CALC 2026

Rodney Freeman is a seasoned library professional with over 15 years experience across academic, public and government libraries. His expertise spans digital collections, databases and taxonomy, beginning with a focus on digital archives and evolving into roles ranging from library page to administrator. As the founder of Reminisce Preservation, Rodney empowers libraries, schools, non-profits and individuals by offering innovative tools and networks to facilitate the creation, interaction and preservation of legacies. His work reflects a passion for connecting communities with the resources to safeguard their histories.

Rodney Freeman is the Director and Producer of Are You a Librarian? a forthcoming documentary that delves into the rich and often overlooked history of Black librarianship in the United States.

Reminisce Preservation: https://reminiscepreservation.com/

Are You a Librarian: https://areyoualibrarian.org/

The Copim/Open Book Futures project, concluding in April 2026, is developing community-led open infrastructures to support small and scholar-led presses in publishing diamond open access monographs. Within this initiative, the Open Book Accessibility team has created comprehensive guidance to help these presses plan for and work towards accessibility, drawing on extensive consultation with the community.

However, significant challenges remain. Many small and scholar-led publishers, some working in under resourced countries, operate at a scale that exempts them from accessibility legislation and limits their capacity for full compliance, even as they are deeply motivated by principles of equity and widening access. This raises two key questions: what does accessibility look like beyond strict legal compliance, and how should it be meaningfully assessed?

Libraries strongly advocate for accessible content and increasingly require publishers to demonstrate compliance. While such demands are appropriate for large commercial publishers with substantial resources, they can unintentionally disadvantage small-scale monograph presses. A more nuanced, partnership-driven approach is needed, particularly in the diamond open access model, where libraries often act as supporters or investors.

This short paper presents the recommendations developed by the Open Book Accessibility team, highlighting how libraries and small presses can collaborate to meet accessibility needs without imposing disproportionate burdens, ultimately strengthening bibliodiversity and ensuring more accessible content for readers.

Critical librarianship is now a well-established and visible force within the profession. Areas of the profession such as information literacy, instruction, and collection development have spawned numerous critical investigations, successfully interrogating the neutrality of the library and exposing systemic biases. However, a significant gap remains: rarely has library leadership and management been subjected to the same critical lens. As academic librarians grapple with the commodification of higher education, we must ask: what does it mean to lead a library critically?

This paper presents a brief overview of my PhD research into the concept of the “critical library leader” within UK academic libraries - senior figures who utilise their platforms to experience and enact criticality in their work. These leaders actively leverage their institutional capital to progress social justice aims, both within their library services and across the wider university infrastructure. Drawing on preliminary findings from my research, this presentation will explore the unique tensions inherent in this role. It will highlight how critical leaders navigate the friction between their personal values and commitments to equity with the often conflicting strategic demands of the UK neoliberal university. By investigating the critical theories inherent in critical librarianship and critical management studies, it positions critical library leadership as an essential, under-examined driver for social justice within the contemporary UK university landscape.

Ireland’s higher education sector has traditionally operated a highly unequal two-tier model, separating the more traditional universities from Institutes of Technology (IoTs). However, in recent years almost all of the former IoTs have merged into five groupings and become Technological Universities (TUs). As part of this process research funding to the sector has increased, as has the focus on research and research outputs. During the transformation from IoTs to TUs staff across the sector were asked to start to utilise ORCID identifiers.

This mixed-methods research explored perceptions of the strengths and limitations of this development from the perspectives of both faculty and librarians.  The results of both surveys and interviews indicate a considerable degree of disagreement between these two professional groups’ attitudes to ORCID. Librarians were largely in favour of the development, with some even suggesting that the adoption of ORCID by academics should become mandatory. Academics were more varied in their responses to ORCID, however disengagement and suspicion over management surveillance using this new technology of surveillance were very evident. 

At Maynooth University Library, librarians are reimagining how knowledge is organised and accessed, working creatively within—and beyond—the constraints of the Dewey Decimal System. Originally developed in 1876, Dewey reflects a Western, Christian-centric worldview that can marginalise diverse cultures, disciplines, and identities. In response, Maynooth has adopted a student-centred approach that mitigates these structural limitations while enhancing accessibility and inclusivity.

One visible strategy is the development of curated thematic displays and online collections highlighting underrepresented voices, including LGBTQ+ communities, the Black and African diaspora, and Traveller communities. These initiatives bring together materials that Dewey often disperses across disconnected numerical categories—such as physical and human geography—making browsing more intuitive and equitable.

The Library is also actively revising classification practices. Recent projects include the reclassification of musical scores to ensure composers’ works are shelved together, and the relabelling of Irish law texts under a unified number to distinguish them clearly from UK law materials. Efforts to reclaim Irish cultural and political identity in cataloguing further demonstrate a commitment to reflecting local contexts more accurately. As new disciplines, such as Nursing, expand the collection, legacy inconsistencies are being addressed to improve coherence and discoverability.

