QPIRG Concordia Resource Library

The Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia is a resource centre for student and community research and organizing. We strive to raise awareness and support grassroots activism around diverse social and environmental issues. Our work is rooted in an anti-oppression analysis and practice. We seek to make campus-community links and inspire social change through engaging, inclusive and non-hierarchical approaches.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POSITION IS OPEN TO APPLICANTS WHO MEET THE FOLLOWING ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

- Is between 15 and 30 years of age (inclusive)

- Was registered as a full-time student in the previous academic year*

- Has the intention of returning to full-time studies in the upcoming academic year

- Is a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or refugee

*Can be a student at a secondary, post-secondary, CEGEP, vocational or technical school.

 

Description of the position:

The Alternative Library and Poster Archive Coordinator will work alongside the staff and volunteers at the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia University. This position will concentrate on the development, organization, and outreach of QPIRG Concordia’s Alternative Library, and the maintenance and expansion of the QPIRG Concordia Poster Archive.

This is a seven-week summer contract.

 

Tasks include:

Resource cataloguing, resource purchasing, campus and community promotion of the library, volunteer coordination, liaising with partner resource libraries, sorting and organizing poster archive materials, digitization of poster archive materials, and providing support to space users wishing to access the library or poster archive.

 

Knowledge and skills required :

- Ability to work independently and with groups

- Ability to communicate with people of diverse backgrounds

- Skills in volunteer recruitment, retention, and coordination

- Proven organizational and time management skills

- Ability to take initiative and work independently

- Very good written and oral communication skills in English and French

- Creative problem-solving skills

- Experience with and working knowledge of WordPress and Adobe Photoshop

- Knowledge of the local social justice milleu

- Commitment to social justice and to QPIRG’s mandate to counter discrimination on the basis of age, race, sex, gender, religion, colour, dis/ability, size, and class

 

Assets:

- knowledge of the Concordia University campus and community

- skills in database maintenance

- volunteering experience and/or working within a volunteer organization

- knowledge of other languages, including sign languages

 

Duties:

- Work with QPIRG staff and volunteers to identify gaps in the QPIRG Alternative Library (e.g. French language materials, materials on issues faced by students with disabilities, etc.)

- Work with committee of volunteers to research and order new materials (books, magazines, DVDs, etc.)

- Recruit and work with Alternative Library volunteers

- Maintain database to catalogue Alternative Library materials

- Train volunteers in data entry and database maintenance

- Maintain a user-friendly and accessible system for borrowing and returning materials

- Organize training sessions for QPIRG staff and volunteers on efficient use of the system

- Develop strategies to publicize the Alternative Library to Concordia students and the broader community

- Liaise with partner members of the Alternative Libraries Database

- Update poster archive with materials collected in 2011-2012 year

- Begin digitizing existing and new poster archive materials

- Develop a user-friendly public website with archive materials

- Submit a final report detailing work completed on both projects to the board of directors at the end of the contract

 

QPIRG Concordia recognizes and welcomes the unique contributions that individuals from marginalized and oppressed communities bring to our organization, and invites these individuals to apply.  We encourage applicants to describe the unique contributions they, as individuals with diverse experiences, would bring to QPIRG Concordia in their cover letter or resume. Please indicate clearly in your cover letter that you would like to be considered for Employment Equity. A full copy of the employment equity policy is available upon request.

 

Deadline for Applications:  Saturday, June 9^th at 5pm

To apply, please send a CV, cover letter and indication of your eligibility to “hiring@qpirgconcordia.org” with “Alternative Library and Poster Archive Coordinator” in the subject line OR drop off a CV, cover letter and indication of eligibility at our office during business hours (Monday to Thursday, 12-6pm – 1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest, #204).

For more information about QPIRG Concordia, this position or how to apply, contact us:

514-848-7585 – info@qpirgconcordia.org – http://qpirgconcordia.org, or visit us at our office at 1500 de Maisonneuve West, #204.

An Anti-colonial Victoria Day!

Monday, May 21, 4pm-6pm
Café l’Artère, 7000 Parc ave. (métro Parc)
Free! Welcome to all!
The venue is wheelchair accessible, but the bathrooms are not.
Childcare available on request (phone 514-848-7585 to reserve)
Présentation en anglais avec traduction chuchotée en français.

Book launch: “Decolonizing Anarchism: An antiauthoritarian history of India’s liberation struggle”
Panel discussion “Anarchism and anti-colonial struggles from South Asia to Turtle Island”

Participants:
- Clifton Nicholas – Mohawk anarchist activist from Kanehsatake
- Ponni Arasau – Queer feminist organizer from New Dehli, India
- Maia Ramnath – Author of “Decolonizing Anarchism”
Moderated by Indu Vashist
———-

About “Decolonizing Anarchism”:
Decolonizing Anarchism examines the history of South Asian struggles against colonialism and neocolonialism, highlighting lesser-known dissidents as well as iconic figures. What emerges is an alternate narrative of decolonization, in which liberation is not defined by the achievement of a nation-state. Author Maia Ramnath suggests that the anarchist vision of an alternate society closely echoes the concept of total decolonization on the political, economic, social, cultural, and psychological planes. Decolonizing Anarchism facilitates more than a reinterpretation of the history of anticolonialism; it also supplies insight into the meaning of anarchism itself.

