Program
Technology is often championed as the great equalizer--a perfect set of tools and services that make our libraries run more smoothly, and reach broader audiences. It is important, however, to be critical of the ways technology does or does not address inclusion, equity, or systemic oppression, or indeed exacerbates core problems.
As libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutions attempt to embed diversity and equity into the core of their institutional practices, it can be helpful to provide ample platforms for discovering, engaging with, and highlighting powerful narratives that reflect the work we must do in order to continue pushing against systemic oppression--or to highlight where we aren’t pushing hard enough.
LITA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee is hosting three fifteen-minute presentations on topics of choice around diversity, equity, inclusion, or anti-racism and anti-oppression frameworks--to name a few. However, these programs and presentations will be up to the selected presenters to decide, and may or may not directly speak to technology in some format. Whatever their focus, though, they will provide an opportunity for attendees to confront their assumptions and biases, challenge norms and narratives that may dominate their thinking. Our hope is that attendees walk away making connections between presented content and their individual contexts, while opening themselves up to considering how these topics might reflect their individual work or institutional initiatives at large.
The panel will include:
Christine Smith, Collections Services Librarian at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Monica Figueroa, Music Cataloging Librarian, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
JJ Pionke, Applied Health Sciences Librarian, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
ALA Unit/Subunit: LITA
Meeting Type: Program
Cost: Included with full conference registration.
Open/Closed: Open
Christine Smith
Collection Services Librarian
Concordia University
Monica Figueroa
Music Cataloging Librarian
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
JJ Pionke
Applied Health Sciences Librarian
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign