In order for any program or initiative to work, and be meaningful, it has to be evaluated regularly. The program that you initially created may have seemed awesome and absolutely the answer in theory but you won't know this for a fact if you don't analyze how it's actually working in practice.
Category: Library and Information Studies
Finding Equity Through Connected Learning
But what if we could turn that into a learning experience that's fun and inclusive and enriching and provides access to materials and ideas that they wouldn't normally be able to access? If we could do that, we could help them understand that they deserve a good education just as much as anyone else and that their circumstances don't define their worth or their ability to become whatever it is they want to be.
Redefining and Redesigning the Practice of the Reader’s Advisory
Libraries exist in a unique place in our culture and they have the ability to set cultural standards simply by the books that they offer and display, and the ways in which they speak with their patrons about their reading choices. Due to the implied authority of librarians, young readers especially will be influenced by the suggestions that are being made. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. It really just depends on the librarian.
Seriously, Y’all… Get Out of the Library
So, the policies, services, and collections are in place, but that isn't enough. As we've discussed before, not everyone that you are trying to reach is a library patron, yet. They need to know that these services and collections are there for them so how do we do it?
Addressing the Problematic Nature of Cataloging and Collection Development
Weirdly enough--or maybe not so weird--the specific use of "illegal immigrants," a term used to dehumanize and deny agency, was a very large sticking point and on July 10, 2016, the LOC was ordered to continue using that subject heading. Many libraries across the country began creating their own subject headings to bypass this and, as of today, right now, the term is still very much in use within the LC Catalog.
Sometimes You Have to Step Out of the Library
But, the only way for libraries to be a place where the entirety of the community is welcome, is to understand the community in its entirety. And this isn’t something that’s necessarily going to be easy. Librarians have to get to know the people in their communities. All of the people. They have to understand their patrons, and potential patrons and make sure that the library is a place where everyone feels that their needs are being met.
Slouching Towards a PhD in Rhetoric
That was when my advisor and I hit on the idea of connecting these books to Open Access and the idea of who has access to the knowledge, how, and why. Thus was born the idea of the Rhetorics of Knowledge Control and Dissemination.
Grafting Diversity to a Fracturing Framework
The inherent problem is that these statements are being grafted onto a framework that is steeped in white supremacy and has been for decades. Diversity statements cannot just be attached, like a rider that no one actually reads.
In Which We Once Again Revisit the Myth of Library Neutrality
**Disclaimer-While I have my MLS, I am not currently a librarian. I'm a PhD student in Rhetoric and I'm a graduate research assistant in the TWU library, where I've worked for 5 years. I also happen to be taking a library school class as an elective. These posts are part of a weekly reading response. … Continue reading In Which We Once Again Revisit the Myth of Library Neutrality
Access and Equity In Theory… and In Practice
**Disclaimer-While I have my MLS, I am not currently a librarian. I'm a PhD student in Rhetoric and I'm a graduate research assistant in the TWU library, where I've worked for 5 years. I also happen to be taking a library school class as an elective. These posts are part of a weekly reading response. … Continue reading Access and Equity In Theory… and In Practice
Bluestocking Writes... 