When: Next Week! Feb 26, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM (Eastern Time)
Register here for the Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/frostywindows.
Thaw the chill between intellectual freedom and social justice in this facilitated panel followed by break-out room listening sessions. As libraries undertake important work to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging, questions arise about ethical commitments to intellectual freedom, including issues of censorship, privacy, and complicity with hate, exclusion, and exploitation. Panelists will discuss current thinking and practice on these challenging issues. After the panel, attendees will have the opportunity to share their perspectives with panelists in break-out room listening sessions. Discussion questions include:
- Representation
- How should selection and collection management practices and other policies address representation and IF?
- How should libraries handle public art, such as murals or statuary, that misrepresents marginalized peoples or memorializes those responsible for historical harms?
- Under what conditions should individuals or groups be restricted from using library meeting spaces and resources?
- Labeling
- How can we make materials and collections visible and browsable, while also striving for decentering, to avoid othering, and to preserve patron choice in privacy?
- How should library spaces be 'named' and labeled, and what considerations arise for development efforts?
- Discoverability
- How can social justice work inform resource description, cataloging, and indexing? Are existing resource description frameworks - such as the Dewey Decimal System, Library of Congress Classification, and Library of Congress Subject Headings - in conflict with DEI efforts; if so, can they be reformed, or should they be replaced?
- How do library assessment practices and patron analytics on library use impact patron privacy and chill free inquiry?
Panelists include: Loida Garcia-Febo, Rhonda Evans, Amanda Vazquez, Shannon Oltmann, Laura Koltutsky, Desmond Wong, and Rae-Anne Montague, with Martin Garnar moderating.
Link to the blog post: Intellectual Freedom Blog Post about the event
Looking forward to seeing you there!
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Stephanie Barnaby
IDEAS Evening Librarian | Northeastern University Library
IFRT Director at Large
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