Beyond shelving, the Library empowers students through workshops, orientation sessions, and targeted support services that demystify classification systems and promote effective research skills. Through inclusive curation, adaptive cataloguing, and proactive engagement, Maynooth is transforming the library from a static repository into a dynamic, student-first knowledge environment grounded in curiosity, equity, and critical awareness.

Librarians working in scholarly communications, research impact, and related areas are often asked to provide metrics and statistics to measure the value and impact of research and scholarship. At the same time, popular measures of research impact are frequently criticized as biased and even – as in the case of the popular metric h-index – mathematically arbitrary. Critical bibliometrics is an emerging set of approaches which interrogates the assumptions and approaches of established bibliometrics methods while attempting to expand the range of questions we might answer using bibliometric data.

This presentation will introduce critical bibliometrics using data and results from a study of the library science literature from 2019-2025, with a focus on sharing and developing the methods used in that study. By combining established bibliometric methods like citation network analysis with text analysis approaches originating in the digital humanities, this study was able to identify both familiar and underreported structures within the library science literature. The study intentionally applies these methods to a familiar corpus - library science literature - in order to allow librarians to assess the methods and compare the results to their own knowledge of the field. However, reliable critical methods may be even more applicable when attempting to understand citation dynamics that exist within less familiar fields.

Rather than accepting citation behavior as a reflection of research quality or impact, these methods may allow us to ask a broader set of questions about the power dynamics that shape scholarly production. Why is one field or subfield seen as more prestigious or impactful than another? How do subfields or themes within a given subject area relate to one another? These questions are not only interesting research questions; they are relevant for librarians tasked with reporting on research impact, as well as for the practice of academic librarianship more generally. Bibliometric approaches capable of critiquing, rather than reproducing, existing structures of power and influence may be of use to any librarian seeking a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics that influence academic research and knowledge production.

Today, I am a Research & Engagement Services librarian at a university in the U.S. State of
Ohio. Back in 2022, I was earning my Master’s in Library and Information Science and working two very different library jobs. Then, in September 2022, I sustained a major head injury, and it altered the way I approached librarianship entirely. I suddenly had to adapt the practices and principles that I brought to my career in order to accommodate my new normal, but as I developed into the academic research librarian that I am today, I discovered that the professional applicability of this altered approach to library work is not exclusive to librarians with past head injuries.

In this 30-minute short-paper presentation, I will walk attendees through the tactics and techniques that I created then and still use today for memory assistance, task and time management, self-care and bodymind acceptance, and asking for help when I least want to. Because these are all skills that any librarian around the world can resonate with, I will then explain the practicality of my systems for both disabled and non-disabled librarians alike and demonstrate adaptations that attendees can use to personalize my post-concussive practices to align with their own identities, stuck points, and roles in their library.

This session introduces sensory mapping as a critical and reflective approach to information literacy and library space design. Sensory maps, visual representations of how individuals respond to environmental stimuli, offer insights into how learners experience information environments, particularly in academic contexts where cognitive load, emotional responses, and interface design can significantly influence engagement and success (Smith, 2021; Brown, 2020).

Drawing on the CILIP definition of information literacy as “the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use” (CILIP, 2018), this session positions sensory mapping as a tool for empowering learners to articulate their experiences and challenge assumptions of neutrality in library spaces. It aligns with the SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy, especially Evaluate, Manage, and Reflect, by encouraging learners to critique their own behaviours and preferences (SCONUL, 2011).

Participants will learn:

How sensory mapping can identify barriers and preferences in information-seeking behaviours.

Practical strategies for incorporating mapping into inclusive practice, including Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.

Ways to use sensory maps to support students with learning differences, anxiety, or unfamiliarity with academic norms.

The session will include interactive activities where participants explore sample sensory maps and discuss how these tools can foster co-creation, accessibility, and learner agency. Case studies from academic and GLAM settings will illustrate real-world applications. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas for integrating sensory mapping into their own critical practice and contributing to broader conversations around equity and inclusion in higher education.

In recent years, a great deal of literature has focused on how best to support LGBTQ+ library patrons, but far less attention has been given to the identities and work practices of LGBTQ+ librarians, especially in non-English-speaking countries.

My qualitative study fills this research gap by conducting semi-structured interviews with five German LGBTQ+ librarians about their level of ‘outness’ in their workplaces, what helped or hindered them during their coming out process, and if/how their LGBTQ+ identity impacts upon their professional practice.

