Space, story, and solidarity: Designing a Black MLIS student organization amidst crisis and tumult

Abstract

According to LIS research, the U.S. library and information science field reflects more than 135 years of white racialized, monocultural pedagogy. Critical race theory helps us understand why Blacks remain on the margins of the LIS profession. Armed with critical racial knowledge, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association embarked on a three-year project to assert Black culture in a profession that has historically overpowered other ways of knowing. This article chronicles how BCALA leaders gleaned from Black-centered pedagogical traditions, data on Black MLIS students’ needs, and the critical race theory tenet of counterstorytelling to scaffold a national, online Black MLIS student organization that exists autonomously from mainstream U.S. LIS programs.