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. |
Building Holistic Library Services with Intersectional Feminist Ethics of Care
$250.00
Dates: July 6 - August 2Credits: 1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs
Libraries often strive to meet diverse community needs, yet the result has too often been standardized, “one-size-fits-all” service models that flatten differences and leave many patrons underserved. These approaches, rooted in neoliberal logics of efficiency and scale, prioritize generalized solutions over relational engagement, thus reinforcing exclusion and inequity. This four-week course challenges those assumptions by asking what it would mean to design services to prioritize relationships rather than systems.
Grounding ourselves in an intersectional approach to feminist ethics of care, thus utilizing other critical pedagogies, we will explore holistic and justice-oriented methods that recognize patrons as complex individuals with cultural wealth, lived experiences, and diverse forms of knowledge. Together, we will engage with the idea that libraries are not “ours” as practitioners but belong to our communities and that we must therefore take a context-based and relational approach to our work. We will interrogate the ways in which monolithic service narratives and even perfunctory approaches to feminist and critical pedagogies cause harm to our patrons.
Participants will learn to apply a feminist ethics of care framework from an intersectional lens, therefore engaging in critical analysis of this theory in addition to benefits of it, to their daily work. Through centering deep inquiry, practical strategies, and collaborative discussion, we will consider how to embed care, respect, and equity into services and research practices. We will also examine the intersections of wellness, access, and community engagement, envisioning how libraries can align strategic goals with holistic and caring models that support the diverse needs of patrons. By the end of the course, participants will have the tools to begin reshaping their practice, amplifying marginalized voices, and committing to the ongoing work of building libraries as spaces of belonging and transformation.
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
– Apply intersectional feminist ethics of care in conjunction with other critical pedagogical frameworks—including holistic education, contemplative practice, and community cultural wealth theory—to library contexts.
– Reflect on personal positionality and implicit biases and consider how these impact relationships with your communities as well as service expectations within libraries.
– Design practical strategies that embed care, equity, and inclusion into library services, outreach, research practices, and to your own management of work and life.
– Develop action steps to align holistic approaches (e.g., wellness and community engagement models) with institutional priorities and long-term goals for transformation.
Course Description
Libraries often strive to meet diverse community needs, yet the result has too often been standardized, “one-size-fits-all” service models that flatten differences and leave many patrons underserved. These approaches, rooted in neoliberal logics of efficiency and scale, prioritize generalized solutions over relational engagement, thus reinforcing exclusion and inequity. This four-week course challenges those assumptions by asking what it would mean to design services to prioritize relationships rather than systems.
Grounding ourselves in an intersectional approach to feminist ethics of care, thus utilizing other critical pedagogies, we will explore holistic and justice-oriented methods that recognize patrons as complex individuals with cultural wealth, lived experiences, and diverse forms of knowledge. Together, we will engage with the idea that libraries are not “ours” as practitioners but belong to our communities and that we must therefore take a context-based and relational approach to our work. We will interrogate the ways in which monolithic service narratives and even perfunctory approaches to feminist and critical pedagogies cause harm to our patrons.
Participants will learn to apply a feminist ethics of care framework from an intersectional lens, therefore engaging in critical analysis of this theory in addition to benefits of it, to their daily work. Through centering deep inquiry, practical strategies, and collaborative discussion, we will consider how to embed care, respect, and equity into services and research practices. We will also examine the intersections of wellness, access, and community engagement, envisioning how libraries can align strategic goals with holistic and caring models that support the diverse needs of patrons. By the end of the course, participants will have the tools to begin reshaping their practice, amplifying marginalized voices, and committing to the ongoing work of building libraries as spaces of belonging and transformation.
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
– Apply intersectional feminist ethics of care in conjunction with other critical pedagogical frameworks—including holistic education, contemplative practice, and community cultural wealth theory—to library contexts.
– Reflect on personal positionality and implicit biases and consider how these impact relationships with your communities as well as service expectations within libraries.
– Design practical strategies that embed care, equity, and inclusion into library services, outreach, research practices, and to your own management of work and life.
– Develop action steps to align holistic approaches (e.g., wellness and community engagement models) with institutional priorities and long-term goals for transformation.
Kelleen Maluski
Kelleen Maluski has over 20 years of experience working in academic libraries, with most of her time spent as a Student Success Librarian for the Health Sciences and now works in publishing. Active as a scholar and community organizer, her work centers on breaking down barriers to information, understanding health care disparities and how our research practices bolster them, and creating more just and welcoming spaces to share all ways of knowing. She has utilized feminist ethics of care, in conjunction with other critical pedagogies, to reframe building out library and community services for over 15 years.
How to Register
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