Decentering Whiteness in Libraries


Book Description

The book serves as a "how to" guide for evaluating and crafting collection development policies that will help create equity in library collections. The book not only helps contextualize the need for inclusive collection development policies but features user-friendly tables, guides, and sample policies.




Knowledge Justice


Book Description

Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Color--reimagine library and information science through the lens of critical race theory. In Knowledge Justice, Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Color scholars use critical race theory (CRT) to challenge the foundational principles, values, and assumptions of Library and Information Science and Studies (LIS) in the United States. They propel CRT to center stage in LIS, to push the profession to understand and reckon with how white supremacy affects practices, services, curriculum, spaces, and policies.




Dismantling Constructs of Whiteness in Higher Education


Book Description

This book offers counternarratives from People of Color (POC) engaged in varied departments, faculties, and institutions in higher education to interrogate and challenge the construct of whiteness as an ideological form reproduced across campuses throughout the United States. Documenting individuals’ lived experiences, the text uses narratives, personal stories, and autoethnographic approaches to explore how social and racial injustices manifest themselves at both a macro- and micro-level through structures and ideologies of whiteness, as well as personal and group interactions. This book, divided into four valuable parts, offers reconceptualizations of racial diversity in higher education, and further explores identity politics within the academy to ultimately posit that a varied approach is necessary to combat the equally varied ideological forms of whiteness. This text will benefit scholars, academics, and students in the fields of higher education, race and ethnicity studies, and academic librarianship more broadly. Those involved with the multicultural education, education policy and politics, and equality and human rights in general will also benefit from this volume.




Diversity and Inclusion in Libraries


Book Description

The news and scholarly literature are replete with stories and articles describing the challenges that diverse individuals face in their local communities and workplaces. Diversity and Inclusion in Libraries: A Call to Action and Strategies for Success is arranged in three parts: Why Diversity and Inclusion Matter, Equipping the Library Staff, and Voices from the Field. This book tackles these issues head on and should appeal to a broad audience interested in diversity as it relates to libraries and librarianship, including professional librarians and paraprofessional library staff. Offering best practices strategies tempered by experiences and wisdom, this book will help libraries realize a high level of inclusion.




Critical Librarianship


Book Description

This book offers a timely mix of thought-provoking chapters bringing together national and global studies on critical librarianship, and conveying the kind of research which current library managers and researchers need, mixing theory with a good dose of pragmatism.




Perspectives on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Libraries


Book Description

In recent years, there has been an increased urgency and appeal to examine the impacts of systemic racism in all parts of society, and the field of library and information science is no exception. To actively combat enabling and perpetuating structural racism and white supremacy, libraries across the globe are addressing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) by investing resources, creating initiatives, and engaging in reflection and deep questioning. Perspectives on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Libraries examines how JEDI initiatives and actions have been incorporated into all aspects of librarianship and various types of libraries. The book serves as a collection of exemplary cases across all settings of librarianship to showcase how this work is being implemented and to provide commentary on implications and future opportunities for growth. Covering key topics such as community, ethics, and inclusive spaces, this premier reference source is ideal for administrators, policymakers, academicians, researchers, scholars, practitioners, librarians, instructors, and students.




Libraries as Dysfunctional Organizations and Workplaces


Book Description

Libraries as Dysfunctional Organizations and Workplaces expands the "dysfunctional" concept in the professional and academic LIS discourse by exposing the internal problematics of libraries, especially at the social and organizational levels. Including contributions written by LIS professionals and scholars, the book demonstrates that although many libraries do well at attending to users and managing external information they often fail at taking care of their own employees and addressing internal workplace issues. Acadia and the contributing authors explore the problem of dysfunctional libraries so that the LIS profession can come to terms with the systemic dysfunction in their institutions and begin solution-oriented progress toward new and sustainable functionality. The book analyzes the dysfunctional nature of modern libraries, while simultaneously proposing solutions to reduce and alleviate dysfunction. Through theory and application, it takes an explicit practice-based approach with the intent to inform and explain dysfunction as experienced in the library workplace at individual and structural levels and perspectives. Libraries as Dysfunctional Organizations and Workplaces brings the dysfunction discourse to the attention of LIS academics and scholars so that further theoretical and empirical research can proceed from and subsequently be addressed in library and information schools. The book will also be essential reading for librarians and LIS students currently working or preparing to work in public, college, and university libraries.




Red and Yellow, Black and Brown


Book Description

Red and Yellow, Black and Brown gathers together life stories and analysis by twelve contributors who express and seek to understand the often very different dynamics that exist for mixed race people who are not part white. The chapters focus on the social, psychological, and political situations of mixed race people who have links to two or more peoples of color— Chinese and Mexican, Asian and Black, Native American and African American, South Asian and Filipino, Black and Latino/a and so on. Red and Yellow, Black and Brown addresses questions surrounding the meanings and communication of racial identities in dual or multiple minority situations and the editors highlight the theoretical implications of this fresh approach to racial studies.




How Public Libraries Build Sustainable Communities in the 21st Century


Book Description

Public libraries, through their mission, vision, and position in the community, play a significant part in building community sustainability and are already positioned to serve as a “backbone support organization” for collective impact initiatives.




Narratives of (Dis)Engagement


Book Description

Librarianship is still a predominantly white profession. It is essential that current practitioners as well as those about to enter the field take an unflinching look at the profession’s legacy of racial discrimination, including the ways in which race might impact service to users such as students in school, public, and academic libraries. Given the prevalence of implicit and explicit bias against Black and African American people, authors Folk and Overbey argue that we must speak to these students directly to hear their stories and thereby understand their experiences. This Special Report shares the findings of a qualitative research study that explored the library experiences of Black and African American undergraduate students both before and during college, grounding it within an equity framework. From this Report readers will learn details about the study, which focused on the potential role of race in the students’ interactions with library staff, including white staff and staff of color; gain insight into Black and African American users’ perceptions of libraries and library staff, attitudes towards reading, frequency of library usage, and the importance of family; understand the implications of the study’s findings for our practice and for librarianship more broadly, including our ongoing commitment to diversifying the profession; and walk away with recommendations that can be applied to every library and educational context, such as guidance for developing an antiracist organization and more equitable service provision.