Recent Submissions

  • Four Provocations for the Time Being

    Yousefi, Baharak; Simon Fraser University (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-04)
    Slides and speaking notes from the 2022 Critical Librarianship and Pedagogy Symposium closing keynote.
  • Unpacking White Language Supremacy in the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy

    Tobiason, Anders; Boise State University (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    Who is the model information literate individual? Taking its cue from Critical Discourse Analysis, Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy, and Habits of White Language (HOWL) Supremacy, this presentation questions the foundational image of the information literate individual lying at the heart of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. The audience will gain an understanding of how the ACRL Framework operates within the norms of white supremacy culture, reinforces whiteness as a neutral background, and codes the idealized information literate individual as white. Participants will have opportunities to ask questions and engage in interrogating the implied standards in the Framework throughout the session. After this session, participants will be able to begin to identify ways in which White Supremacy Culture infuses how the Framework conceives of information literacy and problematize foundational practices which assert that one must “become” information literate in a particular way.
  • Modeling Interdependence for Student Researchers

    Arellano Douglas, Veronica; Kapacinskas, Natalia; University of Houston Libraries; University of Houston Libraries (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-03)
    The culture of research and innovation in academia celebrates individual achievement and accomplishment. We often teach research in a way that prizes independence, pushing students to become independent scholars, able to complete their assignments and research projects on their own. But in practice research is inherently interdependent. We are concerned about the ways that our teaching may over-value independence, exclude and harm marginalized students, give false impressions about how scholarship is already produced, and limit the possibilities for more inclusive and just futures in research. In this presentation, participants engaged with several models of interdependence to contemplate fostering much-needed interconnection and inclusion in the research classroom.
  • State of Inclusivity in Tutorials: a Critical Content Analysis of Tutorials Provided by R1 Academic Libraries

    Cahall, Carrieann; Mitola, Rosan; Heinbach, Chelsea; Sewell, Amber; University of Nevada, Las Vegas (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-02)
    Online tutorials are a frequently utilized method for academic libraries to meet student and instructor needs and adapt to the growing digital learning environment. There is little guidance for creating holistically inclusive tutorials and fewer standards for avoiding deficit thinking, which decenters students’ prior knowledge and experiences and perpetuates harmful assumptions. In this session, presenters will share early findings from a mixed-methods content analysis of tutorial offerings from R1 academic libraries. Attendees will discuss what makes a tutorial inclusive, identify criteria for creating inclusive tutorials, and reflect on how they have or have not enacted these values for tutorial design. Attendees will also gain ideas for creating inclusive tutorials as well as a deeper understanding of ways critical pedagogy can be utilized in various pedagogical environments.
  • A Critical Approach to Assessment: Using Focus Groups and Interviews to Identify and Measure Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Education Needs of Library Employees

    Xiao, Taylor; Alcaraz, Arianna; Ladenson, Sharon; Mary & John Gray Library, Lamar University; University of Alberta; Michigan State University Libraries, Michigan State University (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-02)
    In recent years, we have seen a wave of academic libraries deliberately strengthening their contributions to advancing discourse around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) on a national level. However, scholarship and conversations in this area focus largely on the DEI educational needs of library patrons, and there’s often little available on the educational needs of library personnel. Given that DEI education and initiatives can run the gamut, determining where to focus your efforts and what to prioritize can be an overwhelming process. In this interactive presentation, we will explore strategies used to assess the DEI education needs of Michigan State University Libraries’ employees. Our goal is to share how DEI education initiatives can be supported with specific institutional data and provide insights on how to strategically involve library staff and faculty in the planning process. We will cover specific skills, including question drafting, and lessons learned while planning and implementing focus groups and individual interviews. We will also discuss different data analysis strategies used and explore how this process was valuable for cultivating a practice of assessing internal DEI education in an academic library setting. Other libraries seeking to assess the DEI education needs of their employees can use the strategies and skills covered in this session to identify and examine the critical needs unique to their library. Similarly, those seeking to learn qualitative strategies for assessment, including focus group interviewing, will gain valuable planning and implementation skills. Participants will have opportunities to engage in a variety of activities, including sharing their experiences and comfort levels with focus group research and data analysis; answering a sample focus group question specific to DEI education, and raising questions at the end of the session.
  • Citations as Justice: A Critical Approach to Plagiarism Education