The investigation was guided by Clair, Beatty and Maclean’s (2005) model of invisible social identity management, which argues that sexuality is a concealable stigma and that LGBTQ+ individuals can thus decide to conceal or disclose their identities in any given situation. Thematic analysis of the interview data generated five themes: visibility versus self-protection: reasons for and strategies used in coming out; barriers to coming out and resistance towards these; supports in coming out; libraries as parallel world, which cited participants’ reasons for choosing to work in libraries, and finally, the ‘rainbow point of view’, which examined the question of whether there are specifically LGBTQ+ ways of working within librarianship.

Based on the findings of my study, I make recommendations on how to better support LGBTQ+ librarians in Germany and beyond, which is especially pertinent in today’s increasingly LGBTQ+-hostile political environments.

I am proposing to deliver a presentation that summarises the key points of my book chapter “Why are some ideas easy to believe on little evidence”. This describes the social and emotional factors that lead people to place credence in misinformation.

There are probably as many causes of belief in fake news, conspiracies, and misinformation, as there are people and beliefs. I am going to focus on a selection of some of the most influential factors and inevitably this will leave out much of the field. The key question is why people believe in misinformation given that it lacks evidence that should be considered to be objectively convincing; it is this lack that makes the belief interesting. I think many of our beliefs are held for emotional and social reasons rather than because they fit a rational worldview, so I will focus on these reasons.

These ideas have relevance to everyone concerned with the rise of misinformation. Understanding what attracts people to unsubstantiated ideas and how they can be best persuaded to reconsider their approach, is important to anyone involved in education. 

The session will cover questions like:

·       Why do we prefer to place our trust in information received from friends and family rather than advice from experts and professionals?

·       What types of belief are particularly resistant to change?

·       What happens under conditions of uncertainty and stress?

·       What techniques can counter the impact of misinformation? Including inoculation and pre-bunking.

I will be presenting from PowerPoint slides. I like to run an interactive session and take questions and observations at any time. I will invite people to consider if they currently, or have ever, entertained any ideas they now realise to be false.

Stone, A. (2025) Why are some ideas easy to believe on little evidence? In C. Brown and G. Handscomb (Eds) Demagogues, Populism, and Misinformation. Leeds: Emerald Publishing Limited.

Bhaskar Mitra is an independent researcher based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal, Canada. His research focused on AI-mediated online information access and questions of social justice and emancipation in the context of these sociotechnical systems. He is currently serving as the ACM SIGIR Secretary and as an Associate Editor for the ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS) journal.

He has received several awards for his research, including two ACM SIGIR Early Career Researcher Awards (2024) for excellence in research and in community engagement. He received his Ph.D. (2021) in Computer Science from University College London. He previously worked at Microsoft for 19 years, first at Bing and then at Microsoft Research. However, last summer he made the decision to leave the Big Tech/Silicon Valley ecosystem in objection to their harmful practices and in particular their complicity in the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

While aging is a universal experience, ageism remains a pervasive yet frequently unexamined form of prejudice within society and libraries. This session critically interrogates the prevailing "generational divide" discourse—exemplified by tropes such as the "baby librarian" and "OK Boomer" memes—positioning them as reductive narratives that undermine equity. By examining the disparate impact of ageism on both emerging professionals and late-career practitioners, this analysis reveals how ageist assumptions function as a barrier to inclusive library service and organizational health.
This presentation explores how ageism compounds existing biases related to gender, race, and disability, creating unique vulnerabilities for the youngest and oldest members of the community. We will critically evaluate the "digital native" and "technological obsolescence" binaries, challenging the paternalistic frameworks often applied to patrons (e.g., 18, 25,60 years old.)

Through reflection and engagement, participants will engage with a theoretical and practical roadmap for fostering intergenerational solidarity. By dismantling ageist hierarchies, libraries can transition toward more equitable praxis that authentically honors the diverse lived experiences of all staff and community stakeholders.

Critical approaches in libraries have long accepted a “better some than none” stance toward description, often relying on front-line staff to provide interpretive care that mitigates gaps and ambiguities in physical spaces. This session extends that critique by asking what happens when collections are encountered digitally, where users’ struggles are largely invisible, mediation is absent, and descriptive decisions silently determine who is able to engage at all.

As libraries and archives increasingly rely on digitization and automation to provide access at scale, descriptive decisions become some of the most consequential acts we make and yet, the labor that can go into them is increasingly constrained. Understanding how these systems shape discovery is essential if we want access to function as more than availability and instead support meaningful engagement with collections for all potential users.

This session examines description and discovery as interpretive infrastructures rather than neutral technical processes, using Reveal Digital's digital collections as a site of inquiry. It reflects on how decisions about metadata, structure, and scale shape what becomes legible, searchable, and usable for research particularly for marginalized histories and cultural materials.

