Showing papers in "Library Trends in 2016"
TL;DR: The gendered dimensions of Affective labor are explored, and a feminist reading of the production of academic subjectivities through affective labor is offered, by specifically examining the pink-collar immaterial labor of academic reference and liaison librarians.
Abstract: The affective turn in the humanities and social sciences seeks to theorize the social through examining spheres of experience, particularly bodily experience and the emotions, not typically explored in dominant theoretical paradigms of the twentieth century. Affective and immaterial labor is work that is intended to produce or alter emotional experiences in people. Although it has a long history, affective labor has been of increasing importance to modern economies since the nineteenth century. This paper will explore the gendered dimensions of affective labor, and offer a feminist reading of the production of academic subjectivities through affective labor, by specifically examining the pink-collar immaterial labor of academic reference and liaison librarians. It will end by exploring how the work of the academic librarian may also productively subvert the neoliberal goals of the corporate university.
51 citations
TL;DR: Call on the “Lady Bountiful” archetype to interrogate the ways in which patriarchy, white supremacy, and notions of ideal femininity have worked together to craft a subject fit to perform the work of colonialism in its variegated and feminized forms.
44 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that thinking in solidarity with disability justice movements can be beneficial to all of us: librarians, library workers, and the authors' communities of users; those of us with disabilities; Those of us who are living without illnesses or disabilities; and those of me who move between disabled, ill and not.
Abstract: In this paper we advocate for an understanding of access that both responds to the pragmatic needs of the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (to guide professional practice and education) and helps librarians and library workers imagine how we might transform the systems, beliefs, and practices that make libraries and the profession inaccessible and inequitable. We are interested in expanding our shared understanding of access so that it includes a professional ethic of accessibility, justice, and collaboration. We bring to this argument a set of knowledges, experiences, beliefs, and politics that inform our understanding of what access is and what it could be. Specifically, our understanding of access and accessibility is shaped by our participation in disability justice activism, disability studies communities, and our personal experience. We suggest that thinking in solidarity with disability justice movements can be beneficial to all of us: librarians, library workers, and our communities of users; those of us with disabilities; those of us who are living without illnesses or disabilities; and those of us who move between disabled, ill and not.
35 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the field should broaden to place LIS students and faculty in dialog with contemporary social issues of social inequality and injustice whenever possible and the impetus for students to act can be empowered by faculty modeling a commitment to Social Responsibility and Diversity in their own professional lives.
Abstract: Social Responsibility and Diversity are two principal tenets of the field of library and information science (LIS) as defined by the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” but that often remain on the margins of LIS education, leading to limited student engagement with these concepts and limited faculty modeling of socially responsible interventions. In this paper we take up the need to increase the role of both in articulating the Core Values of Diversity and Social Responsibility in LIS education and argue that the field should broaden to place LIS students and faculty in dialog with contemporary social issues of social inequality and injustice whenever possible. The paper also examines two specific cases of socially responsible activism spearheaded by LIS faculty and how these experiences shape, and are shaped by, curricular commitments to addressing the Values of Social Responsibility and Diversity in LIS in the classroom and through research. The development of a social responsibility orientation and skillset along with literacies of diversity, the paper argues, leads to better-prepared practitioners and an LIS community that is more actively engaged with its environment. The impetus for students to act can be empowered by faculty modeling a commitment to Social Responsibility and Diversity in their own professional lives.
32 citations
TL;DR: This study examines the roles that Service as a Core Value and advocacy play in the construction of professional identity and the centrality of service in librarianship.
Abstract: A dedication to service is often cited as a hallmark of a profession. Service is included as one of eleven Core Values in the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004). For librarians, service includes helping people find information resources to meet their educational, recreational, and work needs. Reporting findings from a larger study into the professional identity of librarians, this paper explores the centrality of service, with specific attention to how librarians advocate for their services and, ultimately, for librarianship. Using a discourse analysis approach, this study examines the roles that Service as a Core Value and advocacy play in the construction of professional identity. Three different data sources were used: professional journals, e-mail discussion lists, and research interviews. The data were analyzed for the discourses librarians use when describing librarians, librarianship, and professionalism and their connection to advocacy. When librarians advocate for the services they offer, they are in fact advocating for the value of the profession. Discursively, speaking or writing about advocacy positioned librarians as active participants in their own identity formation. By making advocacy a central activity of the profession, librarians not only challenged others’ perception of librarianship, they challenged their own understanding as well.
