What's Indigenous Librarianship?
"Indigenous librarianship unites the discipline of librarianship with Indigenous approaches to knowledge, theory, and research methodology. It has a developing bibliography and local, national and international professional associations devoted to its growth. A focus of Indigenous librarianship is the provision of culturally relevant library and information collections and services by, for and with Indigenous people."
From Burns, Kathleen, et al. 2009. Indigenous Librarianship. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences (Vol. 3, pp.2330-2346). Taylor & Francis.
Featured Books
Aboriginal and Visible Minority Librarians by
Aboriginal and Visible Minority Librarians: Oral Histories from Canada, is a collection of chapters written by librarians of color in Canada writing about their experiences working in libraries. This book is not only for librarians in Canada and for those who aspire to become librarians, it is also for deans, directors, and faculty of libraries and library schools, managers and supervisors in libraries, human resources personnel, and other decision-makers in the field. It will also appeal to researchers interested in race relations, multiculturalism, intercultural communications and management, cross-cultural communications and management, cross-cultural studies, diversity, Aboriginal peoples, indigenous populations, and ethnic or visible minorities. The majority of the chapters written by visible minority librarians come from those born outside of Canada. They speak of their love for their new country, its generosity and support towards newcomers and immigrants, and their reasons for taking up the library profession. While few of the librarians speak of open racism, they narrate their experiences as those filled with challenges, self-doubt and courage. Several of the Aboriginal librarians who contributed to this book have worked within tribal communities and tribal libraries. In spite of working within community environments, they have experienced challenges, especially related to lack of funding. These librarians speak of having to deal with tokenism, lack of mentorship, and working in professional isolation. Some of them narrate their challenges in working with colleagues who do not relate to them. Lack of support is common, as many organizations do not have proper strategies to deal with discrimination. However, these chapters end with a positive note of encouragement for future librarians; the authors encourage all librarians to be engaged, find trusted mentors, seek help when needed, focus on professional development, and find a niche in the organization.
Call Number: Z 720 A46 C22 2014Publication Date: 2014
Indigenous Notions of Ownership and Libraries, Archives and Museums by
Tangible and intangible forms of indigenous knowledges and cultural expressions are often found in libraries, archives or museums. Often the "legal" copyright is not held by the indigenous people's group from which the knowledge or cultural expression originates. Indigenous peoples regard unauthorized use of their cultural expressions as theft and believe that the true expression of that knowledge can only be sustained, transformed, and remain dynamic in its proper cultural context. Readers will begin to understand how to respect and preserve these ways of knowing while appreciating the cultural memory institutions' attempts to transfer the knowledges to the next generation.
Call Number: ONLINEPublication Date: 2016
Narrative Expansions by
The demand to decolonise the curriculum has moved from a protest movement at the margins to the centre of many institutions, as reflected by its inclusion in policies and strategies and numerous initiatives in libraries and archives that have responded to the call, and are critically examining their own historic legacies and practices to support institutional and societal change. Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries explores the ways in which academic libraries are working to address the historic legacies of colonialism, in the context of decolonising the curriculum and the university. It acknowledges and explores the tensions and complexities around the use of the term decolonisation, how it relates to other social justice aims and approaches, including critical librarianship, and what makes this work specific to decolonisation. The book is international in scope, and considers the contextual nature of decolonisation, with discussion of the impacts of settler colonialism, and post-colonial contexts with authors from Canada, the United States and Kenya, as well as universities in the UK. Split into two sections, the book first addresses experiential contexts, discussing the environment in which the academic library is enmeshed: legacy knowledge systems, the neo-liberal university, the pervasive Whiteness of the higher education sector, the global publishing industry - how these structures are constitutive of coloniality and how they can be challenged. It then brings together theory and practice featuring case studies interpreting what it means to 'decolonise' in information literacy, collection management, inclusive spaces, LIS education, research methods and knowledge production through the lens of critical pedagogy, critical information literacy and Critical Race Theory (CRT). The book also addresses the impact and implications of the Whiteness of university library staffing. Bringing together the theory and practice of an area of critical concern to the academy, this book is an important reference for academic librarians, educators and researchers in LIS, education and sociology.
Call Number: Z 675 U5 N37 2022Publication Date: 2022
The Politics of Theory and the Practice of Critical Librarianship by
Over the past fifteen years, librarians have increasingly looked to theory as a means to destabilize normative discourses and practices within LIS, to engage in inclusive and non-authoritarian pedagogies, and to organize for social justice. "Critlib," short for "critical librarianship," is variously used to refer to a growing body of scholarship, an intellectual or activist movement within librarianship, an online community that occasionally organizes in-person meetings, and an informal Twitter discussion space active since 2014, identified by the #critlib hashtag. Critlib "aims to engage in discussion about critical perspectives on library practice" but it also seeks to bring "social justice principles into our work in libraries" (http: //critlib.org/about/). The role of theory within librarianship in general, and critical librarianship more specifically, has emerged as a site of tension within the profession. In spite of an avowedly activist and social justice-oriented agenda, critlib--as an online discussion space at least--has come under fire from some for being inaccessible, exclusionary, elitist, and disconnected from the practice of librarianship, empirical scholarship, and on-the-ground organizing for socioeconomic and political change. At the same time, critical librarianship may be becoming institutionalized, as seen in the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, the January 2015 editorial in College and Research Libraries that specifically solicited articles using critical theory or humanistic approaches, and the publication of several critical librarianship monographs by the Association of College and Research Libraries. This book features original research, reflective essays and conversations, and dialogues that consider the relationships between theory, practice, and critical librarianship through the lenses of the histories of librarianship and critical librarianship, intellectual and activist communities, professional practices, information literacy, library technologies, library education, specific theoretical approaches, and underexplored epistemologies and ways of knowing. Karen Nicholson is Manager, Information Literacy, at the University of Guelph, and a PhD candidate (LIS) at Western University, both in Ontario. Her research interests include information literacy and critical university studies. Maura Seale is History Librarian at the University of Michigan and was previously Collections, Research, and Instruction Librarian at Georgetown University. She received an MA in American Studies from the University of Minnesota and an MSI from the University of Michigan. She welcomes comments and can be found on Twitter at @mauraseale.
Call Number: ONLINEPublication Date: 2018
School of Arts and Social Sciences Librarian
Indigenization
"Indigenization is a process and the action that focusses on incorporating Indigenous knowledges into approaches in recognition of the value and importance of including in the university system. Eg. Education, curriculum, student safety, etc."
From Queen's University. (n.d.). Decolonizing and Indigenizing. Queen's University: Office of Indigenous Initiatives.
Decolonization and Reconciliation
- How Decolonization and Reconciliation Go Hand in Hand:
- According to Ashley Edwards's article (2019), Unsettling the Future by Uncovering the Past: Decolonizing Academic Libraries and Librarianship, decolonization first allows "Indigenous peoples to reclaim 'the family, community, culture, language, history and traditions that were taken' (as cited in Indigenous Corporate Training, 2017)" and second requires "non-Indigenous peoples to learn and accept how colonization has affected Indigenous communities (as cited in Indigenous Corporate Training, 2017)."
- When these two parts of decolonization happen, reconciliation begins and continues to grow slowly (Edwards, 2019, p. 6).
Decolonization Is for Everyone
Nikki Sanchez (she/her) is a Pipil and Irish/Scottish academic, Indigenous media maker, and environmental educator. Nikki holds a master’s degree in Indigenous Governance and is presently completing a Ph.D. with a research focus on emerging visual media technology as it relates to Indigenous ontology.
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