This session invites participants to step back from familiar debates about access and inclusion to examine how description and discovery shape what can be seen, found, and understood in collections. It offers a space to think collectively about assumptions the field has normalized, especially the acceptance of partial description and discovery environments that rely on professional mediation and training of users to conform to library and archives practices. Attendees will benefit from an opportunity to reflect with others on how description and discovery shape user experience and understanding, particularly in digital contexts. The session aims to foster shared thinking about where current practices may be strained and where new approaches could be explored.

Hardman, E. (2025). Bridging Capacity and Care: A Field Report on Archives and Special Collections. JSTOR.

Kim, J. (2025). Metadata as Radical Care: How Community-Led Archives Reimagine Descriptive Practices. iJournal, 10(2).

Punzalan, R. L., & Caswell, M. (2016). Critical directions for archival approaches to social justice. Library Quarterly, 86(1), 25–42.

Yakel, E. (2003). Archival representation. Archival Science, 3(1), 1–25.

Society is currently experiencing turbulent socio-political times, and higher education has not been immune to the ramifications. Now more than ever it is imperative that we as educators make the space for our students to not only feel academically supported, but culturally safe. One way to do this is to use our students’ lived experiences and identities as the foundational perspective for tailored instruction.

In this session, the author will discuss her previous doctoral research and how its tenets can be applied to instruction in various disciplines. The original study sought to understand individualized information literacy instruction for first-year students of color in higher education, and the impact of that instruction on student performance and confidence levels. The study was conducted at a four-year doctoral granting higher education institution and was designed as a QUAL+quan convergent mixed-methods study. It utilized critical race theory (CRT) as its theoretical framework, a participatory action research (PAR) approach for its design, and critical pedagogical practices to tailor the instructional content and delivery.

The instruction was designed as a multi-session information literacy (IL) workshop series delivered outside of the traditional classroom and was comprised of six one-hour sessions: an initial focus group, four IL sessions focusing on specific aspects of the research process, and semi-structured interviews. Data collected through discussions, open-ended activities with rubrics, and pre- and post-series surveys, were analyzed to determine whether the instructional series impacted student learning outcomes.

The results showed the series had a positive impact on student performance and their confidence levels pertaining to understanding and applying IL concepts. The study is significant as it is the first to specifically utilize CRT and PAR in a multi-session IL workshop series for first-year students of color delivered outside of the traditional classroom and can serve as a model for other institutions.

In an age that has become increasingly dependent on technology, it’s important to maintain a critical perspective, particularly as newer and more complex tools and devices emerge. Technology is often painted as a bright, shining fixture of the future, and those who question its use or adoption may be branded as anti-progress, and are often called Luddites.

The popular usage of the term ""Luddite"" conjures images of people who fear technology and wish to read hand-written books by candlelight. But the Luddites have suffered from a grave misunderstanding of who they were and what they stood for. In reality, they offer an important lens for a critical consideration of emerging technologies, especially those that impact and will be used by students.

In this conversation, the audience will get a summary of the key beliefs of the original Luddites, and we’ll explore how taking a neo-Luddite perspective is not only beneficial but is necessary for school librarians, who are often on the front line of new educational technology. If we value the safety, security, and education of students, being a Luddite is truly the only option for the responsible school librarian.

As homelessness increases across the UK, public libraries, as one of the only places in society in which one can exist without the expectation of paying for the privilege, have become a key safe space for homeless individuals. This has, however, led to growing tensions between library users and increasingly overworked and overstretched staff, who are expected to do more with ever-tightening budgets. This session will explore this issue, informed by the results of a nationwide qualitative survey into the attitudes of UK library staff towards homeless library users and through discussion of the topics covered in the presenter’s forthcoming book, Public Libraries and Homelessness: A Practical Guide (Facet Publishing, 2026).

This session will be split into two distinct parts. The first half will explore homelessness in libraries as it stands today, covering topics like the statistical levels of homelessness in the UK, the informational needs of homeless library users, as well as contentious issues such as odour and sleeping. The second will begin with a brief Slido questionnaire to gauge audience opinion on the topic before exploring and discussing the results of the survey conducted in late 2024 which sought to answer the following research questions:

• How do library staff across the UK perceive homeless users of public libraries?

• Can staff identify particular challenges faced by homeless users in using their services?

• How can public libraries across the UK better help their homeless users address these challenges in the future?

Results from this survey cover the themes of prejudice, library policy, library spaces, library funding and co-operation with external agencies.

This session will allow staff from all types of libraries to reflect on how they can best strive to provide an equitable library service which meets the needs of all their users, and attendees will leave with a better understanding of one of the most pressing topics facing public libraries today.

