Reflecting
on 2022
PPL Completes Year-Long DEI Journey, Produces Roadmap
With a primary goal to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion in all that we do, the Library formally undertook its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) journey during the fall of 2021. We were led through an extensive three-phase, year-long process by The Justice Collective (TJC), an organization owned completely by women of color. The immersive process included involvement, examination, and education on all levels of the organization – from staff, to board, to community stakeholders – and resulted in the creation of a roadmap for PPL’s evolving DEI process. The roadmap outlines a detailed implementation plan for action and changes, training, expected outcomes and metrics, required resources, approaches to assess progress, timeline, and capacity building for sustainability within three main areas: Human Resources, Culture, and Leadership.
October ’21
Updike Prize for Student Type Design Awards and Virtual Talk/Tour
PPL presented its 2021 Updike Prize for Student Type Design Award with a virtual studio talk/tour of Dartmouth College Library’s Book Arts Workshop with Program Manager, Sarah M. Smith titled “Teaching All Types in a Library/Casting the Cherokee Syllabary.” She showed us around the workshop and told us about how she works with classes and students from a wide variety of disciplines on campus, paying close attention to projects printed with the Cherokee Syllabary that the Book Arts Workshop acquired from type caster Ed Rayher of Swamp Press and giving some background on how Ed started casting the Cherokee Syllabary and how he creates molds from digital faces. This program was a co-presentation of PPL and the American Printing History Association, New England Chapter (APHA New England). The Updike Prize rewards student designers who integrate historical research into their practice. The 2021 winners, Corrine Ang and Peter Nowell, were praised by our panel of judges for the creativity, sensitivity, and overall quality of their work, which will be showcased during presentation of the awards.
January ’22
PPL Partners to Present Two Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Events
Kicking off Black History Month, PPL continued its partnership with the Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Committee (LHCPRC) to present the first of two community programs: The Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Birthday Celebration! Looking Back to Move Forward. LHCPRC’s virtual celebration, live streamed from PPL's Donald J. Farish Auditorium, included music by the incomparable Becky Bass, interviews with Anne Edmonds Clanton, the LHCPR's visionary founder, and Ramona Bass-Kolobe, widow of esteemed Langston Hughes scholar George Houston Bass. The public was treated to highlights from 29 years of celebrating this beloved intergenerational event, blending the magnificent words of Langston Hughes spoken through the voices of the community with the sounds of Jazz, along with an update on the Committee's exciting initiatives for 2022. https://youtu.be/hPs-ZdQFmG8 In April, we celebrated again – this time with The 27th Annual Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading: the Many Faces of Langston Hughes! – an event that was both virtual and in-person for the first time since 2020. Langston Hughes’s powerful, poignant, and often amusing works, dating from the Harlem Renaissance through the 1960’s, were read out loud by members of the community and accompanied by the Becky Bass Trio. https://youtu.be/MxGhIBTgIKc This event was generously supported by the Papitto Opportunity Connection.
February & April ’22
July ’21 &
January ’22
PPL Presents Four Learning Circles
PPL offered four online Learning Circles throughout this year through P2PU (Peer to Peer University), two in July: “Intro to Cyber Security” and “Intro to SQL Coding,” and two in January: “Python Coding Language” and “How To Talk About Race.” Learning Circles are free, peer-led study groups for people who want to take an online course or explore a topic together. There’s no instructor or formal requirements. It’s more like a club for folks who want to learn a particular subject. The free online courses make it possible for anyone to take at any time. Participants meet each week for a one-hour discussion and help each other through the course, reviewing the topics together each week.
January ’22
FUNDAFEST24 at PPL
PPL was a proud sponsor of Rhode Island Black Storytellers’ (RIBS) FUNDAFEST24 (virtual) International Storytelling Concerts. Hosted by RIBS’ own Len Cabral, the event was part of a showcase of more than 25 performers from around the world. We were proud to welcome RIBS to our beautiful Auditorium in December to perform their wonderful stories. Concertgoers traveled with RIBS to the Caribbean and South America, hearing incredible storytellers from the Bahamas (Derek Burrows), Brazil (Antonio Rocha), Trinidad (Rita Cox and Paul Keens Douglass) and Tabago who shared unforgettable stories and songs!
March ’22
“Songs of Refuge” at PPL
PPL was thrilled to co-present “Songs of Refuge,” a highly anticipated collaboration between Community MusicWorks and Dorcas International Institute. “Songs of Refuge” celebrated the joy and solidarity of community by bringing together local, resettled musicians with the MusicWorks Collective in special arrangements of traditional songs from Iraq, Syria, and Iran. The free concert, set at PPL’s beautifully restored Donald J. Farish Auditorium, featured works by composer Kareem Roustom, including a world premiere that spotlights MusicWorks Collective violinist Jesse Holstein as he marks a two-decade career at CMW. Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island and Community MusicWorks have long shared a vision anchored in community and belonging. The sold-out event gathered both organizations in celebration of the common language of music.
