Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Decolonising The School Library: Embedding Indigenous Authority, Advocacy, And Power In Information And Learning Spaces, Lana Alsabbagh

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

NZ is a country grappling with its history of settler-colonialism. The Ministry of Education considers indigenous Māori students ‘priority learners,’ as historically they have been severely neglected and harmed by the education system. As the school with the largest Maori student population in New Zealand, Manurewa High School is committed to decolonising and indigenizing the school’s curriculum, marking a radical departure from earlier, Western-controlled models of teaching in a collaborative effort to transform the school’s culture and lead to improved outcomes for Māori students. The school as a whole needs to ensure achievement as well as understanding of all its …

Addressing Inaccessibility To Library Services: Perspectives Of Students With Visual Impairment In A Nigerian University, Ngozi Eunice Osadebe

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

The problem of access to library services for students with visual impairment in African countries has been noted by several authors (Ekwelem (2013), Ayoung, Baada & Baayel (2021) and Aubrey & Mapulanga, 2016)). In response to many of the problems people with visual impairment encounter in libraries, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) in 2016 endorsed the Marrakesh treaty and encouraged other libraries to adopt it to minimize the key barriers to access to information experienced by people with visual impairment. In line with this, many academic libraries in Nigeria, notably, Nnamdi Azikiwe Library University of Nigeria, Nsukka modified …

Informational Sustainability In Libraries: Enhancing More Inclusive, Egalitarian And Sustainable Services, Genilson Geraldo, Marli Dias De Souza Pinto

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

For many people, libraries are known as institutions that only promote the safekeeping, conservation and organization of knowledge. However, it is known that libraries have a wide range of services, with the potential for transformation, social change and socialization of knowledge for the community in which it operates. In this context, the question is: how to reverberate the potential of library services to society? How to make the library more inclusive, egalitarian and sustainable? And how can the community be made aware of the importance of the library for the growth, strengthening and transformation of society? In this perspective, this …

Decolonising The School Library: Embedding Indigenous Authority, Advocacy, And Power In Information And Learning Spaces, Lana Alsabbagh

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

NZ is a country grappling with its history of settler-colonialism. The Ministry of Education considers indigenous Māori students ‘priority learners,’ as historically they have been severely neglected and harmed by the education system. As the school with the largest Maori student population in New Zealand, Manurewa High School is committed to decolonising and indigenizing the school’s curriculum, marking a radical departure from earlier, Western-controlled models of teaching in a collaborative effort to transform the school’s culture and lead to improved outcomes for Māori students. The school as a whole needs to ensure achievement as well as understanding of all its …

Supporting Immigrant Information Needs When The Library Is Closed: A Case For Web-Based Newcomer Orientations, Corey J. Allender

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Supporting Immigrant Information Needs When the Library is Closed: A Case for Web-Based Newcomer Orientations

In the United States, immigrant communities have been hit especially hard by the economic, occupational, and social fallout that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. With libraries, government offices, and community centers closed, immigrants were left with far fewer options to satisfy their information needs during their initial adjustment to life in the United States.

In the early states of cultural adjustment, many newcomers face anxiety-inducing barriers that discourage interaction with libraries; as such, they often rely heavily on social networks for information (Wang et al., …

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 …

Third Place Libraries As A Space For Intercultural Participation: A Dynamic Learning Model For Creating Culturally Safe Environments, Marie D. Martel, Bob White

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

One of the main sources for re-conceptualizing the model of libraries, especially public libraries, as third places remains Robert Putnam in Better Together (2005) based on his work in Chicago Public Libraries, which he described as the "New Third Places". But what was new here when Putnam spoke of these "New Third Places"? He was then referring to the new context of diversity, and even super-diversity (Vertovec 2007), characteristic of our current societies. According to Putnam, the library as this "New Third Place" appears as a response to this problem of social distance and unease because it has this capacity …

Fostering Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion By Adopting Universal Design For Learning Principles In Academic Libraries, Stefanie Havelka, Rebecca Arzola