    Yowler, Rebecca; Knox College (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    A critical approach to citation and information literacy instruction will help librarians develop pedagogies that value student learning and honor the contributions of a variety of scholars. Librarians are uniquely situated to lead a critical approach to citation practice. A more productive framework would be one grounded in pedagogy that values student learning and helps develop an information scaffold that undergirds every subject and every earned degree. Critical theory; decolonization; critical library theory; critical race theory; feminist pedagogy; and critical library instruction all provide a common lens through which to re-vision this conversation. This session will explore various critical approaches and lenses with which to view citation and information literacy instruction. There will be small group conversations and brainstorming to engage participants in critical thinking about their own current or future programs.
  • Celebrating Student Voice through the Annual First Year Experience Exhibition

    Wallis, Lauren; Cao, Yuqiao; University of Delaware (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    Instructors from the library and museums will discuss the First Year Experience (FYE) Exhibition, a project that invites first-year students to see themselves as full participants in the academic community at the University of Delaware. Each year, we curate an exhibition of student-created work as a way to demonstrate that their ideas about social issues are valued in an academic context. The exhibition draws the campus community’s attention to digital reflections students create as part of a library and museums program for the FYE curriculum. In this program, students interact with art exhibitions and Special Collections materials related to themes from the required First Year Common Reader. We make sure that students’ ideas and experiences guide our curatorial process. We welcome creations from all levels of artistic skill and validate popular modes of information creation. We hope to expand possibilities for other institutions to value student voice on campus.
  • Constructing & Revising a User-Centered Curricular Toolkit

    Borges, Lizzy; Rusk, Faith; San Francisco State University (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    Our presentation highlights the Universal Design for Learning guidelines to encourage inclusive, accessible activities. Furthermore, it presents student-centered activities to faculty in an anti-gatekeeping approach to IL. In addition to ensuring the activities in our toolkit are student-centered and accessible, we want to ensure that critical information literacy resources and support are inclusive and accessible to our faculty.
  • Accessible access, universal design, and the limits of inclusion in open educational resource development: an interactive workshop

    Abumeeiz, Salma; Johnson, Matthew Weirick; UCLA Library (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    The impacts of open educational resources (OERs) are both well-documented and far-reaching. However, open educational practices should not be evangelized or held beyond critique. Drawing on writing from disability scholars and disability justice advocates, we explore the relationship between access and accessibility as it applies to open educational resources. Employing this framework, we present a series of revised design activities from UCLA Library’s Writing Instruction + Research Education (WI+RE) initiative: (1) an empathy map (2) a learning journey map and (3) a 4 Paths Prototype. We discuss ways forward to improve these activities with disability justice, accessibility, and universal design in mind. In the last half hour, we will walk through each of the three activities together, giving attendees an opportunity to apply the concepts individually and in breakout rooms and preparing attendees to leave the session with a prototype idea.
  • What evidence? Whose evidence? Bringing a critical pedagogy perspective to the teaching of evidence-based practice in the health sciences

    Torian, Stacy; Conklin, Jamie; New York University; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    Evidence-based practice requires clinicians to use the best research evidence available, their knowledge of the patient’s preferences and life situation, and their own clinical expertise to provide optimal care (American Physical Therapy Association, 2020; University of Maine Fort Kent, 2020). But how is “best available” defined, who is missing from the evidence, how is the evidence being obtained, and who decides what expertise counts? During this podcast, two health sciences librarians discuss the historical roots of evidence-based practice and talk to three clinicians working to expand the evidence base in health care. They explore how evidence-based practice plays out in “the real world” and its implications for policymaking and advocacy. While reflecting on the clinicians’ insights and their own experiences, the librarian hosts propose strategies for teaching evidence-based practice through a critical librarianship lens and offer ideas for engaging in dialogue about the concept within and beyond the library. (Note: Podcast music composed and performed by Stacy Torian)
  • Roadblocks in partnership: Teaching faculty, librarians, and the implementation of critical information literacy pedagogy

