CALC 2021

Short paper (30min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk

A case study report critically analysing the limitations and impact of equality and diversity strategies, leadership and culture on the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ staff, the extent to which they feel they can be their authentic, true selves in the workplace, the factors constraining this and the impact this has on their psychological well being, efficiency, performance and capacity for innovation. Particular attention will be paid to the particular behaviours, situations and organisational mechanisms that trigger feelings of alienation, oppression, isolation, fear and disadvantage and those that encourage feelings of belonging, inclusion, community, confidence and the ability to behave and express authentically in the workplace. This is used to make recommendations for library leaders to create psychologically safer, better integrated and comfortable spaces for LGBTQIA+ library staff and raise awareness of the adverse impact of limited organisational ambitions for equality and inclusion on the capacity of LGBTQIA+ library staff to engage and perform optimally and to engage in the creative conflict and innovation that drives services forward.

Recording

Slides / Text Alt. / Handout

Long Paper (60min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk, Attendee Reflection

In this session I will outline and discuss the findings of my paper entitled “Colour Blind: Investigating the racial bias of virtual reference services in English academic libraries”. It outlines an original email-based observation study which sought to investigate whether there is evidence for implicit ethnic bias or discrimination displayed in virtual reference interactions conducted at academic libraries in England. The study analysed 158 virtual reference interactions with 24 academic libraries in England and found trends of unequal service provision provided to users based potentially on ethnicity or race. The results of the study also pointed to an overall lack of adherence to professional guidelines provided by IFLA (2002) and RUSA (2013), which themselves are found to lack any engagement or consideration of the impacts of race and ethnicity on library service provision.

This session will outline the trends of unequal service provision found through the study and discuss the implications of such unequal provision. This study represents a unique contribution the body of literature on ethnic or racial biases in library provision, and I hope it triggers meaningful and impactful conversations between professionals and professional bodies on the importance of acknowledging and contextualising the foundations of the academic library as being rooted in Western and colonial hegemonic structures, and the implications of those structures on the services provided to users.

Recording

Slides

Long Paper (60min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk, Demonstration, Attendee Discussion, Attendee Reflection

This long paper/workshop presents a current LIS postgraduate student’s critical librarianship project Open Aspirations. The project was launched in September 2020 after a year of preparation. Working in collaboration with a LIS lecturer, the Student aims to encourage her fellow students to reflect on the issues of structural racism within higher education, libraries and beyond. The goal of the academic year 2020-2021 was to deliver two workshops, a student feedback survey on curriculum inclusivity and a conference titled LIS Classroom Re-Imagined.

In this paper/workshop, the Student and Lecturer will 1) explain the project’s framework and their growing partnership; 2) demonstrate a combined version of their Open Aspirations workshops A Safe Place and Encountering and Learning from Differences; and 3) discuss the project’s potential impact on LIS education. The original workshops, each of which accommodates only up to 10 participants, are designed to provide the students with a safe space to share their personal views and experiences relating to the lack of racial/ethnic diversity in the library sector. The students were also invited to become more aware of their intersectional identities within a broader perspective of equity, diversity and inclusion. So far, the challenges for the facilitators have been to build a sense of togetherness in a virtual setting, as well as to gently encourage the group to open up about themselves whilst keeping the atmosphere of the workshop non-threatening.

Through their discussion and demonstration, the Student and the Lecturer will connect the CALC audience with an inclusive classroom climate they have been seeking to create at their library school. By doing so, they will also offer a reflective/participatory space for the audience to explore connections between librarian education, library practices and the ever-increasing importance of EDI learning in the future development of librarianship.

This session was not recorded.

Slides

Long Paper (60min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk, Demonstration, Attendee Discussion

Maria King is an Academic Liaison Librarian at Coventry University involved with teaching and supporting students with various academic skills, including developing their skills in being critical when engaging with information, sources and authority.

Her teaching and learning is influenced by the theory and practice by ‘punk pedagogy’, an approach to teaching and learning which has its roots in constructivist theories of learning and stresses the role of the student taking ownership of their own learning, the concepts of questioning and critiquing and developing a do-it-yourself ethos. Punk pedagogy challenges authoritarian classroom power structures and encourages learners to develop their own resources, express their individuality and engage in creative rebellion.

