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?

31st chat, May 5 2015: educational technology, neoliberalism, and #critlib

moderated by @oksveta
Storify (pdf, html) by @tmillerLibrary

Suggested reading:

• Audrey Watters “Convivial Tools in an Age of Surveillance” http://hackeducation.com/2014/11/13/convivial-tools-in-an-age-of-surveillance/

If you’re still curious/for reference:

• Alison Hicks “LibGuides: Pedagogy to Oppress” http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/libguides-pedagogy-to-oppress/
• Josh Honn “Notes on Student Privacy and Online Pedagogy” http://sites.northwestern.edu/jch629/2014/02/01/notes-on-student-privacy-and-online-pedagogy/
• FemTechNet, “DOCC 2013: Dialogues on Feminism & Technology” http://femtechnet.newschool.edu/docc2013/
• Kevin Hamilton “Learning with Handbrake: A Ripping Story” http://learningthroughdigitalmedia.net/learning-with-handbrake-a-ripping-story

Discussion questions:

• Q1 What are some educational technologies being used in your library? How do you interact with them in your work? #critlib
• Q2 How is edtech not neutral? To you, what are some of the intersections of edtech & politics that we should be most mindful of? #critlib
• Q3 Is “convivial” edtech possible? What are some strategies for subverting oppressive uses of edtech in libraries? #critlib
• Q4 Beyond mitigating harm of dominant edtech paradigms, what are avenues for building out educational uses of tech on our own terms?#critlib

30th chat, April 28 2015: critlib tech manifesto

moderated by @eliganrood and @cynth
Storify (pdf, html) by @violetbfox

Notes to review:  Techifesto Draft & Ideas: http://tinyurl.com/critlibtechifesto

Readings:

• FemTech Net Manifesto: http://femtechnet.org/about-the-network/manifesto/
• Dissertation by Ajit Pyati, Western Ontario University: “Re-Envisioning Libraries in the Information Society: A Critical Theory of Library Technology”: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fimspub/9/ (full dissertation), specifically Chapter 3: A Critical Theory of Library Technology
• Other Manifestos From Which to Drawn Inspiraton: http://femtechnet.org/about-the-network/manifesto/
• Feminists in tech: http://aboutfeminism.me/
• Cyborg Manifesto: http://www.egs.edu/faculty/donna-haraway/articles/donna-haraway-a-cyborg-manifesto/
• Critical Engineer http://criticalengineering.org/
• Manifesto for Humanities in the tech age: http://uchri.org/media/pdfs/Manifesto_Humanities.pdf

Discussion questions:

• Q1. What ideas listed on the critlibtechifesto resonate with you + why? Draft is available @ http://tinyurl.com/critlibtechifesto #critlib
• Q2. Why/Do we need a #critlibtech manifesto? #critlib
• Q3. What are the core values? #critlib
• Q4. Who benefits from the manifesto? Does anyone ‘own’ it? Will it be updated? How ought it to be promoted/distributed? #critlib
• Q5. How/Does/Would it inform other critical conversations happening in libraries (eg. oa, infolit, frameworks, diversity) #critlib

29th chat, April 21 2015: anti-oppressive facilitation strategies

moderated by @alyciaicyla, @captain_maybe, @kellymce
Storify (pdf, html) by @oksveta

Readings:

• On Facilitation, Char Booth: https://infomational.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/on-facilitation/
• Anti-Oppressive Facilitation – Making Meetings Awesome for Everyone, the AORTA Collective: http://aorta.coop/sites/default/files/ao_facilitation_resource_sheet_july_2014.pdf
• Calling IN – A Less Disposable Way of Holding Each Other Accountable, Ngọc Loan Trần: http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2013/12/calling-less-disposable-way-holding-accountable/

Discussion questions:

• Q1. What is good facilitation? What strategies make for a good meeting or discussion? #critlib
• Q2. Tell us about a meeting that reinforced systemic power dynamics or oppressions (e.g. not on an individual basis). #critlib
• Q3. How can participants intervene when there is troublesome facilitation? How can you effectively call out bad behavior in a mtg? #critlib
• Q4. How might we apply feminist/anti-racist theory in discussions? Could librarians adapt/apply the Aorta guidelines? #critlib
• Q5. What resources have you used for facilitation? How have you taught yourself to consciously facilitate? #critlib

28th chat, April 7 2015: critical pedagogy and student/staff development

Moderated by @jmymcginniss

Storify needed

Recommended reading: “Transformative Library Pedagogy and Community-Based Libraries: A Freirean Perspective,” by Martina Riedler and Mustafa Yunus Eryaman, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9yzR15BSR_0YjdibHAyaFFtZTQ/view

Discussion questions:

• Q1. Why are students employed at/by your library? #critlib
• Q2.  How are your interactions with student staff characterized? Is there room for the dialogic process? #critlib
• Q3. How does library employment help student staff to engage with their views of knowledge, power and authority? #critlib
• Q4. How does library employment contribute to the “education of the complete person”? #critlib
• Q5. If you could make one change to move toward employing #critlib in your student staff development approach, what would it be?