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Academic librarians support the Ethical Code of Conduct and have always embraced students and patrons with various abilities. This paper draws together research on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and showcases practical guidelines for academic library services. Since UDL is such a multifaceted framework, this article will not address all areas academic libraries can adopt it into their work practice. Instead, it will focus on the “traditional triad of public services: access, reference, and instruction.” (Coleman, Mallon, & Lo, 2015, p. 674)

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework explores accessibility, assistive technology, attitudinal barriers, collaboration, equity, and proactively adjusting …

Postdigital Librarianship, Michael Paulus

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic was an apocalyptic event. It was apocalyptic in the popular sense of the word, in that the pandemic was a sudden and global catastrophe. But the pandemic was also apocalyptic in a more literal sense, as an uncovering of deeper realities.[1] The pandemic quickly became an infodemic; it exposed and exacerbated systemic racial, economic, and other inequities; and it revealed the problems and potential of emerging technologies. Before the pandemic, it was already clear to many that it was past time “to reimagine what is possible.”[2] Now, as we emerge from the pandemic, there is …

Libraries As Pluralistic Public Spheres: Acknowledging Conflict To Promote Democratic Discourse, Lisa Engström

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

In library policies and library and information studies Habermas concept of public sphere is often used to highlight the public library as a place promoting democracy and inclusion by enabling interpersonal meetings between people with different lifestyles and background. Libraries are then conceived as accessible to all bridging social, economic, and cultural gaps, and promoting a perception of shared values between users (Aabø et al. 2010). I argue that vulnerable and excluded groups thereby may be hindered to form their own identity and to make their voices heard.

Accessibility and participation are core concepts when analysing libraries democratic potential. However, …

Peer Learning Experience To Grow Public Library Innovation: The Initiative For Young African Library Innovators, Ramune Petuchovaite, Ugne Lipeikaite

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

In 2014/15, we commissioned research into how and why public libraries innovate, and what encourages take-up of innovative practices by public libraries in developing countries. One of the main findings was that peer-to-peer activities are essential for public library innovation. Besides facilitating learning and ideas exchange, they create a platform for mutual support, when initiating a new service. Library visits, in which librarians can see innovative services 'in situ', and events like workshops and other training, and conferences, where they mingle and exchange practical experiences, and work together on projects, are effective channels for inspiring innovation (Femenía, A. M. G., …

Minimizing Harm While Maximizing Engagement: Using Identity Affinity Groups To Engage With Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Topics In Lis Courses, Sarah De La Rosa, Aaron Elkins, Tulip Majumdar, Vikki Orepitan, Rachel Simons, Andrew Vierkant

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

While diversity in the LIS field has made some progress during the last two decades (Kung et al., 2020), the whiteness of the discipline remains a problem (Brown et al., 2018) for patrons and practitioners. One way to address LIS’s whiteness problem is to better prepare pre-service librarians to effectively and respectfully engage with diverse communities (Jaeger et al., 2013) and LIS professionals of color (Mehra, 2020). However, the field still has progress to make in how it discusses diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) issues within LIS curricula (Pawley, 2006). Centering DEIJ topics with a humble and self-critical approach …

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 …

Moving Beyond World Music: An Exploration Of Non-Western Music Cataloging Practices In Higher Education And Where To Go From Here, Alastair L. Canavan

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

The term “world music” has been used for decades as a catchall genre to describe any form of music outside of Western classical. As a byproduct of the eurocentrism pervasive throughout academia, its use furthers a bubble that others or ignores Non-Western cultures and their music. By examining the public-facing catalogs of 13 university libraries across 10 different countries to determine to what extent Non-Western music is included in their collections, how it is cataloged, and if the term “world music” is used to do so, the specific cataloging practices and norms that perpetuate a bias toward Western classical music …

Building Bridges: The Role Of The Relational Librarian, Sunniva Evjen

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Building bridges: the role of the relational librarian

The link between interpersonal trust, participation, social capital and democracy is evident through scholarly work in different research areas (see for example Sullivan & Transue 1999). These concepts are also relevant to discuss in relation to “improved communities”, not least in connection to the recent “social turn” of public libraries, which encompasses an understanding of the library as “a locus and an enabler of social processes in the interpersonal sense” (Nolin & Söderholm 2015). Both public library practice and research has sought to discover how libraries contribute to community-building activities, which in …