Maria will discuss how this pedagogical model has influenced her practice as an educator, focusing particularly on how she attempts to develop students to be critical learners, and also to take ownership and control for their learning. The session will outline and describe the theory of punk pedagogy and give practical demonstrations of how Maria applies the punk pedagogy philosophy into her teaching practice.

Attendees will also be invited to reflect on their own teaching and learning activities and discuss areas where a punk pedagogy approach could fit into their practice.

Recording

Slides

Panel Discussion (60min)

Session Content: Panel Discussion, Attendee Reflection, Attendee Questions

We are a group of students, teachers and library workers organising the Working Class Academics Conference 2021 (https://workingclass-academics.co.uk/).

We know from our work and educational experiences that libraries are key to students’ independent engagement with scholarship and finding voice as writers and thinkers. They are vital in providing a conducive learning environment, which working-class students may not otherwise have available.

At the same time, the dominant cultures of education and librarianship are middle-class, and libraries represent and reflect middle-class values and norms throughout their educational practices. We recognise libraries, from their foundations to collections, reading lists, and as learning spaces represent a site of marginalisation within education settings.

The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified class inequalities and injustice, with students’ access to their regular learning environments being restricted or unavailable, and many working-class students experiencing digital poverty due to lacking access to the devices and data connections needed to support online study.

In a panel discussion, we will reflect critically with CALC attendees on our experiences of the role of libraries in working-class educational experiences. We will ask how we can connect our critical practices as working-class educators with critical library practices, how we can better represent working-class experience and identity at the intersection of those critical practices, and how we can improve the interface between academic libraries and working-class students.

We reject discourses of deficit that position the knowledge and literacies of working-class students and communities as lacking, in fact we unapologetically celebrate the cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) of working-class communities. We are particularly keen to create a space which sees, recognises and celebrates the knowledge of working-class library workers at CALC.

Citation:

Yosso, T.J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-91. doi:10.1080/1361332052000341006

Recording (partial)

Slides / PDF

Short Paper (30min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk

Both the library and the university have, historically, been places intimately – if imperfectly - involved in the creation of publics. This session engages critical theories of publicness with ongoing empirical research into public access to academic libraries in the UK.

The session will be divided into four sections. We will begin with an overview of the history of the imagined public of the academic library in the UK. The second section will present the early findings of ongoing research into academic library access nationwide, considering layers of inclusion and the position of the university in the wider community. Next we focus on one library - The Hive, Worcester - and present findings from Katherine’s three year ethnographic research based there. The session will conclude with provocations around different models of community and how we might try to imagine the community of the library differently. These relate to critical approaches to libraries by challenging a narrow and delimited focus on who the academic library is for and how it sits with its local environment. We contend that the library should be a place through which the university is embedded within its locale as well as a place for community to be formed among and between students and other publics.

We think people should attend our session to help think with us about ways to expand understandings of who the academic library is for. They will learn about the history of academic library access, the current state of play in the UK and findings from ethnographic research into The Hive, Worcester, an example of an ambitious approach to public access to academic libraries.

Recording

Slides / Citations

Short Paper (30min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk

Since the widespread adoption of the internet, academic publishing has been described as being in need of change. Its continued reliance on subscriptions and paywalls has been seen as contradictory to the potential for the internet to allow the free sharing of knowledge, generally known as ‘open access’. Recent changes, particularly among wealthy funders in the sciences, have made an open access world more likely; the prestigious science journal, Nature, for instance, began allowing authors to publish open access as of January 2021. The issue, even so, remains contested, with publishers, funders, librarians, institutions and researchers all frequently disagreeing over how this new form of publishing should come about. In this talk, I will address the perspective frequently missing from these debates, and the difficulties of those in that perspective: that of publishing workers, as represented by trade unions.

