Examining Institutional Racism in Libraries

$250.00

Credits: 1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs

Critical approaches to librarianship call on us to recognize the inherently political nature of information and to center social justice within our practice. However, we don’t always have time to read and discuss the literature on a focused area of social justice in our field. In order to do better, we need to know better.

This course will provide a structured space to read and discuss some foundational as well as current scholarly literature related to racial justice issues in libraries. Each week will feature assigned journal articles to read and reflect on, and then discuss on the forums. We will explore basic concepts of Critical Race Theory and journal articles applying this approach to specific aspects of librarianship, and we will discuss ways to extend this critical lens to additional aspects of librarianship and ways to work toward greater justice in libraries.

The content level will assume that participants signed up because they see racial justice as a valid and important concern, but participants do not need special background beyond that. Those with more background knowledge of this area may also benefit from the structure a course provides to (re)read these articles and participate in discussions of their content.

By the end of the course, students will have:

  • Read some foundational and current articles that analyze structural or institutional forms of racism in libraries
  • Examined the ways unquestioned structures and patterns can lead to racist outcomes, regardless of intent
  • Discussed examples of how patterns discussed in articles can also be found in many of our institutions
  • Discussed ideas and strategies to challenge and hopefully change these problematic structures

This course can be taken as one of four courses needed to earn our Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion Skills, but can be taken as a stand-alone course as well.

Course Information

Session

Credits

1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs

Registration dates

We accept registrations through the first week of classes, unless enrollment is full, and unless the class was canceled before it started due to low enrollment.

Course Description

Critical approaches to librarianship call on us to recognize the inherently political nature of information and to center social justice within our practice. However, we don’t always have time to read and discuss the literature on a focused area of social justice in our field. In order to do better, we need to know better.

This course will provide a structured space to read and discuss some foundational as well as current scholarly literature related to racial justice issues in libraries. Each week will feature assigned journal articles to read and reflect on, and then discuss on the forums. We will explore basic concepts of Critical Race Theory and journal articles applying this approach to specific aspects of librarianship, and we will discuss ways to extend this critical lens to additional aspects of librarianship and ways to work toward greater justice in libraries.

The content level will assume that participants signed up because they see racial justice as a valid and important concern, but participants do not need special background beyond that. Those with more background knowledge of this area may also benefit from the structure a course provides to (re)read these articles and participate in discussions of their content.

By the end of the course, students will have:

  • Read some foundational and current articles that analyze structural or institutional forms of racism in libraries
  • Examined the ways unquestioned structures and patterns can lead to racist outcomes, regardless of intent
  • Discussed examples of how patterns discussed in articles can also be found in many of our institutions
  • Discussed ideas and strategies to challenge and hopefully change these problematic structures

This course can be taken as one of four courses needed to earn our Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion Skills, but can be taken as a stand-alone course as well.

Angela Pashia

Angela Pashia is a leadership and career development coach with a dozen years of experience as an academic librarian. Angela's approach to coaching focuses on partnering with clients to empower them to reach their goals, whether they’re ready to take their career to the next level or feel stuck in their job and want to explore their options beyond libraries. Angela's featured group program is designed to support library leaders in developing a coaching approach to leadership, adapting the professional coaching skills that are most relevant for library leaders. Angela graduated from an ICF-accredited professional coach training program in 2023. As a librarian, Angela focused on using critical pedagogy approaches in teaching critical information literacy, mentoring colleagues, working against structural oppression within libraries, and growing as a collaborative leader. Angela published two co-edited books and several book chapters and articles on these topics. Angela’s latest book, Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice, co-edited with CJ Ivory, was published in 2022. Angela’s first co-edited book (with Jessica Critten), Critical Approaches to Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Courses, was selected as an ACRL Instruction Section, Teaching Methods Committee Selected Resource in 2020. Learn more at https://angelapashia.com/

Lorin Jackson

Lorin JacksonLorin Jackson (pronouns: she/them) is originally from New York City and currently lives in West Philadelphia. They work as the interim Head of Access & User Services, as well as Black Studies Librarian at Swarthmore College. Lorin identifies as Black, Indigenous, Queer, Gender Non-Conforming, and Disabled. Before becoming an academic librarian, Lorin worked with under-served youth in the non-profit and educational sector for a decade. During this time, they held positions as a teacher and Program Associate in after-school youth development programs in the Bay Area. In her spare time, Lorin likes to read, organize, listen to podcasts, DJ, dance, and craft.

How to Register

To enroll yourself or other participants in a class, use the “Register” button that follows the description of each course. If the “Register” button does not show up, try loading the page in a different web browser. Contact us if you have technical difficulties using our shopping cart system or would like to pay for an enrollment using another method. On the payment page in the shopping cart system, there is a place to add notes, such as the names and email addresses of participants you wish to enroll. We will contact you to request this information in response to your processed payment if you do not include it in the “notes” field. Prior to the start of the workshop, we will send participants their login instructions.

Payment Info

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Alternatively, if it is an institutional payment, we can arrange to invoice you. Contact us by email, and we can make arrangements to suit your institution's business processes.

Special Session

Please contact us to arrange a special session of this class for a group of seven or more, with a negotiable discount, or to be notified when it is next scheduled.

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