41st chat, September 8 2015: information and migrant populations

Moderated by @bembrarian
Storify (pdf, html) by @violetbfox

Topic: As a librarian with professional experience in Philadelphia and Seattle, I have encountered and worked with many migrant and immigrant populations from all over the world. I recently have been working as a librarian and information management specialist in Cambodia, where the idea of migratory patterns and movements between rural areas and cities is an ever-growing trend. Today we will talk about the role of the library in a place/community, and its impact on migrant populations. While we explore these ideas, keep an open mind about what “migration” means. This topic is not solely regarding migrant workers. From children of military to refugees to rural migrant workers to city transplants, individuals who encounter physical movement from one place to another will also encounter disruptions in their ability to retrieve information and solve everyday problems. What lessons might we learn from each other regarding the texture of the population where we serve? How does the ubiquity of the Internet and the assumption of the ubiquity of the Internet impact our assumptions about populations where we serve?

Suggested readings:

• Wikipedia page on “Human Migration” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_migration): For general definitions, an overview of human migration theory, and some great reasons why people move from one place to another, read this page. I particularly like Lee’s laws, which include push and pull factors (Everett S. Lee (1966). “A Theory of Migration”).
• Southeast Asian Globe: “Power to the People?” (http://sea-globe.com/cambodia-working-class-david-hutt-southeast-asia-globe/): For perspective on the country I am currently living and working in, check out this article. Many individuals have been moving to the Phnom Penh from rural/provincial agriculture positions over the past decade and that drastically affects class structure.

Discussion questions:

• Q1. What migrant populations do you serve at your library? Does your library observe migration and how?
• Q2. What are key components that define “place” and “community,” and how can libraries/librarians embody those core qualities?
• Q3. How can the library provide culture support to migrant populations during crises in information seeking?
• Q4. How can libraries become more welcoming in general to new individuals and populations in the community?
• Q5. For groups and individuals who will leave the community for elsewhere, what support can the library provide?

Additional reading:

• Another very telling article on Phnom Penh’s developments and urban migrations: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/capitals-rapid-urban-migration
• Seattle Public Library: “Literacy, ESL and Citizenship” (http://www.spl.org/audiences/literacy-esl-and-citizenship/esl-online-resources): Here is one example of a public library’s initiatives to support new members to a community. As you review, note the tension between broad support and a degree of intimacy with the community.
• UN: “Migration Should Be ‘a Journey of Hope, Not a Perilous Gamble’, Secretary-General Tells Stockholm Forum, Urging Fresh Ideas, Innovative Partnerships” (http://www.un.org/press/en/2014/sgsm15842.doc.htm): A rather inspiring document questioning policy and institutional best practices regarding migrant populations. Additional UN migration documents can be found here: http://www.unric.org/html/english/library/backgrounders/migration_eng.pdf

Resources from chat participants:

• “How the United States Immigration System Works: A Fact Sheet” http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/how-united-states-immigration-system-works-fact-sheet
• “U.S. Weighs Offering More Help As Migrants Arrive In Europe” http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/08/438512031/u-s-weighs-offering-more-help-as-migrants-arrive-in-europe
• “Reaching Immigrant Populations: Serving the Culturally & Linguistically Diverse, the Queens Library Model” http://bid.ub.edu/21/gitne2.htm
• “Columbus Community College, Public Library Partner” http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/08/academic-libraries/columbus-community-college-public-library-partner
• “College Assistance Migrant Program” http://oregonstate.edu/dept/camp/
• “Resisting the Hegemony of Development: The Struggle of Nellie’s Cave Community” – http://www.jstor.org/stable/41445623?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
• “Mi Familia Weekend” https://www.facebook.com/MiFamiliaWeekend
• “MCPL Checkout Information” http://mcpl.info/checkout/checkout-information&quicktabs_checkout=1
• “The Revolution will Not be in English” http://amc2015.alliedmedia.org/event/933305a3eb25bc09851a775edfa4e545#.Ve-MtfQbjAA
• “Librarians on the Frontlines” http://amc2015.alliedmedia.org/event/ae9be8d2eea46350c8b906769b14a5e4#.Ve-PkfQbjAB

40th chat, August 25 2015: tenure track and social justice work

Moderated by @lalaleefull and @AprilHathcock

Storify (pdf, html) by @jvinopal

Suggested readings:

• Koritha Mitchell. “I’m a professor. My colleagues who let their students dictate what they teach are cowards.” Vox. June 10, 2015.
• Emily Drabinski. Keeping our own time. Academic Library Instruction Burnout. June 16, 2015.

