a few thoughts on the book Reference Librarianship & justice: history, practice & praxis

Reference Librarianship & Justice: History, Practice & Praxis by Kate Adler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is yet another impressive Library Juice publication. It explores reference and information services provided by libraries including public libraries using a social justice approach. Different theoretical frameworks are used for each chapter, but they all relate to how social justice is addressed by libraries. There is a focus on information for people who have been silenced, and who are powerless.

In the forward it says 'as described by this book, reference work advances the work of social justice through collecting and making accessible materials pertaining to groups who would normally be erased or dismissed, as well as through the people in doing such work, such as approaching reference work through a lens that seeks to humanize what is sometimes a dehumanizing process, the vulnerability of having a need and asking someone to meet that need.'

This book is important for highlighting that reference and information work can have a social justice role. With the many changes to reference and information services that role is by no means certain, and many of the service changes seem designed to remove that service for the community. This book reminds us of why the ability for someone to come to the library and ask a question, or the library to go out and about to help people with their questions is important, and can be literally life changing.

Reading this books challenges one to look at how reference and information services are provided at your own library, both in and outside the building. Whose enquiries are you privileging?

This book is not always easy reading, but it is well worth reading. I have many ideas I want to follow up on as a result of reading this book.

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A few thoughts about The library book

The Library Book by Susan Orlean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a history of the Los Angeles Public Library, focused on the central library building. It is both about a library fire, and not about this. It contains interesting descriptions of daily work of public libraries, and shows some of the collections and services provided by Los Angeles Public Library. It highlights the importance of qualified and experienced library staff. Selected resources used for the research are listed. There is no index. This book is likely to appeal to people who enjoy descriptive accounts, and I really enjoyed many parts of this book. There is an interesting section on the early librarians who ran the Los Angeles Public Library - not all were librarians and there were some dastardly deeds as at least one librarian was forced out of her job.

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reblogging RA for All: Becky's Response to the Whiteness as Collections

RA for All: Becky's Response to the Whiteness as Collections b...: Over the last few days, the post entitled, " Whiteness as Collections " by Sofia Leung an academic librarian with a focus on libra...



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I am reblogging this because I think this is such an important discussion - head over to @raforall and read the blog post and the links.

A few thoughts on The Feminist Reference Desk: Concepts, Critiques, and Conversations

The Feminist Reference Desk: Concepts, Critiques, and Conversations by Maria T. Accardi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This provides an interesting way of looking at reference and information services. I liked the point about allowing space for silence in a reference interview, even if that is not always practical because of work pressures. It was a useful reminder that for some people asking for assistance is not easy. They will not have formulated what they want to ask, and they will need space and time to be able to answer your questions so that you can help them. Culturally there may need to be a discussion for context, and there needs to be space (and time) to be able to do this. This may need a different approach to some service, but that would enable it to be provided with equity, and and this can be really important for all service provision. It also highlighted that the 'reference interview is a conversation, a dialectical exchange between two people with an exchange of ideas and information with the goal of meeting the information need' p53.

There are many useful references which will lead to further reading. It is another excellent publication by Library Juice.

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