Must Read for Continuing Education About Our Profession

I know here on the blog that I have had many posts talking about our profession and how we are made up of over 80% white women and the problems this raises. I discussed this issue as it pertains to how we develop our collection for our readers, those who live in the real world where it is definitely NOT 80+% white women. You can click here or here to read these posts where I write at length about making sure our collection do not just mirror ourselves, why inclusion and diversity are non-negotiable, and how we need to encourage more diverse voices and participation in our entire profession. 

In fact, one of my friends, Robin Bradford has helped me both behind the scenes and has contributed to this blog on this issue [and others]. Well, Robin and another friend of mine, Stephanie Sendaula from Library Journal have a chapter in a brand new book that is out today,. The book is entitled, Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS. They have contributed a chapter specifically on Collection Development- "Chapter 15. Selection and Self-Identity - Robin Bradford and Stephanie Sendaula."

I feel very strongly that everyone who follows this blog, no matter where you work in the library or what race and gender you identify as, you all need to read at least this chapter. This one at least I can force you to read because it is RA adjacent. 

However, I would also advocate that you read the entire book. If you work in a library [whether or not you have the professional degree] you need to understand all of the issues around the fact that this profession is way too dominated by the white female perspective. When you are in the majority, it is very easy to lose site of the minority. So, especially the white women [like me] need to read this book and see just a little glimpse of what problems and issues this causes for the entire profession from the perspective of the women who are not white.

We can all learn to be better at our jobs by reading critical works about our profession, but this book is especially important for the current moment. I am getting on the hold list right now.

Click here to order the book for your library's professional development collection. Click here to see the entire series of books on "Critical Race Studies and Multiculturalism in LIS," which again, all libraries with a professional development collection should carry. If you library can't afford this, use ILL to find it at a university library. But as professional development books go, it is not very expensive. Heck it's cheaper than my book, and quite honestly, can help a lot more people make real change in response to real issues and problems. 

Here is all of the info direct from Library Juice Press and reprinted below [so you have no excuse to not look into it further] including the full table of contents.

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Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS
Editors: Rose L. Chou and Annie Pho
Price: $35.00
Published: September 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63400-052-9
Printed on acid-free paper
6″ by 9″
508 Pages

This book is number three in the Litwin Books/Library Juice Press Series on Critical Race Studies and Multiculturalism in LIS, Rose L. Chou and Annie Pho, series editors.

Using intersectionality as a framework, this edited collection explores the experiences of women of color in library and information science (LIS). With roots in black feminism and critical race theory, intersectionality studies the ways in which multiple social and cultural identities impact individual experience. Libraries and archives idealistically portray themselves as egalitarian and neutral entities that provide information equally to everyone, yet these institutions often reflect and perpetuate societal racism, sexism, and additional forms of oppression. Women of color who work in LIS are often placed in the position of balancing the ideal of the library and archive providing good customer service and being an unbiased environment with the lived reality of receiving microaggressions and other forms of harassment on a daily basis from both colleagues and patrons. This book examines how lived experiences of social identities affect women of color and their work in LIS.

Rose L. Chou is Budget & Personnel Manager at American University Library, where she also serves as Chair of AU Library’s Internal Diversity & Inclusion Committee. She received her MLIS from San Jose State University and BA in Sociology from Boston College. Her research interests include race, gender, and social justice in LIS.

Annie Pho is Inquiry and Instruction Librarian for Peer-to-Peer Services and Public Programming at UCLA Libraries. She received her MLS from Indiana University-Indianapolis and BA in Art History from San Francisco State University. She’s on the editorial board of In the Library with a Lead Pipe, a co-moderator of the #critlib Twitter chat, and a Minnesota Institute for Early Career Librarians 2014 alumnus. Her research interests are in critical pedagogy, diversity, and student research behavior.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Fobazi Ettarh

Introduction

Chapter 1. “When I Enter”: Black Women and Disruption of the White, Heteronormative Narrative of Librarianship - Caitlin M. J. Pollock and Shelley P. Haley

Chapter 2. Sisters of the Stacks - Alexsandra Mitchell

Chapter 3. I Am a Muslim, a Woman, a Librarian: Muslim Women and Public Libraries - Negeen Aghassibake

Chapter 4. The Other Asian: Reflections of South Asian Americans in Libraryland - Nisha Mody, Lalitha Nataraj, Gayatri Singh, and Aditi Worcester

Chapter 5. I AM My Hair, and My Hair Is Me: #BlackGirlMagic in LIS - Teresa Y. Neely, Ph.D.

Chapter 6. The Voice of a Black Woman in Libraryland: A Theoretical Narrative - LaVerne Gray

Chapter 7. A Woman of Color’s Work Is Never Done: Intersectionality, Emotional, and Invisible Labor in Reference and Information Work - Kawanna Bright

Chapter 8. “Sister, You’ve Been on My Mind”: Experiences of Women of Color in the Library and Information Sciences Profession - Alyse Minter and Genevia M. Chamblee-Smith

Chapter 9. Small Brown Faces in Large White Spaces - Rosalinda Hernandez Linares and Sojourna J. Cunningham

Chapter 10. I, Too: Unmasking Emotional Labor of Women of Color Community College Librarians - Alyssa Jocson Porter, Sharon Spence-Wilcox, and Kimberly Tate-Malone

Chapter 11. The Burden of Care: Cultural Taxation of Women of Color Librarians on the Tenure-Track - Tarida Anantachai and Camille Chesley 

Chapter 12. Authenticity vs. Professionalism: Being True to Ourselves at Work - Jennifer Brown and Sofia Leung

Chapter 13. Identity, Activism, Self-care, and Women of Color Librarians - Alanna Aiko Moore and Jan E. Estrellado

Chapter 14. When Will My Reflection Show?: Women of Color in the Kennesaw State University Archives - JoyEllen Freeman

Chapter 15. Selection and Self-Identity - Robin Bradford and Stephanie Sendaula

Chapter 16. Reflections on the Intersection of Publishing and Librarianship: The Experiences of Women of Color - Charlotte Roh

Chapter 17. Positionality, Epistemology, and New Paradigms for LIS: A Critical Dialog with Clara M. Chu - Todd Honma and Clara M. Chu

Index