Bookmark for Later: Resource Roundup
Hi friends! It’s Stephanie — I wanted to share some links that I’ve been collecting over the past few months that may help as we begin to think about the next consolidated election cycle. Staying engaged and identifying good local candidates is going to be crucial the next year and a half.
We should also be closely monitoring our elected officials who are currently holding office (this is where using those power mapping skills can really come in handy). Local State Reps Andrew Chesney and John Cabello have been busy since before the consolidated election with stoking their base with unverifiable claims and using the same rhetoric and talking points that we see on the national stage within our local communities. Just a couple of months ago they attended a board meeting at a school local to us in Rockford to complain about things that aren’t even on the agenda or actually happening.
And we know that hate groups like Awake Illinois have taken similar approaches both in the past and more recently — see the recent Valley View School District board meeting. People are feeling empowered to speak up through public comment — perhaps hoping they will be filmed and get a clip worthy of sharing online. In some of the webinars I’ve linked below, you’ll see that clipping a good public comment is a strategy library advocates can also employ. If these organized groups and state and local leaders are going to continue to show up to board meetings to spread misinformation and wreak havoc, we need to get equally as organized and show up for each other and our communities.
Resources to get empowered & organized
For the People - So much good info and data about libraries, library boards, elections, how to run for boards, etc. Sign up for their monthly newsletter on Substack.
Upswing Research Counter Disinformation Training Summary - Summary of training hosted by Red Wine and Blue — tactics for fighting back against false information spreading in your community.
Illinois Sunshine - track money in state politics.
Webinars
Red Wine and Blue Troublemaker Training: “How to Fight Book Bans and Stand Up for Public Education”
Red Wine and Blue Troublemaker Training: “How to Amplify Your Message”
**I’m a HUGE fan of Red Wine & Blue — if you’re interested in seeing more from them, check out their YouTube channel here.
Library Freedom Project: Intellectual Freedom in Crisis Times (We’ve linked this one before)
Misc. additional resources
The Political Librarian Journal, 2025 Special Issue - The latest edition of this journal features articles on topics relevant to all of us in this current climate.
Library Journal’s Roundup: Library Funding and Trump’s Executive Order (Press Reports) - Keep up with the latest library cuts across the states. Links to news articles broken down by state (nothing in IL of concern noted on here).
Kelly Jensen’s Well Sourced Newsletter - If you followed Kelly on Substack and haven’t signed up for her new newsletter on Buttondown, be sure to do so! Kelly tracks issues all over the nation, but is somewhat local to us and covers a lot of areas as well.
Data Rescue Project - This may be more within my niche, but supporting those who need accurate and reliable government information - statistics, reports, etc. is critical when information from previous administrations is disappearing. The Data Rescue Project is doing what it can to preserve and archive this information.
If you’ve got a resource that you’d like to share, please feel free to reach out anytime to lirerockford@gmail.com. I’ll keep collecting links and resources and share them out periodically.