Downtown Minneapolis, so recently the site of mass public action against federal anti-immigrant violence, is hosting the Public Library Association’s biennial conference April 1–3.

Because the year started with such uncertainty and outrage around Operation Metro Surge, PLA organizers were concerned that members might think twice about coming at all to the Minneapolis Convention Center. Yet show up they did: As of the show’s opening day on Wednesday, total registration was strong at 6,359, including 150 PLA scholarship recipients and 404 who chose the virtual conference option. In addition, 286 exhibitor companies and their 1,555 exhibit staffers are at the show.

Injustices, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, remain uninvestigated, and deportations by Immigrant and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol are unresolved. But judging by the response to PLA’s programming, including standing-room-only education sessions, public librarians and library workers are standing firm for the Twin Cities and for integrity.

The first day of the show emphasized the importance of being present in community or, as Just Mercy author and the morning’s keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson said, “the power of proximity.”

PLA president Brandy McNeil, deputy director of branch programs and services at the New York Public Library, opened the show with a call for “equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice.”

As part of McNeil’s welcome, she asked Minnesota library people to “please stand up” to be recognized among the audience of thousands in the convention center auditorium. Hennepin County Commissioner Irene Fernando—the youngest person to serve in her role and the first Filipino American to be elected in Minnesota—gave a land acknowledgment.

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, known for having rejected ICE presence in the city, showed up to greet the gathering too. When McNeil introduced him, the audience rose to their feet. “Librarians of the world, unite!” Frye declared.

Frey, who was reelected to a third term in November, spoke about being a leader over the past months. “Never in a million years would I have thought our federal government would be invading a major American city,” he said, but “in the worst of moments, people of this city, they rose up by the tens of thousands,” providing public services including food distribution.

“When you’re looking for reinforcements, look no further than your public library,” he added, because the 41 Hennepin County libraries and libraries in the wider Twin Cities region stood at the ready to provide mutual aid. Local booksellers, authors, and other industry advocates stepped up too, he said.

American Library Association executive director Dan Montgomery next came to the mic, admitting that Frey was a hard act to follow and saying that the room was packed with “democracy warriors—public librarians are the bedrock, the center, the home of American democracy.” He reminded PLA’s members to come to Chicago, June 25–29, when the full membership of ALA celebrates the organization’s 150th year.

Quoting Walt Whitman, Montgomery said that at PLA, “We together ‘project the history of the future.’”

‘Hopelessness is the enemy of justice’

Stevenson presented a galvanizing talk, echoing the presenters’ suggestions that a better world is within reach, but only if we are “willing to do uncomfortable and inconvenient things” to achieve it.

“When we continue to pretend we don’t understand the history of harm in this country, we don’t get where we want to go,” he said.

Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative as well as the Legacy Sites in Montgomery, Ala., told the PLA audience about his path to Harvard Law School, which in turn led to his providing legal assistance to people on death row. He rooted his talk in the history of enslavement in America and the civil rights movement, providing firsthand anecdotes about the U.S. justice system; he has spent decades advocating for justice-impacted people, including children tried as adults, and he connected his own civic passion to public librarianship.

“I could talk all day about the problems, but I want to talk about solutions,” Stevenson said. “I believe that to make a difference we have to get closer to people who are disenfranchised.” He said that free, public libraries can be “portals that create a more just society,” spaces that provide services and stories for people regardless of identity or income.

With examples of community members who documented lynchings for the Legacy Museum project, Stevenson built toward an ambitious conclusion: he recommended a process of societal repair for the U.S., akin to international truth-and-reconciliation commissions in Germany, Rwanda, Canada, and elsewhere. “We are called, we are commissioned, we are obligated to be truth-tellers,” he concluded.

At the close of Stevenson’s talk, PLA president McNeil came onstage. “Libraries are one of the few institutions that are designed for truth-telling,” she reminded the audience, a powerful message to share in the heart of Minneapolis.

The next PLA will be held in San Francisco, March 13–15, 2028.