Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies
Not a member yet
91 research outputs found
Sort by
Radical Empathy in Archival Practice Poster and Postcards
No full textThis poster and accompanying postcards were created by Gracen Brilmyer for the Journal of Critical Library and Information Science (JCLIS) special issue on Radical Empathy in Archival Practice. The poster and postcards visualize and embody the four archival relationships proposed by Michelle Caswell and Marika Cifor in their 2016 Archivaria article, “From Human Rights to Feminist Ethics: Radical Empathy in Archives,” in addition to three new relationships proposed by others.
You are encouraged to complete this poster by:
Filling in each of the 7 illustrated relationships (dotted line box) on postcards
Mailing postcards to someone who embodies this relationship
Appending the postcards to the poster, or writing in the relationships
Additionally, since poster printing can be cost prohibitive, we have also included a "Printer-Friendly" version of the poster, which can easily be printed on multiple 8.5" x 11" sheets of paper and assembled.
Pre-prints first published online 05/21/202
Information Abundance and Deficit: Revisiting Elfreda Chatman’s Inquiry of Marginal Spaces and Populations
Get PDFThe article presents a methodological analysis of Elfreda Chatman’s research on marginal populations. Revisiting the methodological legacy and influence of Chatman’s research addresses positioning of the marginal within information environments in the presentation of theory. The position of deficit or lack in the communities under study are juxtaposed with abundance revealed in differing forms of Chatman’s research. This article first reviews how Chatman’s work challenges methodological hegemonic practices of theory development in Library and Information Science (LIS) research. Secondly, three works are analyzed for methodological approach and processes in theory development. Each article is observed in terms of design, approach, researcher (role, voice, position, posture), and theory development (as a methodological construct). Lastly, recommendations on impact of methodological approach and positioning reveal the impetus for the proposed article, deconstructing the researcher and their extension of theory-making in marginal spaces.
Pre-print first published online 09/30/202
Cultural Humility as a Framework for Anti-Oppressive Archival Description
Get PDFThis essay argues for the necessity for mainstream archival institutions to audit for oppressive, euphemistic or misrepresentative language within their archival description, and will advocate for the redescription of collections to be undertaken through a framework of cultural humility. Prioritizing critical self-reflection, institutional accountability, and by recognizing and challenging power imbalances, archivists can facilitate the rectification of false historical narratives and oppressive language that continues to be created and remain in the collection description of mainstream archives. This article will examine what steps are necessary to describe and re-describe material through a lens of cultural humility, foregrounding the development of an ethical descriptive practice as an iterative and cyclical process rather than one that is linear with a finite date of achievement. The resulting recommendations will serve as a call for archivists and archival institutions to continually develop a descriptive practice that is transparent, critically self-reflective and community-centered.
Pre-print first published online 10/01/2020 
"Expanding on the Almost": Queer World-Building and Institutional Information Worlds
Get PDFThe theories of information poverty and small worlds, both developed by Elfreda Chatman, address how information behaviors and practices are shaped by social norms and insider and outsider dynamics. The application of these theories in the information science literature, to date, has largely focused on individual information behaviors practiced by people who are described as information poor. There is, therefore, opportunity for theoretical development concerning the role of systems and structures in both information poverty and small worlds. Drawing on data from interviews with eleven queer entertainment media creators as well as content from episodes of Emmy award-winning television programs, we use constructivist grounded theory to extend Chatman’s theorizing by investigating how both information poverty and small worlds operate and connect on an institutional level.
We present two extensions of small worlds and information poverty: institutional small worlds and queer world-building. Institutional small worlds in this context consist of entertainment media producers and content that possess and reflect epistemically-privileged heteronormative standpoints. Epistemic knowledge created by queer individuals is left out of these small worlds, and participants report experiencing information poverty due to symbolic violence in content that erases and misrepresents their identities. However, participants also engage in entertainment media creation to construct their own rich small worlds. These queer world-building practices reflect participants’ epistemic authority and thus challenge normative discourses produced and reified by powerful institutions. Still, queer world-building occurs within institutional contexts that continue to impoverish queer creators. Despite lacking resources and facing risks, participants continue their practices because creation provides them with rich information outside of normative structures.
The constructs we present may be transferable to other populations and have implications for both researchers and practitioners interested in elucidating ways in which library and information science work can better account for institutional forces and inequities in information practices.
Pre-print first published online 1/13/202
Indigenous Everyday Life in Chatman’s Small World Theories
Get PDFIndigenous communities are connected through their worldview or commonly held way of seeing everyday life. In this article we will describe the intersection, match, and mismatch of Chatman’s theories of information poverty, and life in the round and how these theories might be incorporated—or not—in understanding contemporary indigenous living. Within the theory of information poverty, we will consider Chatman’s four notions defining an impoverished lifeworld: secrecy, deception, risk taking, and situational relevance. Secrecy and deception might be interpreted as negatives by outsiders when boundaries are maintained around access to traditional cultural knowledge and its expression. Within the community, though, such behaviors are observances of protocol or expected behavior. Risk taking may be welcomed and applauded but might also result in the individual Native risk taker stepping into the interface frame of being an outsider, or someone who is now separated from their trial community. Relevance is contextual and is interpreted by indigenous peoples in terms of its ability to support tribal sovereignty.
