Bias And Whiteness In Public Services, Annie Bélanger

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Race and gender bias intersect in particularly crucial way in Libraries as we experience them today with their roots in Victorian virtuous womanhood and an associated service ethic that requires library colleagues to prioritize user satisfaction even if at the cost of staff wellbeing, and at times, safety. This reality has led to an intertwining of identity, worth, and service ethic that is exacerbated through late stage capitalism that rewards business over impact and asks of us to want more.

On this basis, libraries have been ripe for critical review of our practices. As critical librarianship continues to grow, two …

Copyright And Racism, Kimber Thomas

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Slides on copyright and racism by Dr. Kimber Thomas with an emphasis on United States copyright.

Includes points related to the origin of United States copyright law, original authorship and tangibility requirements, creation of works via oral or visual tradition and knowledge, the useful articles exclusion, and works made for hire.

About Private Tommie D. Smith Guy, Wac, Reinette F. Jones

Library Presentations

Tommie D. Smith [Guy], from Lexington, KY, was one of the three African American WACs who were beaten by the local police and charged with disorderly conduct for sitting in the white waiting area of the bus station in Elizabethtown, KY. The three WACs were with the 1550th Service Command Unit, WAC Section II. The three women were eventually found not guilty of any charges.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words- Why Creating A Plan, Rejecting Neutrality, And Recruiting A Racially Diverse Staff Are Effective Ways To Increase The Presence Of Diversity In Libraries., Jennifer Van Vegten

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The urge to diversify workplaces has spread nationwide. Although many institutions feel that formal statements and pledges are enough to satisfy the public outcry, actions such as setting up a direct plan to address the rejection of neutrality, to expand the access of materials, and actively hiring and promoting a racially diverse staff are less often seen. In America’s libraries in particular, good-natured sentiments about how a modern, socially diverse library should look are met with half-hearted efforts. While some libraries, such as the Oregon Library Association, are making significant strides towards their intended directions, others, such as the Rural …

Incorporating Race-Centered And Trauma-Informed Practices Into The Reference Interview, Nicole N. Williams, Emma Antobam-Ntekudzi

Publications and Research

Libraries are not race-neutral spaces; from an equity standpoint, treating all students the same does not assist those who may begin at a deficit, such as those from historically underrepresented groups. As supporters of the student body, academic librarians are charged with responding appropriately to their student body in a changing world. Librarians can make a concerted effort not to allow stereotypes and biases to dictate how we interact with students and other library visitors during the reference interview. This begins with taking a critical look at the components of reference service and outlining frameworks and practices that can allow …

University Libraries Faculty Assembly - Racism Impact Statement & Dean's Response, Maya Hobscheid, Samantha Minnis, Annie Bélanger

Library Reports and Communication

Racism and white supremacy culture have a profound impact on nonwhite faculty in higher education and throughout the tenure and promotion process. This document is intended to acknowledge the impact of racism on the tenure and promotion process in general as well as in our specific context of Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries. It is not intended to be comprehensive of everyone’s lived experiences or of the effects of racism on all.

The Zimmerman Library Mural In The National Register Of Historic Places: A Working Paper And Timeline, Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Working paper and timeline about the nomination and listing process of the UNM Zimmerman Library “Three Peoples” paintings to the National Register of Historic Places.

Transformative Education As The Key To Dismantling Racism: How Colleges And Universities Are The Path To An Equitable Future, Rachel Whitt

Black History at UNM

Jamal Martin, professor of Africana Studies at The University of New Mexico, proposes critical thinking in education and the scholarship of teaching and learning are the keys to unlocking racism in our country and around the world. This article is part of Racism: An Educational Series produced by the UNM Newsroom.

Addressing New Forms Of Racism Part Ii: Preventing Microaggressions, Victoria Peña-Parr

Black History at UNM

Sonia Gipson Rankin, Assistant Professor at The University of New Mexico’s School of Law, offers advice on preventing and handling microagressions. This article is the second of two parts. The first article: Addressing New Forms of Racism: Part I: Defining Microagressions, can be found in The Black Lives Matter Collection. Both articles are a part of Racism: An Educational Series, produced by the UNM Newsroom.

Addressing New Forms Of Racism Part I: Defining Microaggressions, Victoria Peña-Parr

Black History at UNM

Sonia Gipson Rankin, Assistant Professor at The University of New Mexico’s School of Law, defines microagressions, explains how they are normalized in society, and their impact on individuals. This article is the first of two.The second article: Addressing New Forms of Racism Part II: Preventing Microagressions, can be found in the Black Lives Matter Collection. Both articles are a part of the Racism: An Educational Series, produced by the UNM Newsroom.

