All organizing is science fiction. A world where everyone has a home, a great education, community based transformative justice, nourishing food to eat and clean water to drink, where we are in right relation to the planet, to each other, where are free to be and love ourselves as we are, to grow together? We have never seen it; its possibility remains speculative. Yet speculative fiction, perhaps particularly science fiction, offers a powerful opportunity to speculate-into-being.

Walidah Imarisha, co-editor of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements (AK Press 2015), will facilitate a salon focused on the history of science fiction and social change, considering ways to use science fiction as a practice ground for social justice strategizing and vision.

March 23, 12:30-2 p.m. in the Rowe Building, Room 122 (please note this is a room change.)

This is the second lecture in the Feminism/s and Future/s salons sponsored by the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program in partnership with: the UConn Libraries; the UConn Humanities Institute; the UConn Reads! Program; the Department of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies; the Africana Studies Institute; the Women’s Center; and the English Department.

Want to learn about some of the tools out there to help effectively manage and analyze your research data? Ever wondered what OpenRefine, Introduction to R, Data analysis and visualization in R and SQL for data management can do for you?

Join us for a two-day Data Carpentry workshop on Mar 7-8 from 9:00 am-4:30 pm and explore basic concepts, skills and tools for working more effectively with data. This will be focused on ecology/natural resources research data but anyone is welcome to attend. UConn participants can register for either the UConn Associate or the General seats.

Registration and laptops with specific software are required. Information on both of these be found on the Data Carpentry website.

Want to learn more?

On March 21-22 we will offer a second two-day workshop that will focus on the basic concepts and tools for your research, including program design, version control, data management, and task automation. This will also be focused on ecology/natural resources research data. UConn participants can register for either the UConn Associate or the General seats.

Registration and laptops with specific software are required. Information can be found on the Software Carpentry website.

The UConn Libraries is pleased to be partnering with the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program on their upcoming discussion this March.

“The Politics of the Post-Apocalypse: Race, Gender, and Sexuality After the End”
March 2, 4 to 5:30pm, Class of 1947, Homer Babbidge Library

The very meanings of race, of gender, of sexuality, of labor and reproduction, of power, justice, and even of survival itself might not change after the apocalypse; then again, they might. Dr. Stacy Missari (Quinnipiac University) and Dr. Mary Burke (University of Vermont) will join Dr. Barbara Gurr (UConn) for a salon that focuses on what popular culture teaches us about post-apocalyptic politics and the human imagination. They will consider the ways in which post-apocalyptic narratives organize and possibly limit our abilities to imagine a different world, but also potentially create ruptures in hegemonic notions of “progress”, “civility”, relationship, and social change, particularly around concerns of race, gender and sexuality.

The second salon in the series is titled

“The History of Science Fiction and Social Change”
date tbd

All organizing is science fiction. A world where everyone has a home, a great education, community based transformative justice, nourishing food to eat and clean water to drink, where we are in right relation to the planet, to each other, where are free to be and love ourselves as we are, to grow together? We have never seen it; its possibility remains speculative. Yet speculative fiction, perhaps particularly science fiction, offers a powerful opportunity to speculate-into-being. Adrienne Maree Brown, co-editor of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements (AK Press 2015), will facilitate a salon focused on the history of science fiction and social change, considering ways to use science fiction as a practice ground for social justice strategizing and vision.

Both salons are sponsored by the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program in partnership with: the UConn Libraries; the UConn Humanities Institute; the UConn Reads! Program; the Department of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies; the Africana Studies Institute; the Women’s Center; and the English Department.

(l to r) Nancy Dryden, Undergraduate Education Services Librarian, Stamford Library; Beth Rumery; and Sue Shontell, Executive Director, New London Housing Authority

Our own Beth Rumery, library director for the Avery Point Campus Library, received the I Love My Librarian Award for her outstanding public service to the community and ongoing commitment to transforming lives through education and lifelong learning. Rumery was one of only 10 librarians within the United States recognized this year for this esteemed honor.

Beth was nominated by Sue Shontell, the Executive Director of the New London Housing Authority for her outreach efforts both to students and faculty at UConn and the community at large. With physical changes to make the library more inviting and a safe location for students to come and discuss issues with sexual orientation, depression and other difficult personal issues, she has created a sense of place within the library. She has also been an active member of the greater Groton community, reaching out to the low income elderly and disabled housing authority and their families. According to the nomination, her work has “opened university speakers to staff and families as a way to reach them and show that they too can go to school, not be intimidated by campuses and connect with their lives.”

As part of the award process, library users nationwide are invited to nominate their favorite librarians working in public, school, college, community college and university libraries. This year more than 1,300 library patrons submitted detailed stories showing how their librarian had an impact on their communities and lives by connecting people with the information access and critical resources they need to succeed in today’s digital age.

Beth received her award, which includes a $5,000 prize, last week at a ceremony in New York City. The event was hosted by Carnegie Corporation of New York, which generously sponsors the award along with The New York Public Library and The New York Times. For more information and a copy of the nomination form, please see ALA’s website at http://www.ilovelibraries.org/lovemylibrarian/2015/15winners

About Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves more than 18 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support.

About the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 58,000 members in academic, public, school, government, and special libraries. The mission of the American Library Association is to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all. The ALA administers the I Love My Librarian Award through the ALA’s Public Awareness Office which promotes the value of libraries and librarians.