About the panelists:

Clifton Nicholas – Clifton Arihwakehte Nicholas is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) from Kanehsatake. Clifton is active in his community as both an activist and as a defender of his people. Clifton was one of the people who defended the community of Kanehsatake in 1990, he has been a staunch advocate of Indigenous resistance throughout Canada and the Americas.

Ponni Arasau – Ponni Arasu is a queer feminist activist from Chennai, India. She has worked with the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore, India, as well as with the Law and Society Trust in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her work involves a range of human rights issues including gender, sexuality, labour and conflict. Since 2003, Ponni has worked with Voices Against 377, a coalition of women’s groups, child rights groups, human rights groups and sexuality groups formed to initiate discussions on sexuality and the law. Voices Against 377 filed an affidavit to strike down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, the section that criminalizes gay sex.

Maia Ramnath – Maia Ramnath is a teacher, writer, activist, and dancer/aerialist living in New York City. She is the author of The Haj to Utopia: How the Ghadar Movement Charted Global Radicalism and Attempted to Overthrow the British Empire—in many ways a companion volume to this one. She is currently a member of the Institute for Anarchist Studies board, and is active with South Asia Solidarity Initiative, Adalah-NY, and the (OWS-affiliated) Global Justice Working Group.”

Indu Vashist – Indu Vashist is a queer feminist, community activist, and an independent scholar. She currently works as a freelance journalist in both India and North America. Her work has featured in 2B Magazine, New Indian Express, and Kafila. She is on the editorial collective of SAMAR magazine (South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection) and hosts a weekly radio show on CKUT 90.3 FM called Desi Dhamaka.
———-

Presented by QPIRG Concordia (www.qpirgconcordia.org) & No One Is Illegal-Montreal (nooneisillegal.org)
Part of the Montreal Festival of Anarchy (www.anarchistbookfair.ca)
Endorsed by CKUT 90.3fm and the Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS)

INFO: 514-848-7585 – info@qpirgconcordia.org

with AJ Withers, Anna Malla & Laurence Parent

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 6pm
at the Centre Culturel Georges-Vanier
2450 rue Workman (métro Lionel-Groulx)

The venue is wheelchair accessible.
Childcare available on request (phone 514-848-7585to reserve)
Whisper translation into English & French
Get in touch about access needs and requests (info@qpirgconcordia.org)
—

About “Disability Politics and Theory”:
An accessible introduction to disability studies,Disability Politics and Theory provides a concise survey of disability history, exploring the concept of disability as it has been conceived from the late 19th century to the present. Further, A.J. Withers examines when, how and why new categories of disability are created and describes how capitalism benefits from and enforces disabled people’s oppression. Critiquing the model that currently dominates the discipline, the social model of disability, this book offers an alternative: the radical disability model. This model builds on the social model but draws from more recent schools of radical thought, particularly feminism and critical race theory, to emphasize the role of intersecting oppressions in the marginalization of disabled people and the importance of addressing disability both independently and in conjunction with other oppressions. Intertwining theoretical and historical analysis with personal experience this book is a poignant portrayal of disabled people in Canada and the U.S. — and a radical call for social and economic justice.
—

About the panelists:

AJ Withers is a Toronto-based anti-poverty and disability justice organizer and author. They have worked with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) for many years and their book Disability Politics and Theory will be out this spring through Fernwook Publishing.

Anna Malla has lived in Montreal for the past ten years, and until recently, was the full-time Coordinator at QPIRG McGill. Prior to her job at QPIRG, Anna was a union organizer and support staff member at the Migrant Farmworkers’ Support Centre in St-Remi. She is also a long-time member of the Justice for Adil Charkaoui Coalition, and has worked on various other migrant justice and anti-racism campaigns. For the past four years, Anna has been contending with a long-term, chronic pain condition diagnosed as Fibromyalgia. She is committed to challenging herself and those around her to re-vision the ways in which chronic illness impacts our relationships to each other and the world around us.

Laurence Parent is a PhD student in Humanities at Concordia University. She holds a MA in Critical Disability Studies from York University and a BA in Political Science from Université du Québec à Montréal. She lives in Montréal and is involved within the Québec Disability Rights Movement. In 2009, she co-founded a disability rights organization called RAPLIQ which aims to challenge ableism by doing direct actions and using creative means.
—

Part of the Montreal Festival of Anarchy (www.anarchistbookfair.ca)
Presented by QPIRG Concordia
INFO: www.qpirgconcordia.org
514-848-7585 – info@qpirgconcordia.org