Library and Information Science Commons^™

Accessibility And Academic Libraries: A Comparative Case Study, Claire Burrows

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Although individuals with disabilities represent more than 22% of the Canadian population over the age of 15, they remain underrepresented in higher education, and especially in the university setting. Although some library and information science (LIS) research has focused on creating accessible webpages, resources for individuals with print disabilities, and the physical infrastructure of libraries, few studies have included the perspectives of disabled individuals themselves or attempted to understand how libraries are conceptualizing disability and accessibility. By incorporating a disability-studies lens into this study, we can develop a more comprehensive understanding of the obstacles that arise in the pursuit of …

Academic Librarians And The Space/Time Of Information Literacy, The Neoliberal University, And The Global Knowledge Economy, Karen P. Nicholson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This qualitative research study explores how academic librarians working in Canadian public research-intensive universities experience the space/time of information literacy, the neoliberal university, and the knowledge economy. Information literacy lies at the intersection of higher education and the knowledge economy: it became a priority for librarians in Anglo-American countries in the 1980s in the context of neoliberal educational reforms intended to better prepare skilled workers for the “information society” (Behrens, 1994; Birdsall, 1994).

The shift from Fordist modes of production to flexible accumulation, characterized by the expansion of capital into new markets, flexible workers, and just-in-time inventories, made possible by …