Over the last decade, decolonising discourses have been widely taken up within academic library spaces, and the notion of neutrality increasingly questioned. However, the decolonial turn has largely overlooked Romani Gypsies and Travellers, and institutional recognition of their enormous contributions to British cultural heritage remain mostly absent. This paper focuses on recordings of Romani and Traveller singers held by the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) in London, and how access to, and representation of, these collections might be decolonised.

Recordings of Romani and Traveller people have had a lasting impact on folk song repertoires in the UK and Ireland. However, the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of Romani and Traveller singers have historically not been acknowledged in the VWML’s catalogues, rendering them searchable only with specialist knowledge. Their songs have therefore been implicitly added to the canon of national folk music, and co-opted not to tell Romani and Traveller stories and history, but those of the majority population.

This paper addresses specific issues relating to the representation of Romani Gypsies and Travellers in the folk song heritage of England through the lens of the VWML collections and their metadata, and suggests ways forward for the greater accessibility of these materials, especially amongst the communities came from. It outlines how the VWML has collaborated with academic partners, Romani and Traveller communities, and cultural events organisers, to create new resources which bring these collections into the open and engage wider communities in the UK today.

Recordings of Romani and Traveller people have had a lasting impact on folk song repertoires in the UK and Ireland. However, the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of Romani and Traveller singers have historically not been acknowledged in the VWML’s catalogues, rendering them searchable only with specialist knowledge. Their songs have therefore been implicitly added to the canon of national folk music, and co-opted not to tell Romani and Traveller stories and history, but those of the majority population.

This paper addresses specific issues relating to the representation of Romani Gypsies and Travellers in the folk song heritage of England through the lens of the VWML collections and their metadata, and suggests ways forward for the greater accessibility of these materials, especially amongst the communities came from. It outlines how the VWML has collaborated with academic partners, Romani and Traveller communities, and cultural events organisers, to create new resources which bring these collections into the open and engage wider communities in the UK today.

Every time a memorial develops, we are presented with reminders of the physicality of grief. In the wake of tragic events and the eventual removal of memorials—be they ephemeral by design or ‘permanent’ markers that no longer suit contemporary needs—it often falls to librarians and archivists to make sense of the mass of papers, paraphernalia and stories that appear. As contemporary culture continues to become more aware and mindful of death’s presence in everyday existence, it is important to bring a wide variety of academic approaches to the study of death and grief.

In the field of librarianship, the archive is often considered to serve as a memory space with its mission being to organise and memorialise the past and bring attention to the stories that these collections contain. One of the problems inherent in this selection process is the determination of what gets archived—which objects are deemed worth saving and by whose criteria.

Librarians and memory workers operate on the front lines when it comes to documenting and preserving many of the objects and stories associated with grief, both personal and collective. They employ a variety of organisational tools and approaches to the creation and dispersion of information and their ability to perform traditional research and data-based approaches makes them highly valuable to the intellectual community. Yet their critical perspectives on this topic, which stem from their experiences working directly with these materials, has yet to be covered extensively in related literature.

This talk focuses on the work contained in our forthcoming volume, Libraries, Archives and Collective Grief, which explores the role libraries and archives play in preserving, processing, and commemorating loss. We will explore some of the ways in which grief presents itself in the daily work of practitioners and its prevalence in the idea of memory work.

Anti-transgender rhetoric has been spreading in the United States of America for many years, but the inauguration on January 20, 2025 marked a sea-change in the sociopolitical situation and information ecosystem around trans Americans. This session will offer a comprehensive rundown of the new, anti-trans federal paradigm in the U.S., situating attendees in our current sociopolitical context as relates to the trans community; and discuss its impacts on trans people as well as on libraries, library workers, patrons, services, and librarianship as a profession.

Please note that this session will not offer hard policy prescriptions. Rather, it will take a broad, systems-level approach, with the goals of:

1. Providing general knowledge and education

2. Exploring the contemporary American frameworks undergirding our cultural and informational structures

3. Suggesting ethical guidance and potential action steps to take moving forward.

This proposal for a 30-minute presentation is derived from my UCL LIS MA dissertation (submitted in September 2024). The dissertation explored the relationship between libraries’ current self-positioning on JEDI (justice, equity, diversity and inclusion) and their collecting and curation of selected titles from Toni Morrison’s editorial corpus.  Since the second wave of Black Lives Matter, many major libraries have issued new commitments to anti-racism and EDI.

