Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice in Library Technical Services
Name
KAUFFMAN_ch14.pdf
Description
Final manuscript
Size
1008.33 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
5cd65451031035c0c75a27f8d7332a94
Author(s) •
Kauffman, Rhonda Y
Anderson, Martina S
Date Issued
July 2, 2019
Abstract
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries recently embraced a large-scale initiative to incorporate the values of diversity, inclusion, and social justice (DISJ) into library practices. In early 2017, the MIT collections directorate task force on diversity, inclusion, and social justice released a report with recommendations for embedding DISJ values into the daily work of archives, technical services, preservation, scholarly communications, and collections strategy staff. This chapter focuses on the challenges and opportunities in undertaking a sustained effort to achieve diversity, inclusion, and social justice specifically within technical services. The authors highlight how technical services staff can use their unique position within libraries to dismantle existing structures of inequity and privilege by providing access to information and shifting resources to underrepresented groups. This chapter presents the historical context of DISJ within the library profession and the MIT Libraries, discusses implications of this paradigm shift for library technical services departments, and presents cataloging and acquisitions job profiles to help readers envision the practical significance for library staff of the imperative to incorporate DISJ values into the regular practice of their work.
Subjects
Libraries
Technical Services
Cataloging
Acquisitions
Diversity
Equity
Social Justice
Terms of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
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