Topic: “The struggle to transform our institutional practices fundamentally also involves the grounding of the analysis of exploitation and oppression in accurate history and theory, seeing ourselves as activists in the academy, drawing links between movements for social justice and our pedagogical and scholarly endeavors and expecting and demanding action from ourselves, our colleagues, and our students at numerous levels.”
~Chandra Mohanty, Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity (2003)

This chat is not meant to exclude public librarians, special librarians, school librarians, or academic librarians who are adjuncting or in non-tenured professional lines. Job security and academic freedom are the overarching concerns that we can address as librarians writ large. Though some of the discussion questions may “read” academic, all viewpoints are welcome. Essentially, how can we balance agitating for change and working for social justice within the parameters set for our specific positions?

Discussion questions:

TT = tenure track NTT= not tenure track

Lead in: Tenure/guaranteed contract/security comes with caveats and expectations.

• Q1. Is tenure/guaranteed contract necessary for effective critical/social justice work? Why or why not?
• Q1.2. Does TT lend itself to creating certain types of change and NTT to others?
• Q2. If you actively sought/seek a TT job, what attracted you to the position? If you avoid applying for these jobs, why?
• Q3. How does being considered for tenure/guaranteed contract help/hinder you in terms of critical and social justice work in your library or institution?
• Q3.1. How does it impact your scholarly or other output? Do you feel pressure to publish in certain venues/on certain themes as opposed to others?

39th chat, August 11 2015: working from within the system to create change

Moderated by @fiiidget
Storify (pdf, html) by @poorcharlotte

Readings:

• What’s Next: The Radical, Unrealized Potential of Digital Humanities by Miriam Posner: http://miriamposner.com/blog/whats-next-the-radical-unrealized-potential-of-digital-humanities  While this talk addresses DH specifically, it frames well the struggle between some of the inherent biases of the systems that we work with and within, and the potential and urgency of learning how to subvert and transform those systems into something that is more equitable across the board.
• Now Hiring Smiling Faces (And Who Cares About Your Insides) by Maria Accardi – Academic Librarian Instruction Burnout: https://libraryinstructionburnout.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/now-hiring-smiling-faces-and-who-cares-about-your-insides/  And on the flipside, this blog post (and the entire excellent blog!) addresses well the difficulty of trying to do good work in places that don’t always support you.

Discussion questions:

• Q1: By working in places such as academia, govt or public libraries, do we implicitly endorse their oppressive systems and histories?
• Q2: How do you separate yourself from policies and structures that you disagree with? How do you indicate that to others?
• Q3: How do you balance desire for personal enrichment (and a paying job) with the harmful structures of the institutions we engage with?
• Q4: In what ways can we stop the cycle of wanting to create change and then falling away as the pressures of the system get us down?
• Pitch: Know of any resources, lists, blogs, zines, communities that deal with these questions? Want to start one?

38th chat, July 28 2015: critical with love

moderated by @barnlib
Storify (pdf, html) by @poorcharlotte

Reading: Trần, Ngọc Loan. “Calling IN: A Less Disposable Way of Holding Each Other Accountable.” Black Girl Dangerous. December 18, 2013. Accessed July 15, 2015. http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2013/12/calling-less-disposable-way-holding-accountable.