27th chat, March 31 2015: what is #critlib, where are we going

Moderated by @pumpedlibrarian

Storify by @hsifnihplod

Discussion questions:

• Q1. Let’s talk about what #critlib is as discourse: what is critical librarianship and what is it not? What does it mean to you?
• Q2. And now what are these #critlib chats, what do they mean to you? Do you have tips for novices? What are the chats and what are they not?
• Q3. Do you have any major takeaways from #acrl2015  or #critlib15 to share? #critlib
• Q4. What’s next? Where are we going? Ideas for action, projects, etc.? This Q is a free-for-all #critlib
• Q5. Would anyone be willing volunteer to organize a #critlib uncon for ALA? #critlib15 part 2?

26th chat, March 10 2015 : makerspaces

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

Suggested links to look at:

• the first 3 pages of [Chapter 7: “Spaces of Learning: The Anarchist Free Skool”](http://rebels-library.org/files/anarchistpedagogies.pdf), plus as much more as you’d like to read (I encountered this link from www.hybridpedagogy.com ‘s Critical Pedagogy #moocmooc, by the way http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/mooc-mooc-critical-pedagogy/ )
• [The Maker Movement and the Rebirth of Constructionism](http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/constructionism-reborn/)
• [Concept Lab on Critical Making](http://monoskop.org/log/?p=13415)
• [Street Libraries: Infoshops and Alternative Reading Rooms](http://web.archive.org)

Crowd-sourced suggested readings:

• Deb Chacra:  http://tinyletter.com/metafoundry/letters/metafoundry-15-scribbled-leatherjackets via @oksveta. Another version published with The Atlantic rather than her personal site: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/why-i-am-not-a-maker/384767/
• Roger Whitson & Dene Grigar’s “Critical Making” webseries:  http://www.rogerwhitson.net/critical-making/?page_id=2 via @nnschiller
• Amy Wickner’s blog post on making, mending, craft, and “counting”:  https://thegirlworks.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/making-counting-herding-worms/
• Sarah Fox, Rachel Rose Ulgado, and Daniela K. Rosner’s “Hacking Culture, Not Devices: Access and Recognition in Feminist Hackerspaces” paper: http://depts.washington.edu/tatlab/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2015_CSCW_Fem-Hacking-Final.pdf via @DinahHandel
• Evgeny Morozov’s “Making It,” tracing comparisons between American Arts & Crafts Movement and Hacking/Making: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/13/making-it-2 via @stupidplover
• John Lanchester’s “The Robots Are Coming”: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n05/john-lanchester/the-robots-are-coming via @stupidplover
• Make: Magazine’s taxonomy of makerspaces, hackerspaces, fab labs, & tech spaces: http://makezine.com/2013/05/22/the-difference-between-hackerspaces-makerspaces-techshops-and-fablabs/
• “The Rise of Feminist Hackerspaces and How to Make Your Own” by Liz Henry via @oksveta [added subsequently but too good not to include]: https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/the-rise-of-feminist-hackerspaces-and-how-to-make-your-own

Discussion questions:

• Q1 What aspects of #critlib mesh well with #makerspaces – access, approach, pedagogy, technology, etc.?
• Q2 What aspects of #makerspaces could benefit from substantial critique? #critlib
• Q3 What might a #critlib version of a #makerspace look like? Do you have experiences with #makerspaces that you’d suggest others emulate?
• Q4 What policies, actions, or programming would you recommend for #makerspaces seeking to be more inclusive and socially aware? #critlib
• Q5 What workshops could libr* lead at #makerspaces to forward #critlib ideas? If unable to affect policy, how can we become involved?
• Q6 Time for #critlib pitches! Feel free to include links to about #makerspaces, diversity, pedagogy, etc.

25th chat, February 24 2015: state of the literature

Moderated by @nnschiller

Storify needed

Links:

• Liberation Librarianship Zotero library: https://www.zotero.org/groups/liberationlibrarianship
• I had an undergrad research assistant add library instruction / #critlib related citations from Information Literacy and Social Justice to a shared Zotero group: Critlib Zotero Library: https://www.zotero.org/groups/critlib

Discussion questions:

• Q1. What aspects of the published #critlib scholarship are strongest? What is currently the most interesting trend?
• Q2. Are there gaps in the #critlib scholarship that want filling? What foundational pieces needs to be in place before we can move forward?
• Q3. Are you interested in #critlib scholarship but would prefer to work in collaboration? Let’s play #critlib yenta and do some research matchmaking.
• Q4. Would a shared Zotero library of #critlib citations be useful? I have a library pulled from a recent book of essays and there is an existing critlib zotero library.
• Q5. Is there a line where #critlib methodology and #critlib core assumptions meet? How do we tell whether disagreements stem from methods or conclusions?

#critpitch: Critical Pedagogy Book CFP, ACRL unconference, ???