learn more.
We Here Mixtape
Exclusive access to the We Here mixtape, a curated list of what the We Family is getting into for the month.
weTV
Access to weTV - a series of short, unscripted videos where we talk about resources that resonate with Team We Here.
Early Access
Early notification and access to things like Community School events and up//root articles.
Seed Circle Memberships
Seed Circle Memberships was developed out of the need to have an alternative to Patreon for folks and organizations. To receive perks, Seed Circle Memberships begin at the same dollar amount as our Patreon community ($5/month or $60/year). However, the perks are limited compared to our Patreon community. Seed Circle members receive early access/notifications. We're looking forward to offering more perks for these memberships and promoting it more in 2022.
Learn more at wehere.space/support-us.
Grants Given
While We Here is restricted from certain types of giving because of our entity type, we've found ways to support our community through taxable, one-time grants to individuals. In an effort to recognize and support all the incredible work folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color do for the profession and the world, we identified eight projects and organizations to support.
We also offered 30 micro grants to individuals in our membership community who expressed financial need.
$15,000
donated to 30 individuals who expressed financial need.
$15,396
donated to individuals who manage projects and organizations.
$30,396 Total Donated
We Here Gave to the Following Groups or Organizations
Archivistas en Espanglish (archivistasenespanglish.org)
Black Librarians (@blacklibrarians)
Hijabi Librarians (hijabilibrarians.com)
Joint Council of Librarians of Color Inc. (jclcinc.org)
LibVoices Podcast (@libvoices)
Urban Lib Room Podcast (@urbanlibroom)
WOC+Lib (wocandlib.org)
Grants Received
SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) is a global advocacy organization working to make research and education open and equitable by design—for everyone. SPARC generously gave $20,000 to We Here for calendar year 2021, specifically to support up//root: a we here publication, and chiefly to compensate the editorial team, peer reviewers, and authors. We are so grateful to our colleagues at SPARC, now and throughout the entire process, which has been caring and supportive. Read more about up//root's work in the following pages.
From the press release (January 17, 2021):
“SPARC is for real. With this move, they have joined us on this side that sees that the dominant white publishing world doesn’t care about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) knowledge(s) and experiences and has actively caused harm toward BIPOC communities. SPARC isn’t dictating what we do with our funds; they trust us to lead ourselves.”
“up//root’s reimagination of the publication process to prioritize care and justice is an idea that is as necessary as it is radical. The space that We Here is creating to center BIPOC voices, experience, and leadership is vital, and these efforts need to be supported as such and on their own terms.”
The Community School
Learn in Community
The We Here Community School (launched in 2020), seeks to provide a learning community with opportunities for personal and professional development based in anti-racism pedagogy, recognizing and acknowledging systemic racism and oppression, while centering folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It was born out of the exhaustion we felt from other professional development opportunities that perform diversity or approach diversity, equity, and inclusion from a position of interest convergence rather than from a position of genuine learning, growing, and the desire to better not only the profession, but the experiences of historically excluded folks in the profession. We coordinate events as practitioners who contribute to the Library and Information Science community. The School hosts multi-week synchronous and asynchronous courses, seminars and webinars, most of which are open to the public.
During 2021, we offered our first asynchronous course; developed a brand identity for the School; updated our Code of Conduct for all We Here events; and added a new recorded workshop to our catalog. Cindy Teyolia joined us as Community School Coordinator from February - July 2021 and Kristina Santiago joined us from August to the end of the year.
Learn more at wehere.space/school.
Community School Numbers
19 Instructional Designers
9 Synchronous Webinars
2 Seminars
1 Asynchronous Course
1 Synchronous Course
1 Mission Critical Event*
*Mission Critical events are generally focused on topics we consider to be of great importance to our community (e.g. mental health and wellness) and typically the cost to join is donation-based. So far this has always meant we pay the instructional designer out-of-pocket rather than from enrollment sales.
Community School Catalog
See all past Community School events.
Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory? with Sofia Leung and Jorge López-McKnight. [Course.]
Cultivating Intuition: Rooting Our In-Sight with Celia O. Hilson. [Webinar.]
Trauma Informed Librarianship with Nisha Mody. [Course.]
Writing Your Personal Annual Review and Strategic Plan with Saira Raza. [Webinar.]
Global Work/Learning Opportunities for BIPOC Library Workers with Raymond Pun. [Webinar.]
Library Programming for Beginners: How to Make It Happen with Kelly Campos. [Webinar.]
Designing Context-Driven Programming and Content with Amanda Figueroa and Ravon Ruffin of Brown Art Ink. [Seminar.]
Critical Race Theory and Library Philanthropy: Carnegie Libraries at HBCUs and Interest Convergence with Shaundra Walker. [Webinar.]
Library Exhibitions: Beyond Book Covers with Lourdes Santamaría-Wheeler. [Webinar.]
Critical Library Programming for Public Libraries with Crytal Chen, Nicollette Davis, and Constance Milton. [Webinar.]
A Critical Management Studies Perspective on Leading in Libraries with Silvia Vong. [Webinar.]
Introduction to Critical Race Theory in Library and Information Studies with Sofia Leung. [Webinar + Recorded Webinar.]
Writing Your Personal Annual Review and Strategic Plan with Saira Raza. [Webinar.]
Coming in 2022:
Writing Your Personal Annual Review and Strategic Plan with Saira Raza. [Webinar.]
Words on Display: Curating Library Exhibitions with Lourdes Santamaría-Wheeler. [Course.]
Critical Management Studies: Critical Praxis for Library Managers with Silvia Vong. [Course.]
Community Study
(be)coming together in study
Community Study is an ongoing constellation of study groups, immersions, community learning spaces, and reading groups centered around Black, Indigenous and People of Color being and (be)coming together in study. Community Study believes that learning and exploring together is a joyous and generative form of community (and community building) that facilitates curiosity, intimacy, and care—all of which are deeply needed now.
Community Study is inspired and moved by, reaching out and called to, projects of study by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, The Night School Bar, Freedom Schools, Study & Struggle, and may other beautiful ways of being together.
Community Study launched in 2021 and is cared for and organized by nicholae cline, Sofia Leung, and Jorge López-McKnight. Community Study is for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities.
Learn more at wehere.space/community-study.
Studies:
First Study, May - August 2021: Contemporary Abolitionist Feminisms
Thirty-eight participants organized into three clusters. Read the wrap up and reflection at https://bit.ly/westudyabolition.
Second Study, November 2021 - Ongoing: Disability Studies
Twenty-one participants organized into three clusters.
Learn More at wehere.space/community-study
Learn more about the group, what they're reading, and check out their sonics of study (Spotify playlist).
up//root: a we here publication
up//root: a we here publication is a publishing collective that exists to center the works, knowledge, and experiences of folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color within the context of the library and archives community. Their focus is to center and build on works of knowledge and/or creative expression by Black, Indigenous, and People Color that impact archives, libraries, Library and Information Science education, and/or information. They encourage interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches, analyses, and lenses. They ask, "be uncompromising as you center justice."
In 2021 the founding editors, Joyce Gabiola, Sofia Leung, and Jorge López-McKnight, welcomed Megdi Abebe and Kristina Santiago to the team, after releasing a call for editors who were current graduate students. The team presented at three conferences, published five features, and created resources to guide contributors and peer reviewers. They also contracted an accessibility consultant to review the publishing platform and downloadable PDF files. We're excited to implement all we learned during the process.
Thanks to a generous grant from SPARC (see page 20), up//root editors, contributors, and peer reviewers are provided a stipend for their work.