Discussion questions:

• Intros: Who are you, where to you work/school/whatever, and what is your #1 #critlib distraction?
• Q1. Read the reading if you haven’t already. http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2013/12/calling-less-disposable-way-holding-accountable #critlib If you have, look at pandas for a minute. [panda gif]
• Q2. Is “calling in” or general kindness a priority tactic in a critical library? Why or why not? #critlib
• Q3. What might “calling in” look like in a critical classroom, service point, or staff interaction? #critlib
• Q4. How should a person with white (e.g.) privilege respond to a call out or call in from a POC, vs. another white person (e.g.)? #critlib
• Q5. Are there times when calling out is necessary? When? Why? #critlib
• Q6. What are the implications of calling in/out if the person has authority over you or you over them? #critlib

Pitch from @barnlib: complete alternate chat time survey

37th chat, July 14 2015: environmental and labor implications of library technology

moderated by @ibeilin and @cat_lager
Storify (pdf, html) by @oksveta 

Readings:

• You’re No Fun Anymore: The Ethics of Acquiring Electronic Devices in Light of E-Waste, Sweatshops, and Globalization by Jennifer Poggiali: http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2015/Poggiali.pdf
• “Beyond Swag” by Dave Hudson. Mostly readable from the google books link, ping @ibeilin or @cat_lager for pre-pub PDF. https://books.google.ca/books?id=GTUPWhh0j9AC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA193#v=onepage&q&f=false

Discussion questions:

• Q1 What are the problems with the idea of ‘ethical consumerism’ in general and for libraries in particular?
• Q2 Does a consumerist model of library service encourage a consumerist model of environmental responsibility in libraries?
• Q2.5 Does this tendency undermine the ‘core values’ of librarianship?
• Q3 How can libraries not only be more environmentally responsible but also consume and produce less?
• Q4 How can libraries/librarians take collective approaches, rather than consumerist-individualist ones, to environmental problems?
• Q5 What are some ‘ethical quandaries’ that could become learning experiences for students, as Jennifer Poggiali suggests?

36th chat, June 30 2015: critiquing #critlib

moderated by @jacobsberg
Storify (pdf, html) by @foureyedsoul

Suggested resources:

• Timothy Mitchell’s “Rule of Experts,” excerpt or review forthcoming http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520232624,
• Queer Theory and the Politics of Correction by Emily Drabinski: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/669547 (poke @edrabinski for a copy!)
• Libraries and postmodernity: a review Radical Cataloging by Jacob Berg http://beerbrarian.blogspot.com/2012/06/libraries-and-postmodernity-review-of.html

Discussion questions:

• Q1. Is the terminology used by #critlib a barrier to entry to it?
• Q2. As a product of the academy, to what extent is #critlib using “the master’s tools” to dismantle it?
• Q3. If the goal of #critlib is to be emancipatory do practitioners have a duty to evangelize?
• Q4. Critical approaches to librarianship often depend on the interpretation of participants to make meaning. Does this make #critlib too personal? That is, are we too close to our methods?

35th chat, June 16 2015: critical perspectives on data, surveillance, and the privatization of higher ed

moderated by @sarahcrissinger
Storify (pdf, html) by @sarahcrissinger

Relevant readings:

• Neoliberalism, Corporate Culture, and the Promise of Higher Education: The University as a Democratic Public Sphere, Giroux (section entitled “Incorporating Higher Education” is the most useful for this discussion)
• Thinking Out Loud About Patron Privacy and Libraries #nisoprivacy, Bobbi Newman http://librarianbyday.net/2015/06/08/thinking-out-loud-about-patron-privacy-and-libraries-nisoprivacy/
• Educational Technology readings:
  • Grooming Students for a Lifetime of Surveillance, Irwin https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/grooming-students-for-a-lifetime-of-surveillance
  • Maggie’s Digital Content Farm, Watters http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/maggies-digital-content-farm/
• Research examples pertaining to open data, surveillance, and inequality:
  • “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks”http://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788.full (An academic article published with Facebook data- read the comments for more information about IRB issues, how depending on corporate entities creates a black box for data, and how no real form of consent was used)
  • Apple ResearchKit https://www.apple.com/researchkit/ & “Apple’s new ResearchKit: ‘Ethics quagmire’ or medical research aid” http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/10/8177683/apple-research-kit-app-ethics-medical-research

Discussion questions:

• Q1. What kinds of data collection fit into the larger movement of neoliberalism in/ privatization of the academy? #critlib
• Q2. What are some critical practices we can employ to learn about our community’s needs without invading their privacy? #critlib
• Q3. What role do librarians play as #infolit educators? How can we teach students to be skeptical of unethical data practices? #critlib
• Q4. How might librarians push back on exploitative practices like surveillance and the selling of data to corp, esp in ed tech? #critlib
• Q5. As libr do outreach for DMPs, how can we help faculty use transparent data practices while remaining aware of privacy & equity? #critlib