My paper examines how their statements, and the ‘anti-racist turn’ (in both libraries and LIS) might have affected collecting practice during the years 2020-24. Focusing on selected national, university and public libraries in the US and UK (five in each), it uses Toni Morrison's radical and diverse editorial list at Random House (1972-78) as a collection case study. Connecting the two time periods as significant ‘moments’ in publishing and libraries respectively, it both maps out the current holdings in and (where possible) the acquisitions history of the selected titles and positions each library’ recent JEDI discourse on a spectrum from ‘radical’ (informed by Critical Race Theory) to ‘conservative’ (dependent on ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘inclusion’). It also conducts a focused analysis of the collection and curation histories of two titles: Middleton Harris (ed.), _The Black Book_ (1974), and Angela Davis, _ An Autobiography_ (1974). It asks whether there are any striking correlations (or non-correlations) between the radicalness of a library’s self-positioning on JEDI and its holdings in (and curation of) the selected Morrisonian titles. It compares different library types in this regard: US versus UK; national versus academic or public; and legal deposit versus non-legal deposit. In its final section this paper analyses a range of the project’s findings and articulates both its implications and its limitations.

This paper is of interest to those keen to learn more about libraries' recent JEDI declarations, about the relationship between JEDI and collecting, and the (often overlooked) intersection between JEDI and Historical Bibliography.

Disinformation has become a defining feature of our era, undermining trust in institutions, democracy and knowledge. Participatory information and knowledge systems, such as Wikipedia, and pedagogical interventions including information literacy (IL) are often praised for their capacity to combat disinformation, however they too can be strategically exploited by ideological actors.

This presentation draws on a qualitative study of the Croatian Wikipedia (Car & Šobota, 2025), combining a theoretical–conceptual analysis of disinformation and platform governance with interviews with journalists and activists involved in exposing historical revisionism. The study examined how the platform contributed to the dissemination of disinformation through ideological capture by right-wing political activists and sustained historical distortion.

The case demonstrates how disinformation can be institutionalised through process manipulation: the weaponisation of neutrality and verifiability policies to exclude dissenting perspectives and legitimise a single ideological narrative as objective fact. It shows that even users equipped with IL skills were unable to counter disinformation when it was embedded within platform governance and enforcement structures. The Croatian Wikipedia case illustrates broader structural risks inherent in participatory knowledge systems and exposes limitations and potential harms of traditional, source-based or deficit approaches to IL, particularly when standards of credibility and authority are controlled by actors who exploit the fundamental principles on which IL relies.

In response, the study advances critical IL (CIL) as a more robust analytical and pedagogical framework. CIL shifts attention from content to context, foregrounding the sociopolitical dimensions of knowledge production, power relations, platform governance, and the conditions under which openness becomes a vulnerability. Rather than offering simplistic solutions, we argue for a normative approach that establishes the connection between CIL and confronting disinformation, with clear (political) implications, also for critical librarianship. These will be elaborated in a session delivered as a short paper presentation followed by a discussion.

Car, V., & Šobota, D. (2025). Disinformation as a tool for digital political activism: Croatian Wikipedia and the case for critical information literacy. Journal of Documentation, 81(5-6), 1145–1162. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2025-0020

Narratives about leadership create challenges in attracting critical librarians into leadership roles. Traditional directive and hierarchical leadership practices are at odds with the values that led many of us to critical librarianship.

These narratives, particularly the image of a leader who “knows it all” and has an answer for everything, can undermine the confidence of newer leaders, especially those who accepted the role reluctantly and without prior leadership training.

This session will introduce the coaching leadership style, a strengths-based approach that is aligned with critical praxis, as an alternative to more directive leadership styles. “Coaching” has been used in many ways, so I'll start with the definition from the International Coaching Federation and then provide a brief overview of the core coaching skills most relevant to library leaders.

I plan to include some personal narrative about my path from using critical pedagogy in the library classroom, to becoming a reluctant leader and adapting those skills, to learning about coaching as an established leadership style. 

Library workers who are considering or who have been resistant to moving into managerial roles will learn about a leadership style that may be more aligned with their values than traditional hierarchical approaches.

Library leaders will learn additional strategies to empower their team members.

Kirsten MacQuarrie is an author and a chartered librarian whose debut novel Remember the Rowan was longlisted for The Highland Book Prize and a finalist in The People’s Book Prize. She is also the editor of Feminist Librarianship, the UK's first book dedicated to feminist principles, practices and provocations within LIS, which was published by Facet in Women's History Month 2026.

As Sector Development Manager for CILIP Scotland, Kirsten founded Winspiration, CILIPS’s ongoing programme of feminist workshops, webinars and recommended readings for library professionals, which has highlighted the hidden herstories of women like decolonising cataloguer Dorothy Porter and, through the #NotOurJob campaign, made CILIPS the first professional association in Europe to take a public stand against sexual harassment in libraries. In 2023, Kirsten was honoured to appear on the CILIP125 list, which marked the 125th anniversary of CILIP’s Royal Charter by highlighting a new generation of librarians, information and knowledge management professionals who drive positive change, make a difference and have an impact across all sectors.