22 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that the risks of invisibility outweigh those of visibility, but that the political awareness, engagement, and commitment of the library profession are critical.
Abstract: The deliberate burning of libraries is nothing new, but it seems surprising that such incidents have also occurred in peacetime in democracies. What does this say about community perceptions of libraries and the response of the library profession? Mostly, libraries are not very newsworthy. In some countries they are largely invisible; in others they may only attract public attention when they are threatened by cutbacks or closures or when things go badly wrong. The visibility and invisibility of libraries in the political arena confer risks, as well as benefits. As a framework for an exploration of this topic, libraries in various countries are conceptualized as being located in the political space on a continuum, from invisible to highly visible, on which the risks of visibility and invisibility can be situated. Some observations, with particular reference to library development in South Africa, follow on how librarians see themselves and their institutions in relation to the communities and societies they serve. This paper concludes that the risks of invisibility outweigh those of visibility, but that the political awareness, engagement, and commitment of the library profession are critical.
18 citations
TL;DR: The study’s findings support a rationale for more responsive, inclusive early literacy experiences for, and research about, young children with disabilities in public libraries today.
Abstract: This qualitative study explores children’s librarianship and early literacy in the lives of children with disabilities. Informed by critical disability theory, underpinned by Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological development theory, this project was constructed as an interpretive case study. Eleven children’s librarians working in western Canada were asked about providing early literacy resources for children with disabilities in their libraries, and fourteen parents of young children with disabilities living in the same region were asked about their children’s experiences in public libraries. Scans of twenty ALA-accredited institutions’ course offerings and other professional development training opportunities related to early literacy and disability topics provided additional context. Librarians commented on the relative rarity of children with disabilities at their libraries, while parents were seen to be reluctant to approach librarians to discuss their children’s needs. The parent interviews revealed a broad range of experiences, as some families found their libraries accommodating and others’ experiences were less positive. Even with the very small sample size, the study’s findings support a rationale for more responsive, inclusive early literacy experiences for, and research about, young children with disabilities in public libraries today.
17 citations
TL;DR: The political dimension relating to issues around the child and the family is complex, and this paper discusses some of the challenges associated with the provision of public library services for the early years and young children.
Abstract: Children’s services have a high profile today, as policymakers are concerned about effective education and the level of reading skills. Political policies influence and shape what is offered to our communities, and it is important for practitioners to be effective in developing and delivering a range of services to meet local needs. The political dimension relating to issues around the child and the family is complex, and this paper discusses, often with reference to the UK, some of the challenges associated with the provision of public library services for the early years and young children. Librarians have a valuable contribution to make to the early years by providing activities that support the development of language, communication, and literacy skills. Working as partners with other agencies enables proactive library services to develop and customize services specifically for their local communities, and librarians are successfully building partnerships based on bookgifting and early intervention literacy programs. The library has a role to play in helping to generate social capital at the individual level by providing support for families and parenting activities. Funding, sustainability, and accountability are at the center of most initiatives and programs, but many practitioners may not be aware of the complex political landscape in which library services for the early years are delivered.
15 citations
TL;DR: Understanding Professionalism as a discursive response to an urgent present can enable the field to locate the value of that status outside of the workplace hierarchies that professionalization inevitably produces.
Abstract: In the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004), Professionalism is listed as one of the Core Values, but its meaning is not settled. Framed alternately as an incomplete achievement of professional traits or a process of identity creation, the professional status of librarianship has been subject to debate since the field began to take its contemporary form in 1876. Understanding Professionalism as a discursive response to an urgent present can enable the field to locate the value of that status outside of the workplace hierarchies that professionalization inevitably produces.
15 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the concerns of protecting privacy in the library as they relate to library users who are defining, exploring, and negotiating their sexual identities with the help of the library's information, programming, and physical facilities.
