Get Involved

AbLA welcomes all library workers, students, and community members interested in our work.

Subscribe to our listserv for information about how to get involved and how to join our meetings by visiting https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/abolitionist-library-association.

For general inquiries and questions, contact ablawebsite@riseup.net.

AbLA Working Groups

Abolition in Special Collections - The Abolition in Special Collections group is a collective of library workers in archives and special collections interested in disrupting our involvement with policing, armed response, surveillance, and the prison industrial complex. The group seeks to catalyse a cultural shift and to interrogate legacy practices and attitudes that perpetuate oppression. For more information, contact ablaspeccoll@gmail.com. To sign up for the group’s mailing list, visit https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/abolition-in-special-collections.

Resource List Working Group - This group created an annotated spreadsheet to support those looking for more information and resources on Police and Prison Abolition, Anti-Racism, Cyber Security, Organizing, Restorative and Transformative Justice, and information about other libraries and information spaces involved in police and prison divestment. Here is a direct link: www.bit.ly/AbLA-Resources.

If you’d like to submit a resource to be added to the list please fill out our form.

Library Divestment from Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) Labor - The Library Divestment from Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) Labor Working Group examines library investment in the PIC, from procurement to vendor contracts to endowment portfolios and works to empower library workers to advocate for PIC divestment within their institutions. To contact the group or request to join its email list, contact abladivest@protonmail.com

Information Access for Incarcerated People - This group will 1) serve as a learning space and resource hub for people seeking to plug into abolitionist information access projects in prisons and jails; 2) support library workers and abolitionist groups that provide information services for incarcerated people; 3) push back against prison censorship and surveillance of information resources; 4) build solidarity with people inside and follow their lead in this work. Our goal is to ensure that incarcerated people have full access to all the information they need as we work together towards a complete abolition of carceral systems. To participate, contact abla_infoaccess@protonmail.com or visit https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/ablainfoaccess to join the mailing list.