Margo Gustina

I'm a PhD candidate in the University of New Mexico Department of Economics and a Bowden Fellow in the University of Texas at Austin iSchool. 

My research agenda is on public libraries as nodes in socio-ecological systems which can facilitate or inhibit adaptive ways of being and doing. 

PUBLICATIONS

Gustina, M., Guinnee, E., Bonney, R., & Decker, H. (2022). Pathways to Wellbeing: Public LibraryService in Rural Communities. Journal of New Librarianship, 7 (2), 159–189. https://doi.org/10.33011/newlibs/11/14

Gustina, M.E., and Norton, M.H. (2022, June 14). “There Are No Lanes: Rural Libraries Do It ALL”. Library Journal. https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/There-Are-No-Lanes-Rural-Libraries-Do-It-ALL-Backtalk 

Guinnee, E.M., Gustina, M.E. (2021). “Role of Rural Libraries in Supporting Social Well-Being in their Communities: participatory research to support social justice”. Chapter in Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science (pp. 30-44). Bharat Mehra ed. Routledge.

Gustina, M.E. (2018, April 18). “Critical Optimism: Reimagining Rural Communities through Libraries”. In The Library With The Lead Pipe .http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/critical-optimism  

Gustina, M.E. and Guinnee, E.M. (2017, June 8). “Why Social Justice in the Library? The case for shifting library policy, practice, and culture toward radical inclusivity”. Library Journal. 

https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=why-social-justice-in-the-library-outreachinreach# 

CURRENT & ONGOING PROJECTS

Libraries in Community Systems

What is the value of a library to its community? What is its function within local networks & social-ecological systems?

This collaboration between Northern New York Library Network, four state and four native nation and pueblo governments, and seventeen community libraries is ongoing through 2024.

Rural Libraries & Social Wellbeing

We ask: In what ways are libraries a component of social wellbeing in isolated rural communities? How do they do it?

In this field and quantitative research we learned that libraries facilitate belonging, mutualism, and self-determination, helping residents experience" the good life" on their own terms.

Communities+Libraries: a community-first process

Open pedagogy & open access. If your organization is committed to supporting a cohort-based experiential learning program to deepen local bonds between community partners & libraries, this is for you.

Hooray for ___!

Resources & workshops developed to help bring library practice closer to professional ethics by handling sticky tricky grey areas.