Diversity, Social Justice, and the Future of Libraries

Morales, Myrna E.; Knowles, Em Claire; Bourg, Chris

doi:10.1353/pla.2014.0017

Cited by 86 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…"Neutrality is just being what the system asks us to be" (Horton and Freire 1990, p.102) Libraries are not, and have never been, socially or politically neutral institutions (Jaeger and Fleishmann 2007;Jensen 2004). As community anchors (Morales et al, 2014), libraries (and librarians) actively influence their communities, and are constantly making choices that shape informed citizenship through public access to information. A large portion of Library and Information science (LIS) research and practice focus on deconstructing past information behavior in order to inform construction of new information spaces and systems.…”

Section: The Fallacy Of Neutralitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Libraries on the frontlines: neutrality and social justice

Gibson¹,

Chancellor²,

Cooke³

et al. 2017

EDI

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Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to examine libraries' responsibility to engage with and support communities of color as they challenge systemic racism, engage in the political process, and exercise their right to free speech. Many libraries have ignored the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, citing the need to maintain neutrality. Despite extensive scholarship questioning the validity of this concept, the framing of library neutrality as nonpartisanship continues. This paper examines librarianship's engagement with, and disengagement from black communities through the lens of the BLM movement. It also explores the implications of education, engagement, and activism for people of color and libraries today.Design/methodology/approach. The authors have engaged the topic from a critical race perspective as a practice in exercising voice -telling stories, presenting counter stories, and practicing advocacy (Ladson-Billings, 1998).Findings. The assertion that libraries have been socially and politically neutral organizations is ahistorical. When libraries decide not to address issues relevant to people of color, they are not embodying neutrality; they are actively electing not to support the information and service needs of a service population. In order for libraries to live up to their core values, they must engage actively with communities, especially when those communities are in crisis.Originality/value. As a service field, librarianship has an ethos, values, and history that parallel those of many other service fields. This paper has implications for developing understanding of questions about equitable service provision.Published version can be found in Equality,

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Section: The Fallacy Of Neutralitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Libraries on the frontlines: neutrality and social justice

Gibson¹,

Chancellor²,

Cooke³

et al. 2017

EDI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It centres and is guided by the experiential knowledge of those whose lives are impacted by every day and systemic experiences of oppression and injustice (Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995) The interdisciplinary nature of the CRT framework is particularly useful because analyses that centre the experience of racialized groups are sparse in Canadian LIS literature. LIS has historically centred measures to address racism through principles of neutrality and fostering diversity in hiring, program delivery, and spaces, including collections (Galvan, 2015;Hankins and Juárez, 2015;Morales, Knowles and Bourg, 2014). However, these responses are largely inadequate because they do not address the core issues of racial inequality; namely, in what ways are dominant ideologies the organizing structure?…”

Section: Critical Theory Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racialized youth in the public library: Systemic racism through a critical theory lens

Matthews

2020

Partnership

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Public libraries are on the frontline of serving underprivileged groups like racialized youth and help them to mitigate social inequities that manifest in negative outcomes like education gaps, underemployment and access to safe and affordable housing. Although racialized youth account for half of the youth population in Canadian cities like Toronto, their experience in public libraries is an unstudied area of Canadian LIS scholarly and professional research. Existing research approaches youth as a homogenous group in terms of age and biological stages and does not account for race, class, and urbanism. However, racialized youth face different challenges in which race and systemic racism are a facet of everyday life. This work aims to reverse racial neutrality in public libraries by demonstrating how ambivalence about race perpetuates systemic inequalities and the disengagement of racialized youth. It draws on interdisciplinary research to show how the race-blind approach is not reflective of the needs of communities being served. Using a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework, it shows that public libraries can implement processes to gather race-specific data under the recently-implemented Anti-Racism Act (2017). This will provide a contextual understanding of the racial make-up of users and provide a valuable frame of reference to support efforts to build stronger and more effective relationships.

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“…Others within the library profession have also advanced social justice initiatives, working to increase our critical self-awareness and political consciousness (Morales, Knowles, & Bourge, 2014;Brook, Ellenwood, & Lazzaro, 2015;Baildon, 2017;Hathcock, 2015). A variety of subdisciplines are also working to advance justice and decolonization, including critical information literacy (Saunders, 2017;Hathcock, 2017;Tewell, 2017; radical cataloging (Drabinski, 2013;Billey, Drabinski & Roberto, 2014;Dudley, 2017;Farnel et al, 2017), and activist and community-based archives (Caswell, 2017;Drake, 2017;Joseph, Crowe, & Mackey, 2017;Rolan, 2017; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, n.d.), and user experience (Harihareswara, 2015).…”

Section: Seeking Justice Through Participatory Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a More Just Library: Participatory Design with Native American Students

Young¹,

Brownotter²

2018

Preprint

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This article provides a brief history of Participatory Design and an overview of its principles, followed by a discussion of Participatory Design as an apt methodology for building a more justice-oriented library. To illustrate the practice of Participatory Design, the article includes an in-depth description of a Participatory Design case study in which Native American students and a librarian co-created a new community outreach tool for a library at mid-sized public research university. The article concludes with recommendations for library practitioners who wish to implement Participatory Design practices with Indigenous communities.2

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Diversity, Social Justice, and the Future of Libraries

Cited by 86 publications

References 7 publications

Libraries on the frontlines: neutrality and social justice

Libraries on the frontlines: neutrality and social justice

Racialized youth in the public library: Systemic racism through a critical theory lens

Toward a More Just Library: Participatory Design with Native American Students

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