Would That:
Expressions of Possibility in the Asian American and Diasporas Exhibition
PPL hosted a two-month exhibition presented in conjunction with its Identities program series. A celebration of the opening of the exhibit, “Unearthing Voices from Familial and Familiar Bodies,” featured literary and visual arts created and presented by members of the Providence, Brown, and RISD communities, which was curated by the Brown University American Studies artist-in-residence, Diana Khoi Nguyen. Art works featured in the exhibition engaged with notions of possibility, family, and futurity within the Asian American diasporas and intersecting diasporas. The exhibition ran May 4 - June 30.
May ’22
May ’22
PPL Partners with RI Department of Education to Provide 1200 Chromebooks to Adult Learner
Closing equity gaps is a shared priority for PPL and the Rhode Island Department of Education, therefore the partnership with the Federal Communications Commission's Emergency Connectivity Fund (EDF) for $375,500 to distribute 1,200 Chromebooks to eligible adult education learners was a natural. The Chromebooks, paired with digital literacy skill training and development delivered through PPL Adult Education programs, were to help mitigate the digital divide for more than 1,200 Rhode Islanders, including parents of school-age children. Digital literacy skills are essential skills for workforce and community participation in the 21st century, and development of adults’ foundational skills benefits the whole family. Funding for the Chromebooks was provided through the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), part of the larger American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). PPL and its partners serve thousands of adult learners each year through statewide digital navigation and learning services, and access to technology and technology training is far and away the greatest challenge among those seeking to further their education and career readiness.
PPL Presents RI LGBTQ+ Film Series During Pride Month
In support and awareness of the RI LGBTQ+ Community Archive at PPL, the Library presented a free, three-part film series with panel discussions of queer history and filmmaking, film archives, and preservation. Offered in conjunction with PPL’s 2022 Exhibition & Program Series Identities, and co-presented by the Rhode Island Historical Society, these events focused on different aspects of storytelling and filmmaking, all tied to the RI LGBTQ+ community. Film screenings featuring the work of local filmmakers included moderated conversations with those involved in either the creation or preservation of film. Events included: Queer Archives Movie Night – film footage from the RI LGBTQ+ Community Archives and audio-video recordings from the Rhode Island Historical Society holdings. Death Drop Gorgeous – a campy drag exploitation horror film set in the seedy gay nightlife of Providence, RI, with a discussion with filmmakers Brandon Perras-Sanchez, Michael Ahern & Christopher Dalpe will follow the film. I’m Gonna Make You Love Me – a full-length documentary about the life of Brian Belovitch, who grew up in Providence and, in the 1980s as a transgender woman named Trish, was one of New York’s most famous downtown divas. Then, after more than a decade as Tish, she transitioned back to Brian.
June ’22
May ’22
Small Business Saturdays Workshops
PPL joined the Community Libraries of Providence, and Cranston Public Library to present Small Business Saturdays, a series of workshops designed for adults and youth interested in exploring starting their own small business. Over the course of one month, participants were free to get an immersion into everything from small business basics, to a variety of marketing and branding subjects. The project was made possible in part by a grant from the RI Office of Library & Information Services using funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Wanderground Lesbian Archive Exhibits at PPL
Since the early 1980s, Mev Miller has developed an extensive library of Lesbian/feminist publications – nearly 3,000 volumes and counting. She also has collected Lesbian media, art, and other culturally significant items. The materials make up the cornerstone of Wanderground, a Lesbian archive being developed as a community-based resource for New England (located in Rhode Island). They include writings by RI Lesbians, early publications from independent Lesbian/feminist publishers, music and videos, art and artifacts and other life-affirming Lesbian legacies, examples of which can be found in this representative exhibition. This exhibit at PPL was the first physical public viewing of some of the holdings in the Wanderground Archive/Library. Mev Miller shared selections from her extensive library of Lesbian/feminist publications as well as media, art, and other culturally significant items – collected over the past 40 years, particularly highlighting the early days of Lesbian-made culture and activism (1970-2000).
June - August ’22
November ’21
AskRI Rebranded, Rebuilt, and Launched
AskRI (AskRI.org), Rhode Island’s Statewide Online Resource Center (SRRC) at PPL, underwent a complete makeover. Including new branding and completely updated and improved website, the new AskRI launched in January 2022 with a multi-faceted, year-long marketing campaign. State funding for the free, 20-year-old service is provided via the Office of Library and Information Services. AskRI is designed to be a comprehensive research resource for Rhode Island residents, available 24/7. Students, jobseekers, librarians and educators, and curious people of all ages can all reach the information they need – by independently exploring the services, with a librarian’s help, or through carefully curated links to other online resources. Ask-A-Librarian email services are also available via AskRI to all residents of Rhode Island and other free libraries. The AskRI makeover presents the resources and services available in a clean and streamlined way. Enhanced search and navigation tools give users multiple options and easy access to the wide range of databases and services. While online resources are available 24/7, online reference is available at least 60 hours a week.