A reflexive lens: Critical librarianship at UAL

Abstract

This article presents an insider view of engagement with critical librarianship in a higher education and arts library context. The gains from this engagement include a stronger voice in institutional dialogue and collaboration, and the development of exploratory practices in collection development and information literacy that are increasingly informed by critical perspectives.Our experiences and examples of emerging practise highlight some of the complexities and ambiguities of critical librarianship, around novelty, compliance, institutionalisation, and the challenge of how we convert these theoretical insights into the power structures at play in libraries and archives into meaningful changes for the benefit of all of our students.Ultimately the conclusion is that if we recognise these power structures, and the particular role of the library in knowledge production, consumption and validation, we must take critically informed action.

A holistic decolonial lens for library and information studies

“…The biased nature of collections and exclusion of certain types of knowledge is undeniable but to a large extent the weaknesses in collections reflect biases in the research of academic disciplines for whom they have been collected. Collection development policies can be rethought (Wilson, 2022) and collections be recontextualised as themselves not neutral but as outcomes of colonialism and coloniality (Crilly, 2019b). How items are classified and the language used in descriptions are being reconsidered (Cambridge University Decolonising Through Critical Librarianship Group, 2022).…”

“…Collection development policies can be rethought (Wilson, 2022) and collections be recontextualised as themselves not neutral but as outcomes of colonialism and coloniality (Crilly, 2019b). How items are classified and the language used in descriptions are being reconsidered (Cambridge University Decolonising Through Critical Librarianship Group, 2022).…”

Health information equity: Rebalancing healthcare collections for racial diversity in UK public service contexts

“…While addressing granular instances of systemic racism, such as underrepresentation in resources, is necessary and urgent, it is important that such instances are contextualised as indicative of the whole; embedded in wider structural inequity (Crilly, 2019). UK health bodies and institutions communicate intent to address health disparities through statements and policies (NHS England, 2015;PHE, 2018;Robertson et al, 2021, HEE, no date).…”