Autistic people experience many health and social disparities, including barriers to accessing health care, social care, education, leisure activities, housing, and employment. Access to information plays an important role in social barriers, and it is therefore crucial to understand more about autistic people’s information needs and information journeys.

This paper (Duffin et al., 2025) is based on the results of a qualitative doctoral study investigating autistic people’s information needs from their own perspective through their use of informational support and online groups and settings (Duffin, 2024). The paper explores the role of online groups and spaces for autistic people in their users’ information journeys, and presents a descriptive model illustrating the information journeys of people who use online groups for autistic people, and are autistic or believe that they might be. The model shows how people who have been diagnosed with autism or who are awaiting professional assessment, seek and encounter online information about autism The paper also discusses a number of information behaviours that the study participants identified as related to autism, and the role of online groups and spaces for autistic people within users’ information journeys.

The study draws on a theoretical background of information needs and information behaviours (Wilson, 1999), sensemaking theory (Dervin, 1998), and the social model of disability (Eneya & Mostert, 2020; Oliver, 2013), through which the results are viewed. The session will include a presentation of the paper and discussion of the findings, which might be particularly relevant for those with an interest in neurodiversity, disability, and accessibility issues.

Dervin, B. (1998). Sense‐making theory and practice: an overview of user interests in knowledge seeking and use. Journal of Knowledge Management, 2(2), 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673279810249369  

Duffin, S. J. (2024). The role of informational support in online groups for people on the autism spectrum [University of Sheffield]. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/oai_id/oai:etheses.whiterose.ac.uk:34645

Duffin, S. J., Bath, P. A., & Sbaffi, L. (2025). The role of online groups for autistic people in users’ autism information journeys. Journal of Documentation, 81(4), 1095–1124. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2025-0022

Eneya, D., & Mostert, B. J. (2020). The application of the social model of disability and Wilson’s model of information behaviour towards effective service delivery for students with disabilities within an academic library context. Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(1), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.4314/ijhss.v11i1.

Oliver, M. (2013). The social model of disability: thirty years on. Disability & Society, 28(7), 1024–1026. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2013.818773

 Wilson, T. D. (1999). Models in information behaviour research. Journal of Documentation, 55(3), 249–270. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000007145

This session builds on research conducted as part of Clare’s MA research at the University of Sheffield about the experience of neurodivergent individuals working in academic libraries (Camp & Finlay, 2025). The limited research available on neurodivergence in libraries has typically focused on the user experience while staff experiences are typically overlooked. The original research attempted to address this gap, while this session will focus on how recommendations from the research regarding inclusive recruitment practices were implemented in the workplace – charting the approach, successes and challenges of the project group.

The research findings let to an Inclusive Interview Question Task & Finish Group; made up of Clare and other library staff to review recruitment and interview questions through the lens of neuroinclusion. Three main outputs will be shared:

·   Guidance for hiring managers for designing inclusive interview questions.

·   A review of a selection of anonymised interview questions from past recruitment.

·   An example bank of adaptable interview questions that illustrate best practice.

The session will benefit those looking to improve or influence recruitment practice in the workplaces, with a specific focus on interviews. It will also benefit those who are looking for examples of how lived experience research can be actualised into genuine workplace and service improvements.

Camp, C., & Finlay, J. (2025). The experiences of neurodivergent Library and Information Science [LIS] professionals working in academic libraries – a case study. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 51(5), Article 103115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2025.103115

A lack of hope in critical pedagogy has been perpetuated since Ellsworth’s 1989 article, “Why doesn’t this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy.” In our current political climate, it is more important than ever to trust that our individual pedagogical actions can create lasting change to counteract feelings of burnout and demoralization in library workers’ professional and personal lives. A reframing of critical pedagogical methods as actions taken as a result of choosing hope is a key part of the solution to counteracting the sense of stagnation within critical librarianship.

This session will review the history of critical pedagogy being viewed as “stuck,” present a counterargument based on the belief that hope is a choice that encourages action, and provide examples of this theory put into classroom practice.

Ellsworth, E. (1989). Why doesn’t this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review, 59(3), 297–325. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.59.3.058342114k266250

This session examines how international cataloguing standards systematically marginalise classical Arabic personal names through persistent colonial epistemologies, revealing that medieval Islamic bibliographic practices achieved better cultural preservation compared to contemporary systems that consistently erase essential naming components while imposing inappropriate Western surname-based conventions.

The research reveals a fundamental contradiction in library science: standards claiming universality while privileging Western conventions, with a huge gap between theoretical requirements for cultural inclusion and actual practice in authority records. This matters because cataloguing systems shape whose knowledge receives recognition within supposedly neutral information infrastructures, showing how colonial structures persist through normalised technical practice.

