Facilitate events and teach-ins at library branches that cover organizing the work place.

Provide historical literature on the history of worker’s struggles.

Provide information on institutional resources people can tap into at the local level to assist them (housing, food scarcity, etc.)

Provide information on housing and tenants’ rights for people in the community, including strategies for avoiding eviction and improving their living conditions.

>A Strongly Anti-Racist, Equitable Library

Educational resources about systemic racism and discrimination, in particular materials that explain the history of systemic racism in the Kalamazoo area.

Continuous library programming and teach-ins on the historical relationship between race and class in the United States and general anti-racist training.

Strengthen protections for library workers from discrimination based on race, sex, gender identity, disability, and other factors.

Educational resources about the history of LGBTQIA peoples and organizing, and sex-positive educational resources that is inclusive of those identities.

>A Library Controlled Through Direct Democracy

Exploring how the existing union can be supported and looking at co-operative workplace models for better democratic decision making.

Looking at workplace models that encourage direct democratic selection of supervisory staff.

Ensuring staff benefits and wages are adequate and permanently indexed to the cost of living.*

*For more specific platform points and proposals on Worker’s Rights for library workers, consult the following link from my 2019 City Commission platform:

My Platform

>A Welcoming Library

Embracing libraries (in the post-COVID era) as a communal space that people in our community can congregate without spending money and providing increased free community programming.

Waiving fees for renting library rooms to non-profit organizations and community organizing groups.

Providing additional educational resources to students- particularly low-income students- including access to high-speed internet at the library and home. Looking at emulating food programs in our schools that assist food insecure students.

Acknowledging libraries as spaces of safety for houseless residents and providing them resources- not only institutionally as far as tracking down employment and housing but as a space for further education and community development.

Andy Argo for KPL Trustee Platform Survey

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Why do you want to serve as a KPL library trustee? The Public Library in our society has always been a safe place for people to come together to learn and to engage in civic dialog. In order for there to be equity of access to the quality of life we all want, there must be a commitment to diversity in the library collection, to maintenance of a staff of openness and inclusivity and to assure access to services by all members of the community.

I am running for re-election to the board because I want to lend my experience and broad-based community perspective to the continuing work of the library. The Library, together with members of the community, has recently completed a Strategic Plan to focus its work for the coming years. The Plan affords the opportunity to rethink services in a time when patrons are facing isolation and seek different information and ways of obtaining information. The Library must be a partner in enabling students to learn virtually as well as in the classroom. The Library had already moved to mobile delivery of services which include technology and has partnered to provide hotspots to areas of the community that do not have digital access.

Libraries are being called upon to provide access to social services as well as traditional services of books and data; the public library is a place of equal opportunity in the broadest sense and the commitment to shaping the collections and services to benefit social inclusion and the economic vitality of the community is work that I wish to continue. The work necessarily includes measures that oppose racism but also combat the systemic racism that we find in all of our institutions including the library.

Why do you want to serve as a KPL library trustee? During these times, it is important that we look closely at all of our institutions and public services through an equity lens, to identify where improvements can be made to ensure we are engaging all members of our community and that we are removing barriers to access.

By becoming a board member, I would strive to build on the strengths of all branches of KPL to help the system reach its fullest potential. Our country and our community need us to be well informed and engaged with one another. A library program can help lead the way by providing resources for learning and offering new opportunities for conversation. As a board member, I would seek to connect with other public and private service agencies to help reach this goal. I would work to ensure the system is continuously assessing programming, collections and other related services to provide diverse literacy and educational opportunities. I hope to be part of a collective effort to create the most equitable and engaging library system that serves the needs of Kalamazoo community members from birth through 100+.

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For me, the Kalamazoo Public Library has always been a place of refuge and wonder. As a child I spent numerous Saturdays there, reading books and exploring what used to be the Kalamazoo museum on the second floor.

Through books I learned that there was a big world out there – the books I read made me believe all things are possible, even for a scrawny little brown skinned girl, living in a disenfranchised neighborhood, with only the love and support of my immediate community to ignite my imagination and dreams.

My family has deep roots in Kalamazoo and across decades my family has been invested in our library through working as Librarians, Maintenance workers, and Book Mobile Drivers at the Kalamazoo Public Library.

I was fortunate enough to be employed at the library for ten years. As an employee I gained first- hand knowledge of the library’s many strengths and its areas for continued improvement. I learned how careful book selections and intentional programming has the power to uplift, affirm and inspire all people in our community.

The role of the library has changed since I was a child. It serves our diverse neighborhoods and communities. It serves authors and enrichment programs, it serves the homeless and those with serious medical issues, it serves our youth, our elders, our students…it serves us all.

Why do you want to serve as a KPL Library trustee? I am proud to be endorsed by the Michigan Education Association as well as UpLift Kalamazoo.

I am experienced enough to know that a social justice resolution is more than a promise and more than a hope. It is a call to action. I will actively engage and work with fellow board members, to ensure that our library lives out its social justice resolution as well as the strategic plan, to inspire, engage with the community and advance equity and inclusion.

I believe everyone wins when the library, its services and staff reflect the communities it serves. Qualified representation matters. Diverse voices matter. The Kalamazoo Public Library must evolve with the times yet continue to be a source of refuge and wonder for now and for future generations.

I bring a distinct voice and experience that makes me a vital addition to our Library Board of Trustees. I would be honored to receive your vote November 3rd.

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For example, KPL has posted a social justice resolution on its website. In summary it is a mandate by the Trustee board to challenge and support individuals to see the impact of differences such as race, gender, class, sexual orientation, disabilities on the individual lives and realities of people. In other words, difference is a two-edged sword: it will highlight a problem but difference is also a seed for an opportunity to improve our quality of life.

Going forward, I want to be part of the team that will make a difference in improving the quality of life for you through library services. It is my desire to continue serving you as a trustee board member for the next four years. I have the personal experience of having served as your elected leader for the last four years. I have evidence that we have the capacity to deal with complex issues if we remain open, build trust, recognize and accept the impact of difference and work toward change at the personal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural levels.

Vote for me on November 3 and I promise you that I will continue the work of fulfilling community aspirations: equitable and inclusive, literate and educated, informed and creative.

As a trustee board member I promise to set the tone and lead the charge of painting a crystal clear vision: Leading a stronger community through literacy and innovation.

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