In this talk, I am working from a frequent common-sense principle in trade unionism: the people who know the most about a particular activity -- in this case, publishing -- are those who get out of bed every day to do it. I will also discuss how the career pressures on researchers, often encapsulated by their encounters with publishing, are commonly shared by those working within publishing companies. By servicing the needs and demands of academia, however good or bad, publishing often comes to exemplify its inequalities. A precarious researcher may struggle to retain access to materials, for example, when outside of short term contracts. But these inequalities are also felt by publishing staff, if not publishing companies, and so this common ground can be a basis for collectively addressing problems. And I will attempt to draw out some ways in which everyone with an interest in publishing can effectively collaborate with publishing workers to build a more equitable future.

Recording

Slides

Short Paper (30min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk

In 2020-2021, I undertook a research project to write the collection development policy for Book 28, an LGBTIQ+ special library. In this talk, I will take you through the different steps of writing the policy, the research I used to inform it, and the critical approaches I took. In doing so, we shall examine the literature on LGBTIQ+ information needs, and how these are failing to be met by UK public libraries. We shall also consider the ethics of collection development for marginalised groups and the radical librarianship practices that can be used to inform them. Finally, we shall look at the policy produced and discuss its usefulness as a tool. The policies are specific the unique context of Book 28 as an LGBTIQ+ library fighting to promote library services for queer people, so cannot and should not simply be lifted as the policies for other types of collection. However, the talk will highlight many issues faced in queer collection development that will be relevant for all libraries, especially public ones, who want to improve their LGBTIQ+ holdings.

Recording

Slides

Long Paper (60min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk, Demonstration, Attendee Activities

Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the negative impact of Big Data in our politics has been well documented. Less attention has been paid to understanding other types of data are being used by organisations and individuals to campaign for political and change. What if we can challenge those in power in favour of progressive causes using open or user generated data? What would this mean for campaigning for public library funding for example? And what is the role of librarians and information professionals in facilitating this? How do we equip the communities we serve with both the knowledge and skills to challenge dominant narratives and fight for positive social change using data?

My dissertation looked at how data is being used by organisations and individuals to campaign for political and social change. I wanted to research a campaign called "School Cuts" set up by a coalition of education trade unions. I wasn't able to conduct the research because of COVID-19 but the work I did do in preparation got me thinking about how political and social causes might be served by open or Big or user-generated data.

Across the globe, social movements are using data as part of their repertoire of campaign tactics to advance social justice causes. From fighting air pollution in Pristina to exposing the true extent of deforestation in Brazil, activists are using data in different ways to advance their agenda. Sophisticated mashups of open and user generated data are being used by citizens and their representatives, to target help in humanitarian disasters and stop cuts to public transport in big cities.

Based on a review of the literature, this paper seeks to start a conversation about how data can be used to fight marginalisation, what the role of intermediaries is, and whether librarians are paying enough attention to issues of data literacy. The session will be interactive and include lots of opportunities for participants to think more deeply and collectively about an overlooked topic, and generate ideas and networks for campaigning with data and data literacy.

Recording

Slides

Short Paper (30min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk

This short paper details interim findings from two small research projects funded by the Education Quality Enhancement Fund (EQEF) at Northumbria University during the academic year 2020/21. The first project used a series of online focus groups with students from ‘Computer and Information Science’ and ‘Criminology’ Departments and worked with them as co-creators reflecting on the diversity of their reading lists, and collaboratively identifying readings that better reflected marginalised voices within their modules. Examining the differences between the subject areas was also an important feature of this research, as was using an ‘Inclusivity Matrix’ (Stockdale & Sweeney, 2019) to facilitate discussion within focus groups. The second project employed a student curator from the participating departments, working with academic staff and the University Library to develop student-led resources including additional reading list and publisher materials, library displays, and the creation of virtual materials such as podcasts and videos in relation to the project, thereby enhancing the development of critical information literacy skills. Interim findings from these 2 projects will be shared, particularly regarding the challenges of researching in a Covid environment, the key outcomes from these projects, and the differences that exist between Arts and STEM departments regarding inclusivity and diversity of curricula and associated reading lists. This research will be of most interest to those working in an academic library sector, but also may appeal to those who are wanting to undertake research using focus groups in an electronic environment or wishing to use a tool such as the ‘Inclusivity Matrix’ to challenge reader viewpoints and enable discussion and debate surrounding the diversity and inclusivity of reading in general.

