Terry Parris Jr.
Currently a JSK Fellow at Stanford riding my bike. I'm also founder of the Library Newsroom Project. I'm also a teacher and librarian. Fmr: Public Square Editor at Headway, New York Times; Deputy Editor at ProPublica; Engagement Director at THE CITY; WDET.
- Also the weekend I fell in love with Milwaukee!
- Simply the best gang back together again in Milwaukee. @terryparrisjr.bsky.social and I and our two highly accomplished and brilliant former students Kynala and Allison, both of whom are not only still working in journalism but are doing innovative and important work and even leading other people.
- The Library Newsroom Project got some Japanese press! It was so cool to sit down with these folks and chat about libraries and newsrooms and how they are the same and different in our respective countries.
- 図書館を「ニュース編集室」に。市民が執筆を学び、地元の信頼関係を築きなおすNY発の月刊誌║IDEAS FOR GOOD ideasforgood.jp/2026/01/07/library-…
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr."In a sequel to her influential 'Library as Infrastructure', contributing writer Shannon Mattern delves into the organizing force of libraries at a time when public knowledge is under attack." placesjournal.org/article/extr... @shannonmattern.bsky.social
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Library newsroom? I like it.
- "In a sequel to her influential 'Library as Infrastructure', contributing writer Shannon Mattern delves into the organizing force of libraries at a time when public knowledge is under attack." placesjournal.org/article/extr... @shannonmattern.bsky.social
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr."As this model shows its limits, 2026 will push us back toward the physical and tangible in the spaces we work, the ways we engage, and the products we create." www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour... by @terryparrisjr.bsky.social
- This is my preferred future.
- "As the demand for content intensified, something important slipped away with it. I’ll simply call it the act of being there." www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr."The library is not meant to be a node in the just-in-time-economy that puts a rights-restricted copy of 'Abundance' in our AirPods. It’s meant to be an accessible portal to our government, the place we go to access shared knowledge and to make meaning with others." — @shannonmattern.bsky.social
- Part 2 of my Library Newsroom series is out. It starts in 2019, when I launched the Open Newsroom in Brooklyn libraries and tried a simple idea: put journalism where trust already lives. Libraries. I wrote about what we did and how it changed me.
- I used to spend a lot of time thinking about how to rebuild trust in journalism. Open Newsroom, a pandemic, and the library showed me I didn’t need to rebuild it at all. I just needed to move the newsroom to where trust already lives. jskfellows.stanford.edu/journalism-w...
- We held dozens of sessions across 3 branches, then online. We asked neighbors what is good, what is hard, who they talk to about it. We turned those conversations into service: rent relief explainers, unemployment guides, election info. Clear, steady help. jskfellows.stanford.edu/journalism-w...
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View full threadIf you missed Part 1, that’s the big pitch: open 16K newsrooms in U.S. libraries. Put reporting inside the buildings where people already gather, learn, and build relationships. I’ve been testing it in Brooklyn. Email me if you want to learn more: terry@librarynewsroom.org
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Stories from our blocks & hallways don’t always meet an editor’s definition of news. Yet information still moves through stoops, bakeries, bodegas, parks, church basements. We turn those exchanges into a shared public record, a place where neighbors make sense of things together
- My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works. We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously. medium.com/jsk-class-of...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Newsrooms in public libraries. I LOVE IT. 📚
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr."There is no Substack or interactive website... We want people to hold it, touch it + seek it out... That physicality gives the work its value, adding presence to information, relationships + the neighborhood itself. This is active engagement with your neighborhood + your neighbors."
- Each month, we meet in person and make something you can hold. It is printed and shared. It is slow by design. The main complaint is: “I can’t find the Sunset Park Sun.” I tell people to go to the library and ask for it. Walk the neighborhood; it's there. Finding it is, in a way, finding each other
- My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works. We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously. medium.com/jsk-class-of...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.A promising approach!
- My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works. We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously. medium.com/jsk-class-of...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.this is the way.
- My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works. We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously. medium.com/jsk-class-of...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.i love this idea so much
- My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works. We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously. medium.com/jsk-class-of...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.I love this idea so much
- What if we thought of journalism as community service? @terryparrisjr.bsky.social is doing exactly that with his project to set up journalism practices in local libraries. This is exactly the experimentation we need to increase civic information and public accountability.
