Alison Macrina is a librarian, internet activist, founder and executive director of the

Library Freedom Project Library Freedom Project is an American nonprofit organization whose stated mission "is radically rethinking the library professional organization by creating a network of values-driven librarian-activists working together to build information demo ...

Biography

Macrina grew up in

Collingswood, New Jersey Collingswood is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located east of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough ...

. She was an undergraduate at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

. She received a

Master of Library and Information Science The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) is the master's degree that combines two interdisciplinary academic disciplines. Library science is applied information science and a subfield of information science. This degree focuses on inf ...

from

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

in 2009. Macrina was a librarian at the Watertown Free Public Library in

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Sq ...

and a member of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Radical Reference Radical Reference is a distributed collective of library workers, students and information activists who work on social justice issues. They provide professional research support, education and access to information to activist communities, prog ...

Collective. While at the public library, Macrina made a

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

for librarians titled ''We Are All Suspects'' offering a "quick and dirty introduction to basic privacy and security tools." She founded the Library Freedom Project in 2015 in order to help non-techie people learn to protect their privacy online. As a victim of online harassment for her work on racial and gender justice, Macrina teaches other professionals, especially librarians, to use available tools to manage and deal with inappropriate behavior, saying "The thing about privilege isn't just that it shields you ... It also gives you a platform." Macrina is vocal in her opposition to digital surveillance, and was a core contributor and Community Team Lead on the

Tor Project The Tor Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) research-education nonprofit organization based in Winchester, Massachusetts. It is founded by computer scientists Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson, and five others. The Tor Project is primarily responsibl ...

. She is the co-author of ''Anonymity'', the first book in the American Library Association's Library Futures Series. She was also one of the librarians protesting the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

's recruitment attempts at the American Library Association's annual conference in 2019, co-publishing a letter with librarian Dustin Fife entitled "No Legitimization Through Association: the CIA should not be exhibiting at ALA." In July 2020, Macrina founded the Abolitionist Library Association (AbLA), an organization for library workers and community members who support divesting from police presence in libraries.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macrina, Alison Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Internet activists American librarianship and human rights Drexel University alumni Temple University alumni 21st-century American librarians 21st-century American women librarians American women activists People from Collingswood, New Jersey Librarians from New Jersey Activists from New Jersey