This research applies decolonisation theory to technical services by demonstrating how cataloguing standards function as sites of cultural power, treating Arabic naming conventions as "non-standard" rather than equally valid organisational principles. It further encourages librarians to ponder on the question: whether "international" standards truly serve global communities or merely universalise Western epistemologies?

Attendees will gain critical insights into how technical standards perpetuate systemic marginalisation embedded in cataloguing infrastructure, with evidence of theory-practice divergences. It will help participants in developing a critical approach regarding how technical decisions carry cultural implications while gaining practical tools and concrete recommendations—including shuhra-centric approaches and mandatory retention of cultural naming components—that can inform both daily cataloguing practice and advocacy for standard revision.

There is evidence to suggest that school/children's library staff have a strong commitment to the theory of intellectual freedom and have become more confident in addressing external censorship challenges over the last two decades. However, there appears to have been less progress in relation to self-censorship. Library staff are still, perhaps understandably, making decisions that attempt to avoid potential conflict or challenges.

In the session, I will present findings from a recent survey of attitudes towards censorship and freedom of information amongst UK school and children's library staff. Whilst much of the current discussion of censorship focuses on external challenges to library resources (e.g. from parents or pressure groups), this paper will discuss self-censorship and the role of critical information theory in supporting decision making around resource selection and access.

Attendees will be invited to consider the ways in which critical theory can support reflective practice, in particular around issues relating to intellectual freedom. Whilst the session will focus on research relating to school/children's libraries, the broad themes will be relevant for people from other sectors too. I hope people will benefit by reflecting on their own practice - and relating this to the survey responses which I will present.

The United States has the largest prison population in the world, which feeds its prison industrial complex (PIC) that disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic minorities. Higher education’s use of prison labor in procurement practices is well documented, and furniture in academic libraries is often sourced from prison labor. Alfred University, a private higher education institution in New York state with a State University of New York (SUNY) statutory component, has a unique relationship with prison labor manufacturing. SUNY procurement policies, following New York state law, list a department of corrections manufacturer as its top preferred vendor. 

As members of Alfred University Libraries’ working group on anti-racism and anti-oppression, we wanted to understand how prison labor affected our workplaces. In order to better understand this we undertook an audit of our patron furniture. We found connections to prison labor through state and private manufacturers, raising questions on libraries’ relationships to procurement and ethics. In grappling with these questions, the AU Libraries decided to adopt an ethical purchasing policy. The presenters are currently working with its university faculty senate to adopt a similar institution-wide approach.

In this presentation, we will provide context for and detail the AU Libraries’ investigation into the libraries’ relationship with prison labor, identify steps that we have taken to advocate for ethical purchasing policies, and identify relevant takeaways for librarians interested in learning more about their relationship with the PIC, specifically opportunities and challenges in adopting an ethical purchasing policy. The audience will have an opportunity to engage with a Q&A and consider how they might apply the information in this paper to their own institutions.

In 2024, our small team of two librarians and two library technicians wanted to explore how different library employee groups were experiencing remote work opportunities.  We followed scoping review methods to search the literature but instead of finding answers to our questions we found a gigantic data gap. This gap is the result of research designs that do not include the full range of library workers, that use job titles inconsistently, and that do not disaggregate data by employee group. This lack of accurate data collection or disaggregation has led to the exclusion of the voices and experiences of many library workers, especially library technicians, associates, and clerks. These voices are essential to organizational justice, to understanding our workplaces, and to improving them for everyone.

To further understand this data gap, we completed a close analysis of the articles found through our literature search with a focus on which employee groups were included, how terms were used to describe library employees, and if data were disaggregated by employee group.  Studies that included multiple employee groups were then further analyzed to understand what caused the data gaps and how they could be avoided in the future.

This session will both provide examples of how library research currently reports on the experiences of library workers and suggest concrete actions that will ensure that all library workers' voices are heard in the future. We will encourage discussion on the impact that this data gap has on libraries as workplaces and gather suggestions from participants on what they can do to effect positive change in their own research practices and workplaces.

Citational Justice is often concerned with the equitable (re-)distribution of goods, privileges, or participation, but this approach can reinforce quantitative increase over qualitative improvement and reinscribe citational justice in a system of neoliberal politics. Progressive political thinkers like Iris Marion Young and Martha Nussbaum have argued that a move away from a distributive paradigm is necessary for social justice. Nussbaum and philosopher/economist Amartya Sen are associated with what is sometimes called the "capabilities approach" to human development, and Young has theorized a social connection model of social justice, both of which can be usefully applied to questions of citational justice. 

In this paper, I will discuss the approaches of Young and Nussbaum, and argue that their classical liberal approach is inadequate for the contemporary political moment, and that citational justice and library work require a more radical political outlook.