CritLib Meeting Info
"Critlib is short for 'critical librarianship,' a movement of library workers dedicated to bringing social justice principles into our work in libraries." –– critlib.org
LISSA aims to update our CritLib and Diversity resources monthly to give you a better understanding of the terms, topics, pedagogy, and current events connected to critical librarianship. Check back at the beginning of each month for new resources!
Email us at critlib.uncg@gmail.com
CritLib meetings are a safe space for honest conversation and are therefore not recorded in order to protect the privacy of participants.
March 2022 #CritLib
Genders and Sexualities Alliance
Join us on Sunday, March 27th at 4pm ET
Link to meeting here
Genders and Sexualities Alliances are student-led organizations that create safer environments for LGBTQ+ youth and allies. We'll be discussing how librarians can support these clubs.
Here are a few resources you may peruse in preparation:
Short news article from NIH Gender-Sexuality Alliance Clubs Can Promote Youth Empowerment and Mental Health
Slate podcast How Texas Targets Trans Kids (30 minute listen)
Article: Strategies to Support LGBTQ+ Students in High Schools: What Did We Learn in Chicago Public Schools?
Email us at critlib.uncg@gmail.com with your questions, comments, or suggestions.
February 2022 #CritLib
Book Discussion: Librarians with Spines
Join LISSA on Sunday, February 27th at 4pm ET
Link to meeting here
We'll be discussing three chapters from Librarians with Spines, digitized courtesy of Jackson Library!
CritLib Management: Leading and Inspiring through a Social Justice Framework
Prison Libraries on the Fringe of the Library World
Using Technology to Communicate, Educate, and Empower Girls of Color
You can access them in Box through the link below.
Email us at critlib.uncg@gmail.com with your questions, comments, or suggestions.
January 2022 #CritLib
Topic: Banned Books
Join LISSA for the first CritLib meeting of the semester on Sunday, January 30th at 4pm ET
Link to meeting here
We'll be discussing banned books and the larger issues of censorship and intellectual freedom that surround them. Below are a few resources you may wish to peruse to get acquainted with current discussions around this topic.
Podcasts
There’s New Pressure to Ban Books at Schools, Morning Edition, NPR, December 6, 2021 (3 min)
When Your Book Gets Banned by the School Board, What Next, Slate, December 13, 2021 (31 min)
ALA
Email us at critlib.uncg@gmail.com with your questions, comments, or suggestions.
October 2021 #CritLib
Book Discussion
Sunday, October 24th at 4:00 ET
We will discuss the book The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas.
You do not need to read the book in its entirety to join in the discussion!
Access the eBook here through UNCG Library:
Additional Resources:
Questions, comments, or suggestions? Email us at critlib.uncg@gmail.com
September 2021 #CritLib
Topic: Responding to Street Harassment
Join LISSA for our first CritLib meeting of the semester on Sunday, September 26th at 4:00 ET!
Link to meeting https://uncg.zoom.us/j/98836403037
The discussion this month will focus on actions bystanders can safely take when witness to street harassment.
Participants can prepare for this meeting by attending the free Stand Up Against Street Harassment on Wednesday, September 15th @ 3pm ET (link below), or checking out the other resources below:
Free 1-hour webinar Stand Up Against Street Harassment hosted by Augusta Baker Endowed Chair at the University of South Carolina with Hollaback!
Hollaback! Bystander Intervention Resources
Resources at StopStreetHarassment.org
Email us at critlib.uncg@gmail.com with your questions, comments, or suggestions.
April 2021 #CritLib
Topic: Mental Health Awareness
Join LISSA on Sunday, April 25th at 4:00 EDT! This month we are discussing mental health awareness.
Zoom link to join: https://uncg.zoom.us/j/3644136768
We are asking participants read or scan the following info before the meeting (please log-in to your UNCG account to make sure you can view all resources):
Libraries as Mental Health Hubs, by Heather Stringer
Information Studies Professor Works to Address Mental Illness Among Librarians, by Amanda Niebauer
Know your worker rights: EEOC.gov Mental Health Conditions in the Workplace: Your Legal Rights
March 2021 #CritLib
Topic: LGBTQ+ issues in LIS and in the Workplace
Join LISSA for our second CritLib meeting of the spring semester on Sunday, March 28th at 4:00 EDT! This month we are discussing LGBTQ+ issues in the LIS and in the workplace. The Zoom link will be sent out the Friday before the meeting.
We are asking participants read or scan the following info before the meeting (please log-in to your UNCG account to make sure you can view all resources):
Serving All Library Families in a Queer and Genderqueer Way by Joel A. Nichols
Creating Space for Agency by Rachel, Altobelli
PBS Video, 2020. (7:57 cc available) Why the Supreme Court's LGBTQ Employment Discrimination Ruling Marks a 'Milestone'
February 2021 #CritLib Topic: Intersectionality
Join LISSA for our first CritLib meeting of the spring semester on Sunday, February 28th at 4:00 EST! This month we are discussing intersectionality in libraries. The Zoom link will be sent out the Friday before the meeting.
We are asking participants watch the following videos this month:
What is intersectionality? (2:49 minutes, closed captions available)
The Urgency of Intersectionality, Ted Talk by Kimberlé Crenshaw (20 minutes, closed captions available)
November 2020 #CritLib Topic: Indigenous Peoples and Decolonization
Join LISSA for our final CritLib meeting of the semester on Sunday, November 22nd at 4:00 EST! This month we are discussing Indigenous peoples and decolonization in libraries. The Zoom link will be sent out this Friday (November 20th).