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.What if we thought of journalism as community service? @terryparrisjr.bsky.social is doing exactly that with his project to set up journalism practices in local libraries. This is exactly the experimentation we need to increase civic information and public accountability.
- My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works. We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously. medium.com/jsk-class-of...
- My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works. We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously. medium.com/jsk-class-of...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.As a librarian working in a newsroom, this is super cool!
- Love the Library Newsroom Project by my old partner in journalism crime @terryparrisjr.bsky.social www.librarynewsroom.com This is the way.
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Love the Library Newsroom Project by my old partner in journalism crime @terryparrisjr.bsky.social www.librarynewsroom.com This is the way.
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Libraries are the best, and I love projects that get them and more community members involved in reporting and sharing the news that people need most. Proud my students in the engagement journalism program at CUNY helped plant the sees for the Sunset Park Sun!
- Exciting to see our work in the lead image!
- In attacking libraries, Donald Trump is waging a war on public knowledge. Such pressures make the core mission of libraries harder, yet rather than retreat, libraries can push outward, enlarging the commons through new configurations of civic and creative life. From @shannonmattern.bsky.social:
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.The anger and despair can feel all-consuming, but I'm hoping that this can be a source of encouragement — a reminder that we can support and defend these local institutions and their broader networks of solidarity
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr."But we also lend ourselves to the library — committing our attention, our time, our presence at board meetings, our tax dollars and donations — enlarging the commons and participating in the political project of making an informed society." 💕
- Honored that the Library Newsroom, and the work we're doing in Sunset Park and beyond, was featured in such an important piece of work. Thank you @shannonmattern.bsky.social!
- YOu can also read a little more about it in this @libraryfutures.bsky.social report: www.libraryfutures.net/post/visions... So honored to be part of this conversation.
- Here’s a nicely reported piece from Ellie Brown about how public libraries are under growing political and financial threat—especially under the 2nd Trump admin—but remain essential, deeply trusted community institutions. She also highlights the Library Newsroom Project! medium.com/advanced-rep...
- “Generally speaking, across America, we struggle to connect. The library newsroom is attempting to be a place where we can foster this connection, foster these conversations, and help solve the social, cultural and informational gaps in our neighborhood.” www.librarynewsroom.com
- …and speaking of, June’s issue is out—made by neighbors, for neighbors! Our lead story comes from Judith C., who wanted to know: When will Sunset Park Rec Center be done? She called, emailed, checked city data, and got it. Grab a copy of the Sunset Park Sun at the library. That’s civic engagement!
- "Blanche has no experience working in libraries or archives, according to his public profile. Now he will be running the largest one in the world." Experience: No record on file www.npr.org/2025/05/12/n...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Gun violence is preventable. Journalists can make a difference. The Survivor Connection is a new service intended to help those reporting on gun violence take a more informed approach by centering the survivor community.
- Just finished my MLIS at Pratt (on May 20). I’m officially a librarian now (!). Didn’t expect the Open Newsroom I launched in 2019 would lead here: LIS theory, oral history, youth civic work, neighborhood bulletins—even some urban planning. Grateful for the ideas, approaches & people I met.
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Streetsblog's social media team, led by Engagement Editor Emily Lipstein, received the Deadline Club's award for digital video reporting on Thursday night! buff.ly/IG9d2qD
- Three things: 1. Excited to spend time thinking about how journalism and libraries can come together in deeper ways (beyond just tabling). 2. IMO this is especially timely, given the threats facing both journalism and libraries. 3. I really need a new headshot. So grateful for this opportunity!
- Meet Terry Parris Jr., Public Square editor at Headway, a longform journalism initiative from The New York Times. He has also launched several journalism projects, including MISSING THEM, ProPublica’s first engagement team, and the Library Newsroom Project. Welcome to JSK, Terry! buff.ly/Y0dhqDv
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.lol. she thinks it's a town lending library?
- We had another fun — and productive — evening in Sunset Park! We talked assignments, field guides, design, reporting. We laughed, ate dinner, and planned June’s issue. More to come. Thanks for swinging by, @shannonmattern.bsky.social!