Black Faculty Alliance Statement On The Criminal Act Of Anti-Black Racist Terrorism Against Dr. Charles Becknell, Jr. And The Program Of Africana Studies, Black Faculty Alliance Unm

Black History at UNM

Public statement from the University of New Mexico Black Faculty Alliance (BFA) condemning the criminal act of domestic anti-Black terrorism that includes the threat of a lynching directed toward Dr. Charles Becknell, Jr. and his family. Dr. Becknell, Jr. is the Director of the Africana Studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Mexico. Among their suggested actions, the BFA calls for "the creation of a task force to develop a survivor-focused approach for an emergency response to hate-based threats against UNM Black faculty and a truth-telling commission to document systems and behaviors that …

Unm Staff Council: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee Letter Condemning Racist Threats Against Faculty Member, Unm Staff Council

Black History at UNM

Open letter by UNM Staff Council Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, condemning racist attacks on a UNM faculty member with 439 signatories.

Beyond Thoughts And Prayers: Understanding Mass Violence Through An Investigation Of Masculinity In The White Nationalist Movement, Paige Chun Lai Toop

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

Mass violence is a growing concern in the United States. In August 2019, two mass shootings occurred less than 24 hours apart, but far too often these incidents are lost in the waves of hashtags, tweets, and posts offering thoughts and prayers, but such attention rarely results in action. I hypothesize that the current conceptualization and enforcement of masculinity breeds resentment and frustration toward women and when taken to the extreme results in violence. Based on data collected on Stormfront.org, the first major hate website, three archetypes were created, the New Victim, the Critic, and the Traditionalist. Each engages with …

Race And Racism In Collection Development: Socialization, Implicit Bias And Decision Making, And Why It's Important For Youth Collections To Include Books With Diverse Characters, Lisa A. Gooden

Presentations and Speeches

A professional development presentation designed for librarians responsible for collection development in the area of children's and young adult literature. Includes a discussion on race in the publishing industry and library profession, implicit bias and the impacts on collection development, and practical advice for building and maintaining a diverse collection of books for youth. This presentation was created for the Mid-America Library Alliance Spring 2019 Workshop: Diversity in Children’s Literature and Programming.

We’Ve Come A Long Way (Baby)! Or Have We? Evolving Intellectual Freedom Issues In The Us And Florida, L. Bryan Cooper, A.D. Beman-Cavallaro

Works of the FIU Libraries

This paper analyzes a shifting landscape of intellectual freedom (IF) in and outside Florida for children, adolescents, teens and adults. National ideals stand in tension with local and state developments, as new threats are visible in historical, legal, and technological context. Examples include doctrinal shifts, legislative bills, electronic surveillance and recent attempts to censor books, classroom texts, and reading lists.

Privacy rights for minors in Florida are increasingly unstable. New assertions of parental rights are part of a larger conservative animus. Proponents of IF can identify a lessening of ideals and standards that began after doctrinal fruition in the 1960s …

Working Towards A Racially Inclusive Studio, Dee Payton, Justine Dombrowski, Tian Qing Yen

Undergraduate Studio Assistant Research

Writing Centers and Studios have the potential to be more than just an inclusive space—they can be spaces that actively foster advocacy and racial justice. This module examines how racial inequality manifests on a systemic and interpersonal level within learning spaces. Interactive scenarios examine and challenge what race, racism, and microaggressions mean in the context of learning spaces, and promote reflection on inclusive practices in peer tutoring.

On Structures And Self-Work: Locating Anti-Racist Politics In Lis, David James Hudson, Gina Schlesselman-Tarango

Library Faculty Publications & Presentations

The tension between the individual and the structural continues to be a key issue in racial politics. This tension has marked recent discussions on the dog-whistle demagoguery of Donald Trump, the racialization of violence through Thug/Loner/Terrorist media narratives, the accountability of police brutality perpetrators, and beyond. The degree to which racialized power and difference are understood to represent individual phenomena and/or structural phenomena — and the anti-racist implications of such critical understandings — have long been sites of contention in anti-racist discourse. As Goldberg (1993) has demonstrated, the liberal racial politics that has dominated anti-racist thought has tended to locate …

Commercial Content Moderation: Digital Laborers' Dirty Work, Sarah T. Roberts

Media Studies Publications

In this chapter from the forthcoming Intersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Class and Culture Online (Noble and Tynes, Eds., 2016), I introduce both the concept of commercial content moderation (CCM) work and workers, as well as the ways in which this unseen work affects how users experience the Internet of social media and user-generated content (UGC). I tie it to issues of race and gender by describing specific cases of viral videos that transgressed norms and by providing examples from my interviews with CCM workers. The interventions of CCM workers on behalf of the platforms for which they labor directly contradict …

Empowered To Name, Inspired To Act: Social Responsibility And Diversity As Calls To Action In The Lis Context, Sarah T. Roberts, Safiya Umoja Noble

FIMS Publications

Social responsibility and diversity are two principle tenets of the field of library and information science (LIS), as defined by the American Library Association’s Core Values of Librarianship document, yet often remain on the margins of LIS education, leading to limited student engagement with these concepts and to limited faculty modeling of socially responsible interventions. In this paper, we take up the need to increase the role of both in articulating the values of diversity and social responsibility in LIS education, and argue the field should broaden to put LIS students and faculty in dialog with contemporary social issues of …