We are asking participants to read (or skim!) the following article prior to our meeting:
Reflections On Resistance, Decolonization, and the Historical Trauma of Libraries and Academia (Andrews, 2018)
Other helpful resources to review at your leisure:
Indigenous Librarianship Research Guide (The University of British Columbia, 2020)
Indigeneity and Colonialism (Project READY, Module 6)
October 2020 #CritLib Topic: Disability and Accessibility in LIS
Join LISSA for our second CritLib meeting of the semester on Sunday, October 25th at 4:00 EDT! An email & Google Calendar invite with the Zoom link will be sent soon!
Facilitated by Olivia Patterson, Sarah-Esther Belinga, and Dr. LaTesha Velez, CritLib meetings provide a safe, inclusive, student-only space for LIS students to discuss issues in librarianship through a critical lens.
This month we are examining disability and accessibility in LIS, and will discuss the following resources: (Review of these materials is not required, but is encouraged in order to enrich our conversation)
Accessibility for justice: Accessibility as a tool for promoting justice in librarianship (Rosen, 2017)
Organizing Ideas Podcast: Episode 20 - Libraries and Disabilities with Jessica Schomberg (2020)
Transcript of the episode if you’d prefer to read along
Other helpful resources:
Frameworks for Discussing, Researching, Experiencing, Living Disability (slides + notes, Schomberg, 2019)
September 2020 #CritLib
Topic: What Is Critlib?
Join LISSA for our first CritLib meeting of the semester on Sunday, September 27th at 4:00 pm EDT! We will explore the concept of Critical Librarianship and discuss the following readings:
We Here: Speaking our truth (Brown, Ferretti, Leung, & Méndez-Brady, 2018)
What is critical about critical librarianship? (Dabrinski, 2019)
Struggling to breathe: COVID-19, protest and the LIS response (Gibson, Chancellor, Cooke, Dahlen, Patin, & Shorish, 2020)
Keep an eye out for another email closer to time with the Zoom link. We hope to see you there!
March 2020 #CritLib Resources
Intersectionality
Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality, More than Two Decades Later
In the Library with the Lead Pipe
Artificial Intelligence
Kate Crawford & Safiya Umoja Noble's AI Ethics Conversation
Nick Dyer Witheford's presentation at the 2019 Digital Democracies Conference- Digital Capitalism
Teaching CritLib Principles
Critlib and the Problem of Community
Applying Concepts of Algorithmic Justice to Reference, Instruction, and Collections Work
February CritLib Resources
Interrogating the Collective: #Critlib and the Problem of Community
White Fragility Reading Group Guide
White Fragility in the Workforce- This video is a “humorous” take on how white people often respond when they are called out for their offensive actions.
January 2020 CritLib Resources
To prepare for the February 2020 CritLib Meeting:
We'll be discussing So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Ijeoma Oluo with Charles Mudede: So You Want to Talk About Race | Town Hall Seattle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CkJVThLCOI
Publisher's reading/discussion guide
How biased are our algorithms? | Safiya Umoja Noble | TEDxUIUC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXuJ8yQf6dI
November 16, 2019 CritLib Meeting
We had a great discussion about LBGT Critlib. When is it okay to use the word Queer? Should you use "They" to address your patrons? How can we remove barriers to the LGBTQIA+ community in our libraries? Listen in as we discuss this and more!
Here are the links to a few of the resources mentioned in the meeting:
Thanks so much to our panelists, UNCG's Diversity Librarian Deborah Caldwell deborah.caldwell@uncg.edu and Student Success Librarian Melody Rood mlrood@uncg.edu!
November 2019 CritLib Resources
If I Ask, Will They Answer? Evaluating Public Library Reference Service to Gay and Lesbian Youth (UNC-G Library article)
October 2019 Featured CritLib Resources
September 2019 Featured CritLib Resources
2020 Critical Librarianship and Pedagogy Symposium- Though this year's symposium is already "sold out" you can use this link to find out more information about what they have to offer and to join their listserv.
Resources from LISSA's February 2019 Book Club Meeting
Check out what some links related to what our group discussed during our first CritLib Book Club meeting of 2019.
**Click here to watch the first CritLib meeting on Facebook Live. We were unable to record this meeting on WebEx.
Here are the resources touched on at our book club's first meeting.
Why Does Privilege Make People So Angry? video
Simmons University Anti-Oppression LibGuide
ALA's link to Robin D'Angelo coverage
ALA Midwinter 2019 Links & Discussions:
During Council Forum at ALA Midwinter, April Hathcock was verbally attacked by a fellow council member. The incident sparked widespread response from the profession:
April Hathcock, Scholarly Communication Librarian, blog post
Lynda Kellam, Data Services and Government Information at UNCG, blog post
ALA Council Listserv Archive: archived emails councilors sent each other about the attack, beginning with the resignation email.
Article to read in preparation for our second meeting on March 2, 2019: Teaching as a Political Act: Critical Pedagogy in Library Instruction by Melia Erin Fritch
Resources from LISSA's March 2019 Book Club Meeting
Check out some links related to our group discussion during our second CritLib Book Club meeting of 2019.
**Watch the recording on our YouTube channel below!
Review article: Teaching as a Political Act: Critical Pedagogy in Library Instruction by Melia Erin Fritch
Review resource: April Hathcock, Scholarly Communication Librarian, blog post
Article by Zoey Fisher: "Who Succeeds in Higher Education? Questioning the Connection Between Academic Libraries & Student Success"
ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
Resources from LISSA's April 2019 Book Club Meeting
Check out some links related to our group discussion during our third CritLib Book Club meeting of 2019 where we discussed white fragility.
**Watch the recording on our YouTube channel below!
We're asking our book club members to view Robin D'Angelo's book talk on her book White Fragility before our fourth and final meeting of the year.
We also talked about Robin DiAngelo's website as a great place for more resources on white fragility. Specifically, her reading guide for reading White Fragility.
We also discussed a funny video about white fragility from News Broke.