Recording

Slides

Long Paper (60min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk, Demonstration, Attendee Activities

What's your session about?

Identifying structural inequalities/systemic racism when critically appraising clinical research papers

Why do you think this/these topics are interesting or important?

The underrepresentation of BAME populations in research has been an ongoing problem and evident recently with the COVID vaccine trials. Additionally, there can be issues with the interpretation of disparities in health outcomes for BAME populations in research papers - I think it is important that these issues are recognised and highlighted when appraising/teaching critical appraisal.

How do you think this/these topics relate to critical approaches in libraries?

By helping librarians/information specialists think more critically about racial bias in research, helping researchers of the future to keep these issues in mind when conducting research.

Does your session relate to a specific area of critical approaches in libraries?

Critical theory, Equality, diversity and inclusion, Representation

Does your session relate to a specific area of libraries/librarianship?

Teaching/skills development, Academic skills

Does your session relate to a specific library sector?

Health/clinical libraries

Why do you think people should attend this session?

Racial bias and underrepresentation in clinical studies is a wide problem which includes many factors, and cannot be undone with any one act. Critically appraising completed papers with a BAME lens is one small way we librarians are able to highlight and hopefully tackle these issues.

How do you think people will benefit from attending your session?

Hopefully by allowing people to think more critically with regards to racial bias in research

Recording

Slides

Short Paper (30min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk

Decolonising the curriculum is an important aspect of the movement towards correcting systemic inequalities in Higher Education and is seeing increasing adoption efforts by institutions which is often led or supported by library workers. Diversifying reading lists represents a significant strand with decolonisation efforts. Previous analyses have identified a preponderance of articles from the global north in reading lists (Schucan Bird and Pitman 2019; Wilson 2020), suggesting a geographic bias against authors from the global south in curricula. However, the methods to compile and analyse reading list data have been limited by a resource-intensive process of manual tagging of references. We have developed a novel method of machine-readable code to download journal citations in a reading list, evaluate the distribution of authors by country income of primary affiliation and derive a score for each module within a course. The computational method can be reproduced for other courses and at other time periods to collect comparable data. We have applied this method to approximately 1,200 articles of the Imperial College London Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme over two time periods (2017-18 and 2019-20), and describe using summary statistics, a shift in overall origin of reading lists sources between the two periods and relate this to interventions to decolonise the curriculum at Imperial. The approach of a computational method and interpretation of quantitative results to support diversifying reading lists and broader curriculum decolonisation are discussed.

Schucan Bird, K., and Lesley Pitman. 2019. ‘How Diverse Is Your Reading List? Exploring Issues of Representation and Decolonisation in the UK’. Higher Education, November. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00446-9.

Wilson, Kevin. 2020. ‘Decolonising LSE Collections’. Presented at the Decolonise the Curriculum - the library’s role, London, UK, January 24. https://decolonisethelibrary.wordpress.com/decolonising-lse-collections-kevin-wilsonlondon-school-of-economics/.

Recording

Slides

Long Paper (60min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk, Attendee Discussion, Attendee Activities

Thousands of library workers, academics and students have signed an open letter calling for an investigation by the UK Government and Competition and Markets Authority into the practices of the academic ebook publishing industry (https://academicebookinvestigation.org/). While regulation to tackle market failures in academic publishing is required, reliance on publishers’ goodwill or governmental action alone is unlikely to bring about change as quickly as is needed. The #ebooksos campaign has demonstrated the widespread dissatisfaction felt by library workers at all levels and in multiple sectors and we believe this momentum should be harnessed in the spirit of consumer activism to challenge the status quo of collection development policies which too often satisfy the needs of publishers at the expense of library works, academic staff and students.

In this workshop we will invite delegates to share their perspectives and contribute towards outlining a critical collection development policy that centres the needs of library workers and their users.