    Nolte, Amandajean F.; Pratesi, Angela; Cox, Angie; University of Northern Iowa; Bowling Green State University; University of Northern Iowa (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-02)
    There is a disconnect between how teaching faculty understand information literacy and the ways librarians frame these intersecting concepts and skills. As librarians have moved away from a standards-based approach, faculty have embraced this assessable but overly-simplified model. Faculty agree information literacy is important for everyone, but it is another topic of which instructors must stay continuously informed. The challenge for librarians becomes one of instructing faculty and their students simultaneously. Librarians cannot achieve the goals of critical pedagogy without teaching faculty partnerships. This presentation will share initial findings from a mixed-methods study on faculty perceptions of information literacy. By applying these findings in our everyday praxis as critical instruction librarians, we aim to recognize and critique power structures within a system that inherently suppresses our agency and expertise. The session will include reflection moments for participants to consider their local circumstances and adapt to their critical practice.
  • The hidden curriculum of heteronormativity in library instruction

    Weeks, Thomas; Augusta University (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-04)
    This session will explore how queer pedagogy can help us unsettle what we find normal about library instruction and the ways this normality reinforces the hidden curriculum of heteronormativity.
  • Teaching Toward Wholeness: Empowering Relationality in the Information Literacy Curriculum

    Garcia Mazari, Sheila; Hobscheid, Maya; Grand Valley State University; University of California, Santa Cruz (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    This presentation details how two librarians have worked to integrate an intentional relationality lens to information literacy instruction. Recognizing that research can be traumatic for individuals from historically excluded groups, this session guided participants through a set of student learning outcomes related to the emotional stages of research. Formatted as a rubric to assess student learning, these learning outcomes focus on framing student research through a human-centered lens, valuing past lived experiences that may intersect with research topics and the research process. Relationality practices highlighted by the presenters include: undertaking a “making space” mentality during research consultations and negotiating teaching methods and tools with instructors through a trauma-informed approach.
  • Exploring Fat Liberation in Instruction

    Chenevey, Liz; James Madison University (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    The intersection of fatness and health is often a popular research topic for students. As the fat studies discipline and conversations around body positivity and fat liberation continue to evolve, it is important for librarians to bring this perspective into our critical instruction practice. This lightning talk will be a beginning exploration into how fatness and fat liberation can show up in how we teach information literacy. The fat liberation and fat studies movements will be introduced, and we will explore opportunities to better incorporate this perspective into information literacy instruction. The audience will take away ideas for incorporating fat liberation into their teaching. While the presenter’s perspective is mainly from working as a liaison to health and behavioral studies students, the talk will be broad enough to apply to a variety of disciplines.
  • Introducing The LibParlor Podcast, an Open Peer Review Podcast for Information Professionals

    Sewell, Amber; Powell, Charissa; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; University of Delaware (The University of Arizona, 2022-10-27)
    This pre-conference podcast introduces The LibParlor Podcast, an open peer review podcast created for information professionals. The co-presenters of this pre-conference podcast talk about where the idea came from, why they believe this model of engaging with scholarly work is beneficial, and why feminist scholarly communication is important. Their goals for The LibParlor Podcast are to foster an inclusive, supportive community of information professionals interested in research. The co-presenters provide insight into how the roles of researcher and reviewer took advantage of the affordances of this new model and how it differed from that of a more traditional informal peer review. Listeners are encouraged to check out the pilot episode of The LibParlor Podcast and consider participating as either a researcher, reviewer, or minisode guest. The co-hosts provide a Twitter hashtag for listeners to use to engage in discussion around the pre-conference podcast.
  • Creating Accessible Instructional Videos: Design, Captions, and More

    Wong, Melissa; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-30)
    Many academic libraries offer instructional videos for use their websites. Unfortunately, research shows that many of these videos are inaccessible to patrons with disabilities. For example, Clossen and Proces (2017) found that only 52% of videos they examined were properly captioned and many had additional accessibility problems. In this workshop, participants will learn to create fully accessible instructional videos. The workshop begins with a brief overview of disability that puts accessibility practices into context, then introduces design practices that support accessibility, including advice on planning, scripting, narration, typography, and graphic design. Finally, the workshop introduces standards and practices for captions, transcripts, and descriptive audio. This workshop includes an opportunity for participants to evaluate an existing instructional video for accessibility and time for Q and A. Takeaways include an evaluation rubric, a checklist of accessibility practices and standards, a suggested design process, and a list of resources for further information.
  • Indigenous Knowledge Embedded in Stone: Indigenous Voices and the Crabtree Collection – A case study in creating space for Indigenous perspectives

