Session Type
Event
Start Date
26-4-2022 1:15 PM
End Date
26-4-2022 1:55 PM
Abstract
Libraries were actively set up to be inhospitable to racialized individuals including barring them from physical buildings, structuring rules and systems to value and uphold whiteness, and evidenced by the lack of racialized individuals in the library profession. Digital libraries, while comparatively newer, suffer from the legacy of these structural inequities and the same lopsided demographics. We need to take a step back and examine these legacies so that this avenue of library work has a chance to become more equitable. This discussion on examining the profession with race and power embedded is relevant for anyone in the profession whether you are a digital library practitioner, administrator, in a formal or informal leadership position, new to the field, or have been here for a while.
Included in
Stepping Back to Move Toward a More Equitable Future for Digital Library Users and Workers
Libraries were actively set up to be inhospitable to racialized individuals including barring them from physical buildings, structuring rules and systems to value and uphold whiteness, and evidenced by the lack of racialized individuals in the library profession. Digital libraries, while comparatively newer, suffer from the legacy of these structural inequities and the same lopsided demographics. We need to take a step back and examine these legacies so that this avenue of library work has a chance to become more equitable. This discussion on examining the profession with race and power embedded is relevant for anyone in the profession whether you are a digital library practitioner, administrator, in a formal or informal leadership position, new to the field, or have been here for a while.
Comments
Jennifer A. Ferretti (she/her) is an artist and information professional whose work focuses on digital preservation and digital libraries, recognizing that the definition of these areas aren’t solely technology-based, but people- and communities-based. She is a first-generation American Latina/Mestiza, and from this positionality is guided by critical praxis, not neutrality. Both her professional career as Digital Library Federation (DLF) Senior Program Officer at the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and as founder and principal of We Here LLC revolve around community building within library and archives professions and spaces. She’s also the Creative Director of the publishing collective up//root: a we here publication. Read more about her work at https://www.jenniferferretti.com/.Jennifer A. Ferretti (she/her) is an artist and information professional whose work focuses on digital preservation and digital libraries, recognizing that the definition of these areas aren’t solely technology-based, but people- and communities-based. She is a first-generation American Latina/Mestiza, and from this positionality is guided by critical praxis, not neutrality. Both her professional career as Digital Library Federation (DLF) Senior Program Officer at the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and as founder and principal of We Here LLC revolve around community building within library and archives professions and spaces. She’s also the Creative Director of the publishing collective up//root: a we here publication. Read more about her work at https://www.jenniferferretti.com/.