#critlib

me: I wasn’t here on the first, but I’m guessing our library didn’t have a book display for World AIDS Day? 

my supervisor: Well, no... What does that have to, how does that..? I just thought we should acknowledge the death of a president. 

me: He is widely viewed as directly responsible for thousands of deaths of people with AIDS, and I just don’t think it’s appropriate to put up a book display on him without also providing material reflecting that side of his legacy. 

my supervisor: you think patrons would be offended?

me: yes.

my supervisor: Hm... I’m not sure we have any materials on the AIDS crisis in our collection.. 

me: 

All you critical librarians--we see you! (in history)

Happy National Library Worker’s Day!

This thank you note was sent to Civil Rights Leader, James Groppi, a White Catholic priest who served as the advisor to the NACCP Youth Council that organized 200 nights of consecutive marches for fair housing in Milwaukee. The letter is written by a public librarian thanking the youth commandos for speaking to kindergartners and their parents about racial violence in the city. We see this librarian, Judith Werner, for what she was: a critical librarian. A Librarian who saw the connection between power, privilege, and information in American society. You go, Judith! Let’s all be more like you.

Hashtag #Syllabi, Knowledge, & Power

Repositioning Collective Knowledge to Decolonize Information

Through #Hashtags and Grassroots Digital Activism

Intersectionality is interconnected social identities. Using an understanding of oppression as a matrix of power, often these syllabi are created to annotate, document and validate the intersectional experiences that mainstream academia and media simplify and commodify.

Is the focus of bibliography an act of information (organization and description), or is it an act for the people?

Critical Approaches to Libraries Conference