Abstract: Protecting user privacy and confidentiality is fundamental to the ethics and practice of librarianship, and such protection constitutes one of eleven values in the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004). This paper addresses the concerns of protecting privacy in the library as they relate to library users who are defining, exploring, and negotiating their sexual identities with the help of the library’s information, programming, and physical facilities. In so doing, we enlist the aid of Garret Keizer, who, in Privacy (2012), articulates a fresh theory of the concept in light of American social life in the twenty-first century. Using Keizer’s theory, we examine these concerns within the context of the rise of big data systems and social media on the one hand, and linked data and new cataloging standards on the other. In so doing, we suggest that linked data technologies, with their ability to lead searchers through self-directed, open inquiry, are superior to big data technologies in the navigation of the paradox between openness and secrecy. In this way they offer a greater potential to support the needs of queer library users: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning (LGBTQ).
14 citations
TL;DR: This paper will consider the Core Values of The Public Good and Democracy as articulated in the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004) in conjunction with the ways in which these two Core Values are deployed in library discourse around the Ferguson (Missouri) Public Library, particularly during the last four months of 2014.
Abstract: This paper will consider the Core Values of The Public Good and Democracy as articulated in the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004) and its affiliated documents in conjunction with the ways in which these two Core Values are deployed in library discourse around the Ferguson (Missouri) Public Library, particularly during the last four months of 2014. Both the ALA’s Core Values document and library discourse around Ferguson heavily rely upon liberalism in regard to power and conflict, subjectivity and equality, and capitalism. This reliance results in a vision of librarianship and an understanding of the Ferguson Public Library that are completely decoupled from political, economic, social, and historical contexts. This decontextualized discourse fits seamlessly within neoliberal ideology and is ultimately antidemocratic.
TL;DR: This conceptual paper frames hatred as an organizing principle—a central premise from which other materials by proximity derive classification, arrangement, and value—of LGBTQ archives and collections, and develops new queer and critical ways of thinking about how to be ethically and politically engaged on behalf of queer and other marginalized knowledge-formations and communities.
Abstract: This conceptual paper frames hatred as an organizing principle—a central premise from which other materials by proximity derive classification, arrangement, and value—of LGBTQ archives and collections. Recognizing hatred as such points to the need to build queer and critical archives, and to develop archival practices that reflect the experiences and desires and meet the needs of LGBTQ individuals and communities. Examining the arrangement and description of hate mail and messages, archival collecting around hate crimes, and documenting and describing queer and trans self-hatred demonstrates that hatred is a useful lens for examining and deconstructing normative power and its affective circulations and structures. Naming hatred as an organizing principle is key to developing new queer and critical ways of thinking about how to be ethically and politically engaged on behalf of queer and other marginalized knowledge-formations and communities, and new ways of acting on those concepts in archival practice.
TL;DR: Through a short discussion about the recovery of LGBTQ+ histories, information professionals are pushed to reconsider the concept of preservation as something more than placing records into acid-free folders or migrating data to stave off obsolescence, but as a duty to steward unexplored histories.
Abstract: Recognized among the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004), Preservation is traditionally used to describe the passive protection of cultural property to ensure that it survives in its original form for as long as possible. A renewed professional imperative to position information centers as locations for social justice work has also turned our attention to the need to preserve materials that support a diverse and pluralistic society. Social justice work underscores the evidential value of materials in our care, as collections are accessed for the purposes of furthering court cases, reparative justice, and redress, and also the importance of building reflexive collections that better represent the diversity of contemporary society. This paper revisits our understanding of preservation and addresses the importance of actively preserving cultural property as part of social justice work. Through a short discussion about the recovery of LGBTQ+ histories, information professionals are pushed to reconsider our concept of preservation as something more than placing records into acid-free folders or migrating data to stave off obsolescence, but as a duty to steward unexplored histories.
TL;DR: Drawing from the works of Nikolas Rose and Michel Foucault, the authors show how readers’ advisory is a technique of self-assembly where young readers negotiate their self-identities amid surrounding library discourses.