Libraries Advancing Social Justice And Improving The Health Care Of The Lgbtqai+ Communities, Kayo Denda, Daniel Delmonaco, Victoria Wagner

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

LGBTQAI+ communities have faced discrimination in health care due to inadequate medical care, unfair health insurance policies and entrenched prejudice. To remedy this situation, many medical schools and hospitals have created co-curricular interventions, such as events and programs and new staff positions to address this issue. This librarian-led collaboration challenges and advances the discussion on comprehensive LGBTQAI+ health care and promotes deeper understanding of LGBTQAI+ communities by transforming health professionals’ cultural competency and compassionate health care practices towards equity and social justice.

This project – Babs Siperstein Humanities and Medicine Series - was born when the faculty affiliated with the …

Progressive Librarianship In “Red” America, Bill Crowley

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Progressive Librarianship in “Red” America

Abstract

A number of library-related illusions remain in the wake of Biden’s defeat of Trump in the 2020 presidential election. While it is tempting for progressives to see “Trump Country” as consisting only of the states won by the former president, over 38 million of the more than 74,000,000 votes for Trump were cast in states won by Biden. Additionally, librarians who are overwhelmingly liberal, cherish such beliefs as (1) documented facts are able to change the minds of opponents, and (2) critical theories will somehow be acceptable for guiding service in communities dominated by …

A Case For Open Educational Resources (Oers) For Liberation: Leveraging Librarians And Library Skills, Aisling Coyne, Amy Fitzpatrick

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

This paper will establish the case for Open Educational Resources (OER) for Liberation for Ireland, and the leveraging of librarians in pursuit of creating a database of Open resources for public good and public liberation within the context of post-neutrality librarianship. The researchers have conducted a literature review of existing OER initiatives and emerging areas of Open Education. The review is underpinned by the philosophical and pedagogical motivations of Open, with a keen focus on equity, access and accessibility. Through this research, it has been found that there is a strong framework available for establishing a national OER initiative, and …

Rural Resiliency Hubs: An Integrated, Community-Centered Approach To Addressing The Resiliency Divide Through Rural Public Libraries, Marcia A. Mardis, Eren E. Ozguven, Faye R. Jones, Mark Horner, Ellen Piekalkiewicz, Scott Pickett, John Mathias, Jessica De Leon

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Resilience is often treated as a single-dimension system attribute, or various dimensions of resilience are studied separately without considering multi-dimensionality. The increasing frequency of catastrophic natural or man-made disasters affecting rural areas demands holistic assessments of community vulnerability and assessment. Disproportionate effects of disasters on minorities, low-income, hard-to-reach, and vulnerable populations demand a community-oriented planning approach to address the “resilience divide.” Rural areas have many advantages, but low population density, coupled with dispersed infrastructures and community support networks, make these areas more affected by natural disasters. This paper will catalyze three key learnings from our current work in public librarians’ …

Librarians, Outreach And Evaluation: Edia In A Large Urban Public Library, Mariella Colon

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Although we seek to be more universal in our offerings, libraries DEIA work still centers on simply event programming and collection development.

To talk about meaningful DEIA work today however is acknowledging that true advancement goes beyond events and artifacts. We must evolve this approach to where DEIA values drive our professional development through (1) critical librarianship (2) outreach and (3) responsive evaluation.

The framework for DEIA at a large urban library has three pillars of focus. The first is our librarians. It is important that we acknowledge the work that already exists because to start to review DEIA as …

Back To The Future! Library History As Forecast: Discovering Core Concepts Of Librarianship In The Public Library’S Past, Sara Wingate Gray

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Back to the Future! Library History as Forecast: Discovering Core Concepts of Librarianship in the Public Library’s Past

UNESCO and IFLA have a longstanding history in influencing librarianship from an international perspective: their joint ‘Public Library Manifesto’ (1994) describes “well-informed citizens”, with the ability to “exercise their democratic rights and to play an active role in society” as “depend[ing] on … free and unlimited access to knowledge, thought, culture and information” (UNESCO/IFLA, 1994). Without such savvy citizenry, the manifesto suggests, “[f]reedom, prosperity and the development of society” as fundamental human values may come to be in flux. Positioning the public …