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.What do these 16 journalists working on some of the biggest issues in media have in common? They’re all part of the 2026 JSK Journalism Fellowship. 👏👏 Please help us welcome them to Stanford! buff.ly/8efUD6V
- I'm so grateful and so excited and can't wait to meet everyone! More to come, and more to say about what I’ll be thinking about over the next year. But yes, it will involve libraries, something I’ve been thinking about for the last *five* years. jsk.stanford.edu/news/jsk-nam...
- I have this dream of creating a puppet show based on our community district needs assessment reports here in NYC. Maybe this summer in Sunset Park? We need more puppet-forward journalism. shelterforce.org/2025/04/29/a...
- Public space matters. In East Harlem, safe and welcoming places like community centers played a role in reducing violence. "Experts say the community centers and resident cooperation are just as crucial in driving down shootings as law enforcement is." gothamist.com/news/how-com...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.NEW from PP: This 25-year-old DOGEr fire most of the CFPB -- including its ethics team. And he owns stocks likely to benefit from the agency's demise. www.propublica.org/article/doge... By Jake Pearson
- A bit while ago, I found a '70s press release in the La Guardia & Wagner Archives—the official NYCHA archive—announcing winners of a tenant-led newsletter contest. I’ve been researching physical, community-led newsletters ever since. So this was awesome to read: www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2025/04...
- I started reading @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social a few years ago in my teen engagement class at @pratt.edu. Has been required reading since. www.afterbabel.com/p/school-pol...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Noticed a bunch of these ornate gold medallions slapped all over the Oval Office. We found em on Alibaba. “High-density Home Decoration Polyurethane Appliques Ornament PU Foam Veneer Accessories” from seller Guangzhou Homemax Decorative Material Limited. sherwood.news/power/shop-t...
- If you want to talk about the journalism pipeline, it starts here. If you want to talk about how journalism can rebuild relationships with community, it starts here too. I’ve been lucky to work with Press Pass NYC on a few things, and I deeply respect the work they do. www.cjr.org/feature-2/st...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Further dismantling of our public institutions.
- The author disabled quotes.Just got word from my college roommate - who is the state archivist for the state of South Dakota - that due to the DOGE shutdowns of IMLS, they can no longer fund InterLibrary Loan in SD. This means exchange between libraries, ability to get books delivered across the system, is gone as of 4/30.
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.People are running around looking for compost bags...Some scientists have bought their own soap and cleaning supplies. A snapshot of the chaos at one NOAA lab as contracts for basic services expire. My latest: www.propublica.org/article/noaa...
- 2025 Deadline Club scholarship apps are open for undergrad & grad J students in the NYC area. Due April 28. Award is $2,500! I'm VP (Student Affairs) for the Deadline Club, NYC’s SPJ chapter, & helping run the program. Help spread the word. DM w/ Qs. Details: www.deadlineclub.org/2025-scholar...
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Philadelphia journalists are invited to access this directory of local community experts who feel willing and prepared to share their stories. survivorconnection.org
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Lesson 5: Community. The best defense against authoritarianism is solidarity. People who stick together cannot as easily be oppressed. “They want us to be so afraid. The only way to counter fear is with joy,” @keyachatterjee.bsky.social told us.
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.Interesting. www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
- All roads lead to building community.
- Courage is contagious. But how do we catch it? For months, @amifieldsmeyer.bsky.social and I have been asking dissidents and activists from around the world how we can topple authoritarianism. We assembled their lessons into a field guide to courage. www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
- Headed to the Next Library Festival in Aarhus? Come say hi! I’m leading a session on how libraries can build social capital through storytelling, conversation & play. It’s part of the Library Newsroom Project—an experiment in co-creating news w/ community members, rooted in places ppl trust.
- A tiny bit more here about the project: www.librarynewsroom.com
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.One sign that we are living under an authoritarian regime is that a lot of people are acting like they are living under an authoritarian regime.
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.“Librarians are speaking out about what communities could lose, including internet access and workforce development in Kentucky, the Talking Book and Braille Center in New Jersey, digital hotspots in North Carolina, and much more” @rainesford.bsky.social
- Reposted by Terry Parris Jr.This is the literal destruction of knowledge. Mississippi libraries are being ordered to remove academic research on race and gender from library databases. mississippitoday.org/2025/04/08/m...