Abstract: © 2016 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois. This article addresses the theme of gender, sexuality, and information by considering how libraries might offer readers’ advisory services to young readers in socially just ways. Readers’ advisory is a service found in public and school libraries. In readers’ advisory, librarians recommend materials to library visitors who are often young readers. Though libraries are commonly perceived as neutral, apolitical institutions, this article shows how readers’ advisory in libraries is a site of struggle and contestation for young readers in terms of their gender identity and sexuality. Drawing from the works of Nikolas Rose and Michel Foucault, the authors show how readers’ advisory is a technique of self-assembly where young readers negotiate their self-identities amid surrounding library discourses. The authors provide several reasons why readers’ advisory approaches, as they are presented in professional library literature, are problematic. As an alternative conceptualization of readers’ advisory, this article then proposes what is dubbed a disjunctional approach. The authors explain what this approach is, provide concrete examples of how it might be adopted, and suggest avenues for further study.
TL;DR: This paper works to understand the term of lifelong learning by looking at one of the earliest conflicts in American educational history and philosophy: the choice between student-centered schools and employment- centered schools.
Abstract: Lifelong Learning is enshrined in the professional practice of librarians through the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004). As a Core Value, the term is extremely vague. What do we mean by lifelong learning, and why does the term have such a powerful hold on the imaginations of educators? This paper works to understand the term by looking at one of the earliest conflicts in American educational history and philosophy: the choice between student-centered schools and employment-centered schools. During the first decades of the twentieth century, America was struggling to define its national core values. Educational theory was seen as a key way to articulate and pass on these values. One pedagogical approach involved developing schools to educate individuals to become thinking and informed citizens; another administrative approach involved creating schools as vocational institutions to educate individuals to become skilled employees. After a brief debate, employment-centered schools emerged as the clear winner. Since that time American schools have been viewed almost exclusively through a vocational lens. The implications of this decision for libraries, schools, and learning are explored.
TL;DR: The author of this paper shifts from French to English to highlight the place of libraries in the political sphere of contemporary French society.
Abstract: Public libraries in the outlying suburbs of French cities, which are called banlieues, face many conflicts, occasionally violent. These conflicts take place within the context of important social, cultural, and political transformations that have accelerated during the last fifteen years. Librarians, faced with several competing conceptions of the political role of libraries, seem to waver among democratie (democracy), Republique (French Republic), and aspects of libraries that feature in social conflicts in which the classes populaires (roughly translated as " working classes ") are protagonists. The author of this paper shifts from French (his usual language) to English to highlight the place of libraries in the political sphere of contemporary French society. We hear and say that libraries are very important institutions for freedom and democracies. In France, both librarians and the authorities frequently acknowledge that libraries are political institutions, and they are. But what kind of political institution is a library? What is the nature of this political actor within its specific context? I will try to answer these questions from the point of view of French libraries. How do libraries fit into French political traditions? How do they project themselves into the future? What is the role that these libraries play in the current political situation, and how do they cope with the social conflicts that are found across French society? I refer in general to European libraries, but will focus principally on the French situation. This paper is not written in French (as I do most of the time), but in English. It is beneficial to write about French libraries in En-glish for an English-reading audience because if I think about this situation of the library as political institution in French, certain words and
TL;DR: It is suggested that effective program evaluation is complex and multifaceted and must consider changes in behavior, confidence, and attitudes, as well as the ways in which such programs are experienced and integrated into family literacy practices.
Abstract: This paper examines the nature of family literacy programs, with a particular focus on those that are based around the provision of free books to babies and young children, sometimes called “bookgifting” programs. First, the paper explores the rationale for family literacy programs in general and identifies some issues in their evaluation. It then focuses specifically on bookgifting programs. Using examples from several well-established programs, it reviews the research on which they are based, with particular reference to evaluation procedures. Next, the paper identifies some important issues that need to be addressed when planning and evaluating these programs, and notes some fundamental differences between particular programs that may have impacted on the results. It argues that this area of research needs stronger definition and a more inclusive approach to evaluation that includes both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. In order to illustrate the potential of a mixed-method approach, the paper examines the evaluation of the Better Beginnings bookgifting program for babies that has been initiated, developed, and extended by the State Library of Western Australia for over a decade. The paper concludes by suggesting that effective program evaluation is complex and multifaceted and must consider changes in behavior, confidence, and attitudes, as well as the ways in which such programs are experienced and integrated into family literacy practices. This approach provides insight into the contextual variables that determine the effectiveness of programs within and across families, and therefore inform further program development.