Attendees are invited to submit topics/areas relating to developing a critical collection development policy to include in this workshop via this Padlet; https://padlet.com/calcconference/criticalcollectiondevelopment

Short Paper (30min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk

This session will look at the growing Libraries of Sanctuary movement in the UK, and will focus on the particular library and information needs of people seeking sanctuary.

Recording

Slides

Long Paper (60min)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk

This session will describe the development, aims, and content of a 10-week, 2-credit course on Wikipedia and Information Equity taught by two academic librarians in the US, Diana Park and Laurie Bridges. The course was first taught in the Spring of 2019, repeated in 2020, and is now underway for the third time.

Wikipedia has been, and continues to be, a “forbidden space” in many university courses (Lockett, 2020). However, in this course, we flip this idea on its head by championing Wikipedia as a source of information open and freely available to everyone, in contrast to paywalled journal subscriptions and ebooks. Not only do we center Wikipedia in the classroom as a topic for analysis, but we also guide students as they become creators and editors. It is our goal to foster digital and information literacy skills by having students add to publicly available information. In the process they learn about research methodology, develop skills in a wiki-editing environment, and critically evaluate sources. Using Wikipedia as our foundation, we examine how information is disseminated worldwide and at what cost.

Over the 10-week course we have hands-on practical Wikipedia training, using online modules created by WikiEdu (available only to higher education instructors in the US and Canada). In addition, we cover the following weekly topics (which include readings, videos, and classroom discussion).

Week 1: Trolls and online harassment

Week 2. Neutral point of view

Week 3. Fake news and information sources

Week 4.The internet and inequality, “Why is the internet so white and western?”

Week 5. Languages and the internet

Week 6. Gender bias

Week 7. Algorithms and bots

Week 8. Online Censorship

Week 9. Privacy and security

Week 10. Final week (Final Wikipedia articles due, 5-minute presentations, and final course reflection)

You can see our current WikiEdu Dashboard here, https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/Oregon_State_University/Wikipedia_and_Information_Equity_(Spring_2021).

Recording

Slides

Short Paper (30 mins)

Session Content: Presentation/Talk, Discussion

In this session, I intend to explore and share my perspective and experiences of professional behaviours as a working class cis-male and first-generation entrant into a 'professional' occupation. Viewing professionalism as an unwritten but widely-recognised set of behavioural standards that library workers and workplaces expect and enforce, I will invite attendees to reflect and discuss what behaviours and practices they define as professional/unprofessional, what values and assumptions underpin ideas of professionalism and how those standards are enforced in their workplaces. Finally, I will invite attendees to contribute their own thoughts, experiences and advice for library workers for whom professionalism can be a problematic and contested experience.

Recording

Slides

This session is an additional relaxation and wellbeing session at our conference to support our attendees. The session will be led by Maggie Thomas a certified Laughter Yoga Teacher and Laughter Ambassador; http://www.merriemaggie.co.uk/

What is Laughter Yoga:

• It is laughter without relying on humour jokes and comedy and is an aerobic exercise using simulated laughter along with breathing techniques.

• Participants share eye contact, movement and a willingness to join in.

• The Laughter Yoga Movement was branded in 1995 by Dr Madan Kataria, a medical doctor and there are now thousands of laughter clubs in over 100 countries.

Why should you do it:

• Laughter needs to extended from the usual 3 – 5 seconds of social laughter to 10-15 minutes, which is possible through the exercises.

• It needs to be loud and come from the belly / diaphragm.

• To gain the full benefits it needs to be practiced on a daily basis.

What are the benefits:

• These benefits affect people personally by changing their mood, the exercises lower stress and strengthen the immune system.

• Participants breathe more deeply to increase the oxygen in the body and brain making them feel more energised

• It creates connectivity between participants in a caring and sharing environment.

• It helps to nurture a positive attitude and increase resilience.

N.B. Attendees of this session should be aware of any medical conditions that may be contra-indicated for Laughter Yoga and will need to complete this Jotform (https://form.jotform.com/200835319407049) prior to participating in a Laughter Yoga session. In order to participate fully in the session, Maggie has requested that attendees have their video switched on.