Schedule

Creating Libraries Where Neurodiverse Workers Can Thrive

Celia Emmelhainz and Erin Pappas

Creating an Anti-Racist Teaching Observation Rubric

Faith Rusk, William Jacobs, and Joseph Daniels

"Stand Up and Speak Out" Social Justice Series

Sharell Walker

Using Science Fiction Stories to Teach Critical Information Literacy

Linnea Minich

#CiteBlackWomen: Public Health

Michael Sholinbeck

Abstract

What stories do libraries tell themselves about why librarians leave? “They left for new opportunities.” “They wanted to be closer to their family” or more secretly, “They just weren’t a good fit.” In the early 2000s, ACRL named retention as a top issue that academic libraries would face. Since then, librarian researchers have studied job satisfaction, recruitment of ethnic minorities, and retention and promotion efforts. But one question has not been sufficiently explored: what can libraries do to improve their organizational culture, so that librarians will stay?

Inspired by Kendrick’s 2017 study on low morale in librarians, the researchers will focus on the idea of “trigger events,” defined by Kendrick as “an unexpected negative event or a relationship that developed in an unexpected and negative manner.” With this definition in mind, the researchers will interview librarians who were currently still in the profession but left a job sooner than they intended (usually between 1-5 years after starting) due to a negative trigger event at their institution. In this paper, the authors will share results from those interviews, which will explore the phenomena of trigger events and how they could be avoided and/or resolved in a constructive manner. The authors will also consider how organizational culture, which often goes unchallenged and even unseen by those within it, can either encourage librarians to stay in their jobs or, conversely, cause them to leave.

Building upon their previous work, the authors will pay particular attention to the way the language of structural racism acts as a detriment to librarians of color and the ways in which administrative procedure, a healthy organizational culture, and good faith reflection could lead to positive workplaces where librarians are included, mentored, promoted, and encouraged to stay.

Abstract

During Spring 2021, a team of librarians and eight student interns conducted a diversity, equity, and inclusion audit of our institution’s print and ebook collection in order to examine the voices and subjects represented and to reveal diversity shortcomings. Students assisted in determining the methodology, assessing print and ebook collections, and providing recommendations on closing identified collection gaps. Librarians and students met semi-monthly to check in on the progress of the project and to discuss an article related to DEI in libraries and publishing.

Students completed a survey at the beginning, middle, and end of the project in order to examine their learning about library collections, the publishing industry, and DEI issues in academia. What was encouraging to observe was that student understanding of DEI issues in library collections and the publishing industry grew over the study from sincere belief in diversity to informed understanding of exclusivity. By using critical pedagogy and assessing student understanding, evaluation, and problem-solving skills throughout the process, this study provides an additional layer of analysis in DEI collection audits and encourages more diverse, equitable, and inclusive collection development.

In this presentation, audience members will learn about the methodology and results of the audit, the critical pedagogical practices we utilized, as well as the findings regarding student learning. A former student intern will provide insight into their experience and how it benefited their education. Efforts to share the results with the campus community and efforts to continue student involvement will also be addressed.

Abstract

David Graeber (2015) once noted that bureaucracies were originally intended to move us towards equity and efficiency, but shadowy practices such as lack of transparency, obfuscation vis-à-vis meeting structures, and secrecy allow power structures to flourish unchecked. Because these norms are so foundational, historical, and deeply ingrained in libraries, workers feel the macro effects only once they’ve been “drained” and experience low morale and burnout. For Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), these impacts are especially devastating. However, Critical Race (CRT) theory can “light the way” by providing us with the framework to openly name the institutional racism threaded throughout library bureaucracy; in this respect, CRT can help usher in a new day by facilitating what Leung and López-McKnight refer to as “more authentic, liberatory, and imaginative” futures (2020, 18). Taking inspiration from “What We Do in the Shadows,” an irreverent mockumentary about four vampires and one human familiar living in modern-day Staten Island, this keynote addresses the convoluted and often irrational bureaucratic practices that abound in academic libraries and asks us how we are complicit and what we can do about it.