    Seiferle-Valencia, Marco; Kenyon, Jylisa; University of Idaho (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-02)
    Critically-engaged counter-storying seeks to create new narratives to disrupt the existing, damaging standard rhetoric that contributes to the marginalization of oppressed people, rhetoric that is too often upheld and disseminated by mainstream archives and special collections (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). In this case study presentation, we will share our efforts to counter-story the Donald Crabtree Collection by seeking counter-stories to the collection’s accepted and embedded narratives. We will also share how collaborating with an Advisory Board of Native librarians, archaeologists, and anthropologists offers further opportunities to de-center Crabtree and trouble/critique the practices, appropriation, and anti-Indigenous erasure that created this collection and still persists today. Attendees will be asked to think critically about their own collections; consider how they can make visible the voices, stories, and histories that have been lost and actively ignored; and examine how their personal and professional identities may affect how they “story” collections.
  • Autonomous Space: Incorporating Concepts of Questioning into a Wellness Room

    Kosovich, Varina; Maluski, Kelleen; University of New Mexico Health Sciences Library (The University of Arizona, 2022-11-02)
    When we discuss critical pedagogy much focus is given to the classroom and consultations, but at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center (HSLIC) we have incorporated critical pedagogy into all our spaces. This incorporation extended to the creation of a wellness room for our users. Considering that “The prevalence of depressive symptoms among (health sciences) students was 12.9%, significantly higher than in the general population, and was 16.1% among female students versus 8.1% among males” and incorporating feedback from our users we believed that a space for private decompression and spiritual connection would be useful.* While we are aware that there are many systems of oppression within academia and the health sciences, and wellness cannot be shifted onto the individual, we wanted to provide resources to offset the typically high cost of wellness supplies, especially since we are located in a state that has a high level of poverty at a neoliberal institution with an extremely diverse population, including many first-generation students. With all of this in mind and engaging with concepts of anti-oppressive practice, feminist ethics of care, and considering the intersecting identities of our users, we worked to create a seed funding proposal to pilot a wellness room within the library. When the proposal was approved, work began to create an inclusive space that would help our users break down traditional concepts of work and study. Much consideration was given to the expressed needs of those with dis/abilities and neurodiversity and the concept of autonomous space. In this presentation we will discuss the decision making process, requesting a budget, the creation of the space, marketing, feedback received from users, and plans for updating and improving the space. *Dahlin, M., Joneborg, N., & Runeson, B. (2005). Stress and depression among medical students: a cross-sectional study. Medical education, 39(6), 594–604. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02176.x
  • Complicity in Assimilating Students to Eurocentric Scholarship

    Crumpton, Breanne; Appalachian State University (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    As librarians, we can be complicit in asking students to use sources centering Eurocentric voices and research approaches through our databases, citational practices, and how we emphasize credibility. The goal of this session is to create awareness of how, in trying to appease faculty requests, we become complicit in helping them promote Eurocentric scholarship and in turn assimilating students to hold up white academic standards of research. This session will also aim to show how the library systems we teach are often flawed in which voices get promoted. Attendees will be asked to think through what they are usually asked to show students and how it can promote one “right” (white) style of research. It is the goal that attendees will walk away with discussion points they can use to engage faculty in looking at their research assignments in a new light.
  • Automated epistemology: computational propaganda, algorithmic curation, and epistemic practice

    O'Hara, Ian; Weinberg Memorial Library-University of Scranton (The University of Arizona, 2022-11)
    As our collective epistemic practice becomes increasingly automated, propagandists have begun to exploit vulnerabilities within the algorithmically driven curation mechanisms embedded in platforms that users are widely turning to as primary information sources. Noticeably, this phenomena plays out within our social media ecosystems as propagandists have begun to manipulate the algorithmic criteria for boosting specific pieces of content, particularly disinformation, sometimes using automated means in order to manipulate public conversation, manufacture consensus, and sow civic discord in order to serve a specific sociocultural or political goal, often at the expense, and exploitation of, traditionally marginalized groups. The aim of this presentation is to generate a broader awareness of computational propaganda, its techniques, and the utilization of critical pedagogical techniques in order to counteract and dilute the effectiveness these propagandists may have on the epistemic success or failure of students in the higher education context.

View more