TL;DR: What very young children learn through play, as well as optimal adult interactions that best support early literacy development are reviewed, and how librarians throughout the United States are implementing innovative play programming for babies and toddlers is shared.
Abstract: Young children build an understanding of their world through play. Play starts in infancy and continues to evolve as children develop. Research shows strong links between play and early literacy, as well as other key developmental skills. This paper reviews what very young children learn through play, as well as optimal adult interactions that best support early literacy development. It looks at certain barriers to play and addresses what impedes parents and caregivers from being present and responsive during their children’s play. At Brooklyn Public Library the authors have developed a play-based curriculum for babies and toddlers, which the paper describes, including suggested play activities and practical tips for setting up “play stations” in traditional storytime programs or in full-scale play events. Finally, the authors share examples of how librarians throughout the United States are implementing innovative play programming for babies and toddlers.
TL;DR: By asking practitioners and LIS scholars to explore librarianship's past, present, and future in relation to the eleven Core Values outlined by the ALA, this collection brings the Core Values themselves and the statement to the fore of the conversation.
Abstract: In 2011 we published an article in Library Trends where we concluded, \" It is worth considering why the ALA Core Values seem to have lost their traction or relevance in the daily work librarians perform. There may be political, institutional, professional, or organizational reasons why this has happened and these factors would be well worth exploring \" (Jacobs & Berg, 2011, p. 391). In 2014, as the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the American Library Association's (ALA) \" Core Values of Librarianship \" came and went without any scholarly or professional attention, we found we were still considering these questions and issued a call to librarians and LIS faculty to explore these questions along with us. As Maura Seale eloquently asserts in her contribution to this special issue, \" ALA's Core 'Core Values of Librarianship' (2004) wants to tell a story \" (p. 596). This special issue, \" Valuing Librarianship: Core Values in Theory and Practice, \" is an attempt to tell some of those stories. The \" Core Values of Librarianship \" statement was adopted by the ALA Council in 2004. The development and adoption of the statement was lively, vocal, and highly controversial; however, since its adoption the conversation related to the document has been relatively quiet—discussed infrequently , applied sparingly, and cited modestly. When one compares the application and citations of the Core Value document (cited twelve times in Scopus) to that of the ACRL's \" Standards of Information Literacy, \" also adopted in 2004 (cited 939 times in Scopus), the difference is remarkable. 1 When cited in the literature, the Core Value statement is mostly used as a brief reference point in research or discussions. The Core Values are often referenced in the literature as a means to anchor, promote, or justify specific projects or approaches to services 460 library trends/winter 2016 or in-depth investigations of how an individual value or cluster of values guide(s) librarians' practice or philosophy. 2 By asking practitioners and LIS scholars to explore librarianship's past, present, and future in relation to the eleven Core Values outlined by the ALA, this collection brings the Core Values themselves and the statement to the fore of the conversation. Using the \" Core Values of Librarianship \" statement as a framework, this special issue of Library Trends explores how these Core Values have (or have not) informed, influenced, guided, and contextualized libraries and …
TL;DR: This paper attempts to connect the archived, enslaved black woman of the French Antilles to the contemporary black woman in the United States through concepts from archival appraisal theory and the ways in which power influences the collection of archival materials.
Abstract: Despite calls for diversity and minority participation in library and information science (LIS) and archival science, these professions have seen little change in this respect over the past two decades. This paper attempts to connect the archived, enslaved black woman of the French Antilles to the contemporary black woman in the United States. The paucity of archival materials on the first group is reflective of the low incidence of the second group in today’s archives profession. That is, the way in which black women of the Americas have been historically misrepresented or not represented at all can be connected to recruitment and retention problems in the archival profession. If black women are not recognized as worthwhile subjects in the archives, and presently not valued as knowers, how can they be accepted as library and archive professionals? If the archives are where origin stories are excavated, black women—through the profession of archival science—have a role to play in the administration and management of archival materials concerning the historical enslavement of black women. The paper will specifically discuss concepts from archival appraisal theory and highlight the ways in which power influences the collection of archival materials. Also, educational and training solutions that include black feminist thought, critical race theory, and cognitive justice are discussed.
