Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Public Information: Barrier Or Bridge?, Marie E. Eiriksson

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

A visit to a public space like a library is a journey through different professional spheres and domains. Your success might be defined by both the cityscape, the public transport system, the building itself as well as the staff and services offered at the library. All areas that are formed and described in different ways by public or private actors. Each step of the way may or may not be accessible and knowing how to avoid the gaps might mean the difference between success or failure.

For persons with disabilities, the access to useful and reliable information can be defining …

Managing Without Capitalism: Transforming Library Leadership In Service Of Anti-Racism, Inclusion, And Equity, Heather Slania

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Library leaders at all levels are grappling with addressing institutional racism. Despite years of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) interventions and a recognition of the overwhelming whiteness of libraries, the profession is not a better or safer place for library workers of color, people from other marginalized communities, or anyone who has had to endure the normalized toxic library work environment.

Leaders are stuck and previous interventions have failed primarily due to two factors:

• Modern libraries (and the institutions that hold them) were constructed as tools of white supremacy.

• Library leadership and management concepts/practices are rooted in capitalism.

Numerous …

Working For A Better World: The Librarian As A Change Agent, An Activist And A Social Entrepreneur, Mia H. Mathiasson, Henrik Jochumsen

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

For many years, the social role of librarians has been a topic of heated debates, both within the library field and within library research. Such debates have traditionally been about questions of neutrality and the professional identity in librarianship. Recently, visions of librarians as radical positive change agents (Lankes 2016) have influenced and shaped this debate, raising new questions about neutrality or “post-neutrality”, professional agency and personal and political ideologies. However, what does it mean to be a radical positive change agent? To expand our understanding of the librarian as a radical positive change agent, this paper introduces the concepts …

Never Waste A Crisis: Digital Inclusion For Sustainable Development In The Context Of The Covid Pandemic, Amanda Reed, Kim M. Thompson

Faculty Publications

In responding to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in 2030, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions recently launched the mutual commitment of Library Pledge for Digital Inclusion and its Call to Action along with other international organizations. Domestic and foreign library leaders and well-known experts and scholars discuss the theme of Library and Digital Inclusion. Rao Quan points out that with the development of modern technology, the digital divide has become a growing problem. The National Library of China has put forward an idea of building a “National Smart Library System”, to lead public libraries to realize smart …