Learn more at https://uproot.space.
up//root Features Published in 2021
Letter to Asian Diasporic Workers, by Desmond Wong, Anastasia Chiu, Jessica Dai, Deborah Yun Caldwell, Charlotte Roh, February 22, 2021
The House Archives Built, by Dorothy Berry, June 22, 2021
Drowned Disillusions, by Hridi Das, July 26, 2021
Confronting Anti-Asian Racism: A Statement on (In)visibility and Targeted Online Harassment, by Reanna Esmail, October 21, 2021
Make the Library Loud: Removing Communication Barriers for Library Workers with Hearing Loss, by Michelle Khuu, November 17, 2021
We Together
Reimagining mentorship for mutual growth and liberation
Recently branded We Together: Reimagining mentorship for mutual growth and liberation, our mentorship program launched in October 2020. While peer mentoring has always been an important part of our member communities, we learned after our first annual member survey that some members wanted a more formal arrangement. Community Admins Crystal Chen and Nicollette Davis conceived and continue to care for We Together, which includes developing calls, matching mentors and mentees, organizing check-ins, bringing in guest speakers to talk to the cohort, and more.
The program is organized with the knowledge and feedback from folks who have expressed having negative experiences with other mentor programs within Library and Information Science. This adds a level of labor on the organizers that result in the need for longer breaks in between cohorts.
The 2020-2021 cohort had a total of 30 participants (15 pairs) and we anticipate the 2022 cohort having roughly the same amount of participants.
We Together 2020-2021 Participants
Araceli Moreno
Grace Munoz
Amir Rabiyah El-Chidiac
David Satten-Lopez
Shawnta Smith Cruz
Denisse Solis
Laura Tadena
Jill Tokutomi
Chella Vaidyanathan
Anu Vedantham
Alysia Verhagen
Michele Wan
Desmond Wong
Kelli Yakabu
Angel Alexander
Daylily Alvarez
Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez
Olivia Baca
Ellen Bae
Yoalis Cintron Sanchez
Amanda De Oliveira Fogaca
Reanna Esmail
Mar Gonzales Palacios
Talia Guzman Gonzalez
Nancy Kirkpatrick
Jess Koshi-Lum
Amita Lonial
Jessie Maimone
Tulip Majumdar
Chelsea Misquith
Thank you all for your time and energy! Special thanks to Aidy Weeks, Tarida Anantachai, and Charlotte Roh who consulted with us and helped us in the early development stage of We Together.
We Reads
Literature that nourishes us
We Reads officially launched in 2021 through the recognition that an ongoing, living resource to help guide readers to significant works by and for folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color, especially one curated by folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC), was deeply needed. Project founder Nicholae Cline approached We Here with the project, in the hopes of leveraging the We Here community and their collective knowledge to create seasonal recommended reading lists, centering literature written for us, by authors like us. Throughout 2020, Nicholae and project organizers Jen Brown, Crystal Chen, and Charlotte Roh met to discuss the mission and vision for this project and were eager to gather literature reflecting BIPOC voices, rather than books reinforcing white and colonial lenses of mainstream publishing.
We Reads is, first and foremost, about highlighting BIPOC voices in literature. It is also deeply personal and communal, and joyfully so: we read as our whole selves, bringing our identities and experiences with us when we enter the world of a story or poem. The works collected by We Reads and our member communities have resonated with, shaped, and nourished us, changing us in ways we might not yet understand and living inside us as we once chose to live inside them.
Learn more at https://www.wehere.space/about-we-reads.
We Reads Collections
Winter 2020 Collection: 52 titles
Autumn 2021 Collection: 115 titles
Spring 2021 Collection: 69 titles
Winter 2021 Collection: 96 titles
Total titles: 273
We Reads: Supporting Independent Bookstores
We care just as much about supporting independent bookstores as we do about supporting and uplifting BIPOC stories and work, which is why we are a Bookshop.org affiliate. Bookshop.org is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. As an affiliate, we get a very small percentage of every book purchased through our We Reads "Buy It" links. We also provide "Find it at your library" links for all titles.