TL;DR: It is argued that the body is written through a reiterative process of reading and circulation, and that all three technologies of book production are mutually constitutive.
Abstract: Is the body a book? Drawing on both bibliographic studies and theories of subjectivity, this paper argues that the body is a book by considering three technologies of book production: writing, reading, and circulation. I argue that the body is written through a reiterative process of reading and circulation, and that all three technologies are mutually constitutive. The body thus becomes a new mode of knowledge production that information science must consider.
TL;DR: It is argued that the final LIS Transformation Charter maps a path for a transformed and integrated library system that has meaning for all sectors of South African society.
Abstract: The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the twenty-first anniversary of democracy in South Africa, it is an opportune moment to examine the rather confusing fortunes of libraries since 1994. The library and information services (LIS) profession portrays libraries as agents of development and social transformation; yet, since 2009, more than twenty South African libraries have been destroyed in social protests. This paper reports on the work of the authors of the LIS Transformation Charter , which after a start-stop-start process of two phases over six years was delivered to the government in 2014. The paper analyzes the political and professional forces that influenced the charter-writing processes. The two fundamental arguments of the charter are that access to information, and thus to libraries, is a fundamental justiciable human right, both as a so-called freedom right and as an instrument of other economic, social, and cultural rights; and that transformation will depend on “ecosystems” thinking whereby the various subsectors collaborate to ensure seamless services and the equity of provision. The paper argues that the final LIS Transformation Charter maps a path for a transformed and integrated library system that has meaning for all sectors of South African society.
TL;DR: This paper first looks at the actions of libraries in France from January to December 2015 and examines how libraries and librarians have reconciled their own requirement of neutrality with their desire to take part in events that, while potentially historical, are also highly political.
Abstract: In the weeks following the attacks in January 2015 against Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher, French libraries reacted with speed, intensity , and emotion to the events by, among other things, displaying posters, making acquisitions, and holding exhibitions and debates. The events spawned by the attacks were politically charged. While the attacks challenged the sanctity of freedom of speech in France, the ensuing rallies in protest against them questioned both French unity and the notions of mobilization and engagement in an era that we had come to consider depoliticized. Further, the French na
TL;DR: Why many school libraries may not have been seen as an essential element of education, and supported and used accordingly, and what appears to be needed to transform the perception of their contribution to a country’s development are discussed.
Abstract: This paper discusses why many school libraries may not have been seen as an essential element of education, and supported and used accordingly. It reviews the international agencies' advice and encouragement for the development of literacy, education, and school libraries, particularly that focused on the Arab world, and considers the provision of school libraries within the context of a country's economic, political, and social circumstances, with Iraq as a particular focus. From this evidence, it discusses the reasons why school libraries remained underfunded, inadequately staffed, and little used, and what appears to be needed to transform the perception of their contribution to a country's development, briefly reexamining the interactions between the education system and the training required by all the personnel involved in the development of a reading culture, the role of book publishing and new information media, and the place of information literacy within the curriculum. Finally, it draws some conclusions about issues in mobilizing support for development, and points to the lack of a focused and coordinated effort by the relevant international agencies. The paper draws on a wider case study of the development of librarianship and information management in Iraq, which is expected to be published shortly.
TL;DR: Using memoirs, travel papers, and essays written about China's libraries, the paper traces and analyzes the historical development of China’s censorship policies in relation to Intellectual Freedom, and emphasizes how this Core Value still plays a vital role in the country today through international library cooperation and Sino-American partnership universities.
Abstract: The American Library Association’s (ALA) “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004) serves as an important vehicle in introducing and creating cross-cultural dialogues on values such as intellectual freedom with countries where there are starkly different political views and cultural ideas. This paper positions the Core Value of Intellectual Freedom within the historical context of China. How has the ALA fostered a culture of intellectual freedom in this country? Since the advent of the Cultural Revolution in China during the 1960s, censorship has been severely imposed on all levels of society. Libraries were burned, shut down, or forced to adapt to changes in beliefs and policies that promoted the ideas and values of Chairman Mao Zedong, the leader of the Revolution. In contrast, decades after recovering from the Revolution in the twenty-first century, libraries in China are flourishing, with rich print and digital collections and special services in the face of varying degrees of governmental censorship. Using memoirs, travel papers, and essays written about China’s libraries, the paper traces and analyzes the historical development of China’s censorship policies in relation to Intellectual Freedom, and emphasizes how this Core Value still plays a vital role in the country today through international library cooperation and Sino-American partnership universities.