34th chat, June 9 2015: feminist contributions in LIS

moderated by @fiiidget, @g_q_amy, @ghislane, @dinahhandel
Storify (pdf, html) by @DinahHandel

Topic: This #critlib chat is one of the class projects in Pratt SILS LIS 697 Gender and Intersectionality in LIS. The moderators and students are: Sarah (@fiiidget), Amy (@g_q_amy), Bianca (@ghislane), and Dinah (@dinahhandel). The course is taught by Jessica Hochman (@jessicahochman), and we’ve added our syllabus under the suggested readings for this chat. We’ve also been using the hashtag #LISgender to discuss our readings and related content on Twitter.

Suggested readings:

• Syllabus to LIS-697 Gender and Intersectionality in LIS: http://bit.ly/1FbPY2Y
• Intersectionality on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality
• DeFrain, E. and Pagowsky, N. “Ice Ice Baby: Are Librarian Stereotypes Freezing us out of Instruction?” http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2014/ice-ice-baby-2/
• Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies Colloquium, October 2014. Agenda (with links to presentations): http://litwinbooks.com/2014agenda.php. Presentations from this conference we’ve used in class to talk about race, gender and LIS:
  • The Legacy of Lady Bountiful: White Women in the Library by Gina Schlesselman-Tarango. Important to understanding the complex workings of race in LIS is an investigation of the ways in which it has been shaped by gender. A field dominated by white women, tracing the role that the white female body played in early librarianship can illuminate today’s demographic makeup. Calling on the Lady Bountiful archetype, this paper interrogates the ways in which patriarchy, racism, and notions of femininity have and continue to work in LIS education and practice.

Discussion questions:

• Intros: Please introduce yourself. If you’d like, please share your approach to feminism using text, links, or other methods!
• Q1: Do you feel like librarianship is a feminized (or racialized) profession? Does that impact how you do/feel about your job?
• Q2: What categorical binaries (i.e., public/private; insider/outsider) exist in LIS work? When do you notice them? What are their implications?
• Q3: [In our course we’ve discussed intersectionality (where two or more -isms meet) in LIS.] How have you seen identity categories intersect in your work with colleagues, patrons or general LIS practice?
• Q4: What interventions have you/do you want to implement in your LIS practice that were influenced by critiquing/rethinking current practices?

33rd chat, June 2 2015: kinesthetic learning and #critlib

moderated by @Heath_Bears
Storify (pdf, html) by @hrdavis

Readings:

• “Learning Information Literacy Through Drawing” by David James Brier and Vickery Kaye Lebbin
• See also: Human Library. They haven’t been updating their website, but the Human Library Facebook page is much more active. They are also called Living Libraries.

Discussion questions:

• Q1. What are some ways you have fostered #critlib hands-on/bodily learning in your library?
• Q2. How does hands-on/bodily learning bolster #critlib? Where are some areas it is most needed? Where are limitations?
• Q3. What are some areas in #critlib where we might integrate hands-on/bodily learning? Where are some places it is most needed?
• Q4. How would hands-on/bodily learning impact other aspects of librarianship? Instruction? How can we bring the body into #critlib?
• Q5. What is the long term effects/goals of bringing hands-on/bodily learning into #critlib?
• Q6. How does hands-on/bodily learning challenge established practices of librarianship? #critlib

32nd chat, May 19 2015: public libraries and #critlib

moderated by @hamtron5000
Storify (pdf, html) by @InfAgit

Discussion questions:

• Q1: What does #critlib look like in the public library/how do publib employees use critical lenses to inform their work?
• Q2: Pub libs as a “neutral” space; how does that stereotype inform our work (ref interviews, material requests, etc)?
• Q3: As agents of “authority” (county, city, district, etc), how can we “speak our truth” to those in positions of power who are often our employers?
• Q4: As one of the “last free spaces” in the public sphere, what unique critical responsibilities do we have to our patrons?
• Q5: What resources (print, online, etc) would you recommend for a public library staff to increase their #critlib knowledge?