Online marketplaces have shown a severe lack of empathy for humanity. We know major online marketplaces can get you what you need very quickly (which sometimes puts workers in danger), but we're hoping you'll consider investing in your community by purchasing locally or from BIPOC-owned businesses.
Event Round Up
Public and private We Here events from 2021
Family Meeting: What's Good with Library School?
A discussion about Library and Information Science educational programs with current students, potential students, and library and archives workers. Saturday, February 6, 2021.
The Lived Experiences of Library Workers of Color Pursuing Doctoral Degrees
A panel discussion on doctoral education and leadership in libraries. Featuring Regina Gong, kYmberly Keeton, Oscar Lanza-Galindo, LeRoy LaFleur, & moderated by Raymond Pun. March 5, 2021
Family Meeting: Holding Space for Grief and Power
Discussing the Letter to Asian Diasporic Library Workers [published by up//root: a we here publication]. March 27, 2021.
We Got Us: BIPOC Mental Health and Solidarity
Featuring Cecily Walker, Nisha Mody, Amanda M. Leftwich, Alanna Aiko Moore, Kaetrena David Kendrick, moderated by Annie Pho. May 14, 2021.
Meet and Learn about The Green Book for Libraries
July 21, 2021
"The Problem with Latinidad"
A critical discussion on the single narrative of Latinidad, anti-Blackness and white privilege, US imperialism, and Indigenous erasure from the perspectives of library and archives workers
With Cristina Fontánez-Rodríguez, Mario Macías, Obden Mondésir, Yvette Ramírez, Amanda Toledo, and Gabby Womack
The edited transcript will be published by up//root: a we here publication in 2022.
This mission critical event was made possible by our Patreon and Seed Circle communities.
Making Knowledge Justice
Making Knowledge Justice were three book launch events (March and April 2021) celebrating the release of Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Critical Race Theory edited by Sofia Y. Leung and Jorge López-McKnight, from MIT Press.
Knowledge Justice is the first book-length text that utilizes Critical Race Theory in Library and Information Studies. With contributions from 29 Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Color scholars, educators, and practitioners, the foundational principles, values, and beliefs of LIS in the U.S. nation-state are challenged, while also imaging possibilities for justice to be actualized in the here and now.
The three events featured the following authors: Miranda H. Belarde-Lewis (Zuni and Tlingit), Jennifer Brown, Anastasia Chiu, Nicholae Cline (Coharie), Fobazi M. Ettarh, Jennifer A. Ferretti, Todd Honma, Sarah R. Kostelecky (Zuni Pueblo), Myrna Morales, Stacie Williams, Anthony Dunbar, Harrison W. Inefuku, Vani Natarajan, Sujei Lugo Vázquez, Shaundra Walker, Anne Cong-Huyen, Isabel Espinal, April M. Hathcock, Kafi Kumasi, Lalitha Nataraj, Antonia P. Olivas, Kush Patel, Torie Quiñonez, Maria Adoria Rios, Tonia Sutherland, and Rachel E. Winston.
Pay Us
We're normalizing paying folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color in Library and Information Science Professions for their time and labor.
Last year's Wrap Up featured a section called "Pay Us" which recapped how much money We Here paid folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color who worked with us throughout the year.
The following pages include the highlights.
Micro Grant Program:
$30,396
Total donated to 7 organizations or projects and 30 individuals who expressed need.
Community School:
$18,827
Total paid to Community School instructional designers and the part-time coordinator position.
Professional Services:
$5,225
Total paid to folks who provided professional services, including graphic design, legal work, accounting, publishing and accessibility expertise, and an intern assisting with communications and marketing.
Event Speakers
$2,800
Total paid to event speakers for events that were free for attendees.
Total
$89,428
Total donated or paid to folks for their time and expertise in 2021.*
*$13,055 was paid through the grant from SPARC for their contributions to up//root: a we here publication.
Thank You
For Reading
We're incredibly grateful to our communities for all their support.