TL;DR: A discourse analysis was conducted on the concepts of women and trans and intersex people in four editions of the Dewey Decimal Classification system, as well as on relevant American legal discourse to investigate how institutionally endorsed epistemology and ontology work together to influence how concepts are defined and classified.
Abstract: The recognition of a spectrum of gendered and sexed people, along with changing social conventions, has caused disruption in the absolute and binary divisions between male and female, man and woman. Gender and sex are formally classified for many purposes; however, formal classifications can marginalize people with variable sex or those who do not identify with traditional understandings of gender. However, the instability is not a recent development, as demonstrated by historically changing conceptualizations of sex and gender in bibliographic classification, as well as in competing and interacting formal discourses. A discourse analysis was conducted on the concepts of women and trans and intersex people in four editions of the Dewey Decimal Classification system, as well as on relevant American legal discourse to investigate how institutionally endorsed epistemology and ontology work together to influence how concepts are defined and classified.
TL;DR: This paper argues that libraries can build coordinated action in partnership with related institutions in a way that better integrates users on the social and cultural levels, thus fostering a strong feeling of collective usefulness.
Abstract: Abstract:Whether libraries are burned down or treasured, everyday culture is always the driving force behind such acts. It is easy to see symbols of a shared cultural environment in libraries; hence they can be seen as either institutional and exclusive, or as a symbol of diversity and democracy. Such duality is at the core of the identity of libraries, and it is exacerbated by today’s economic, technological, and political contexts. Digital culture is pushing libraries toward multimediation, which implies the adoption of new multimedia tools, and the rethinking of the notion of mediation and our practice in libraries using those tools. Crises also provide a historic political opportunity for all libraries and particularly French médiathèques, but this calls for an ambitious response, beyond those discussed within the context of the future of libraries as great, good places. Such a response could consist in providing support to local individuals in a more global and assertive fashion using our existing social experience to help put the crises behind us. We can build coordinated action in partnership with related institutions in a way that better integrates users on the social and cultural levels, thus fostering a strong feeling of collective usefulness.
Journal Article•
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TL;DR: Libraries African, 117–118 antiracist social justice, 246–284 hiring and recruiting, 264–266 racism in library spaces, 255–261 racism in reference services, 269– 276 resisting racial paradigms, 276–278 Spanish.
Abstract: Trustees, University of Illinois A Abbott, A., 163, 171t–173t Aboriginal peoples, 380n Academic freedom China, 566–567 University of Illinois, 520 Academic librarians. See also Librarians affective labor, 645–666 emotional and affective labors, 659–662 Academic libraries. See also Libraries African, 117–118 antiracist social justice, 246–284 hiring and recruiting, 264–266 racism in library spaces, 255–261 racism in reference services, 269– 276 resisting racial paradigms, 276–278 Spanish, 313–314, 313t, 314t staff racial diversity, 261–269 Access, 463 disability justice, 468–491 framework of collective access, 481–487 intersectional approach, 484 physical, 486–487 ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries), 264–269 ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, 547, 550 ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) Standards of Information Literacy, 459 ACT UP Los Angeles Records, 763–764 Activist digital archives, 360–383. See also Archives and archiving ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), 471 Adam, Amina, 136–160 Adaptive preferences, 209–210 Administrative progressivism, 541, 552–553 Adorno, Theodor, 585, 596, 599 Advocacy compared to marketing and public relations, 616–617 as diversity lever, 434 focus of activities, 628–630 intended audience, 626–628 intended purpose, 632–633 methods, 630–632 as professional activity, 624–626 service and professional identity, 615–640 training for, 616–617 Affect definition, 758 of hatred, 757–758 Index to Volume 64