On behalf of the
Library Association of CUNY, we are pleased to share information about and invite proposals for the 2022 Library Association of CUNY Institute.
The theme for
this year's institute is "Built to Exclude: Confronting Issues of Equity and Otherness in Libraries." The institute will be held virtually on Thursday May
12th & Friday May 13th and hosted by the New York
City College of Technology.
Please save the
date for the conference and see the call for proposals below.
"Built
to Exclude: Confronting Issues of Equity and Otherness in Libraries."
Submission deadline: April 1, 2022
Library workers, patrons, and scholars are grappling with questions
about what it means to have access, to belong, and to feel welcome and included. How do library environments and institutional norms–from the ways spaces are designed and collections are organized, to the language we use in classrooms and on digital platforms–potentially
exclude historically marginalized populations or alienate patrons and workers with different cultural and racial, linguistic, and socio-economic backgrounds? How do conceptions of professionalism and issues of privilege, class, and power impact the experiences
of library workers or present barriers to entry into our field? How can we confront encoded forms of discrimination that library workers and patrons face? Is it possible to transform institutional dynamics that are othering when we face bureaucratic obstacles,
labor shortages, and austerity conditions? Who has the agency and resources to change library environments that are built to exclude?
For LACUNY Institute 2022, we invite proposals that explore
barriers to access. We are interested in proposals that address the problems of equity and otherness in institutional environments and that introduce individual and collective strategies for transforming libraries.
We welcome theoretical explorations, case studies, and creative or imaginative proposals that examine how we: advocate for funding and combat austerity; purchase, describe, and organize collections; create and enforce policies and institutional rules; design
spaces that welcome people with different levels of ability, linguistics backgrounds, and ways of learning; collaborate, support, and communicate with each other; and understand and meet the needs of the particular populations our libraries serve.
Proposal submissions may address but are not limited to topics including:
- Power dynamics
- Linguistic and cultural hegemony
- Definitions of professionalism
- Libraries and feelings
- Class, socioeconomic inequity, debt
- Library anxiety
- Library architecture
- Austerity
- Closed collections and insider research practices
- Labor exploitation, contingent work, and labor activism
- Surveillance and space
- Patron advocacy
- Rules and bureaucracy
- Anti-oppression work within institutions and the profession
- Discrimination based on ability, age, or race
- Discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, or physical presentation
- Mental Health
- Divergent learning
Best,
Nora Almeida and
Wanett Clyde, Co-Chairs
2022 LACUNY Institute
Planning Committee
Nora Almeida, MLIS MFA
Associate Professor
Library Department
New York City College of Technology
she/her