Chatman’s Theory of Life in the Round presents how individuals find fulfillment in their lives as understood through the concepts of worldview, societal norms, small worlds or settings, and the roles or social types to which people are assigned. These concepts can be seen in indigenous life as the connection to the land and clan kinship models. Our article will close within the framework of Cajete’s model of a fulfilled indigenous life as one where someone can find their true face, heart, and foundation.
In this article we refer to the first or original peoples of the land as Native or Indigenous. We refer to first peoples living within the borders of the United States as American Indian or Indian. Indian Country is where Native people live and includes indigenous homeland areas including lands referred to as reservations. That said, Native people consider all land indigenous land. Together, our writing is based on decades of direct interaction with and observation of indigenous peoples from numerous tribal communities, our personal writing and review of the literature, as well as our own cultural affiliations and life backgrounds.
Pre-print first published online 6/22/202
"Am I Doing it Right?": Examining Authenticity as a Key Mediator of Insider/Outsider Dynamics among US LGBTQ+ Young Adults
Get PDFA key mechanism of information marginalization, insider/outsider dynamics shape who gets to seek, share, and use information within a specific context. However, these dynamics are limited because LIS literature often treats them as myopic, totalizing, and static. This study deepens understanding of these dynamics by examining how they are shaped by authenticity narratives of identity among US LGBTQ+ young adults (ages 18-37). Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 30 LGBTQ+ young adults between 2015-2016. Data analysis was iterative and employed both deductive and inductive qualitative coding. Findings demonstrate how authenticity both assisted and hindered participant seeking, sharing, and use of identity-related information. Participants seldom reported barriers to access, often citing readily available information in the form of lifeworld and small world narratives describing the "right" or "correct" way to be a particular identity. This information influenced participant decision-making since they had to engage in prescribed activities to be deemed authentic by others. However, authenticity limited participants' information practices to fit within insider, regulatory frames. Embodied subjectivity via individual perceptions and experiences emerged as a valuable information source for participants to counter these limitations. This phenomenon did not shut off participants from outside information as previously argued by Merton and Chatman but rather opened participants up to new, information avenues outside of those provided by authenticity narratives. Findings have theoretical implications for a better understanding of insider/outsider dynamics as a critical dynamic of information marginalization.
Pre-print first published online 8/14/202
Elfreda Annmary Chatman in the 21st Century: At the Intersection of Critical Theory and Social Justice Imperatives
Get PDFElfreda Annmary Chatman (1942-2002) is considered a pioneer library and information science (LIS) scholar for her theory development and ethnographic approach to understand information behaviors of understudied populations (e.g., female inmates, janitors, the elderly, poor people, female retirees, etc.). This article discusses the limited contemporary relevance of her contributions to information science research in the 21st century when subjected to an epistemological assessment from critical theory and social justice imperatives. Progressive scholars operationalize this intersection in terms of action-oriented and socially relevant outcomes achieved via information-related work to extend the LIS professions beyond its historical shackles. They also encourage community-engaged scholarship and community-wide changes via partnering with and providing programs to people on society’s margins. Scrutinizing Chatman’s legacy in terms of these attributes helps extend the discourse and identify its trajectory, especially relevant in the context of today’s political and cultural climate. Some factors that influenced Chatman’s work are traced within an emerging, yet narrow, trajectory and scope of information science research of those times. Select evidence and examples discussed in this narrative illustrate some of these perceived limitations while critiquing Chatman’s contributions and still valuing their significance.
Pre-print first published online 3/28/202
“(Information) Poor, Huddled Masses"? Chatman’s Contribution to Understanding Contemporary Immigrant Settlement Experiences
Get PDFThis article revisits Chatman’s information poverty theory in light of the settlement experiences of Black immigrants. We critically examine the factors that both shaped and limited Chatman’s theory, as well as how Chatman’s work both catalyzes and impedes our work as emerging scholars who study the interplay of information access and social inclusion among a marginalized immigrant population.
Pre-print first published online 5/25/202
Re-examining the Socialization of Black Doctoral Students through the Lens of Information Theory
Get PDFThe socialization of Black doctoral students has been studied from many theoretical and conceptual standpoints, with the exception of information theory. In this paper, the conceptual and theoretical frameworks of small worlds and the Theory of Normative Behavior developed by information behavior scholar Elfreda Chatman are used to illuminate the information behaviors that are implicit in the socialization of Black doctoral students. Doctoral student socialization is enacted through faculty and peer relationships that communicate the norms, values, and expectations for performance that facilitate academic and social integration in graduate school in preparation for faculty roles in the academy. Despite the importance of socialization for student success, research indicates that Black doctoral students experience racism, isolation, and hostile climates in predominantly white institutions, which jeopardizes their chances for a successful outcome. Through a review of literature about the socialization of Black doctoral students in the United States, viewed through the lens of Elfreda Chatman’s theoretical frameworks, this paper examines doctoral education as a small world characterized by social and cultural norms that facilitate or hinder the socialization of Black doctoral students. Given the absence of an explicit focus on race in Chatman’s research, the salience of race as a context for the experiences and information behaviors of Black doctoral students is discussed. Areas for future research about the socialization of Black doctoral students in library and information studies are also identified.
Pre-print first published online 10/11/202
Dying Well In the Anthropocene: On the End of Archivists
Get PDFHumanities scholars argue that the Anthropocene forces humanity to confront its death as a species. For memory workers, the specter of biological annihilation is accompanied by a more immediate existential crisis: if there will be no one to remember what was, then what will have been the purpose of memory work? This essay reviews emerging literature on archivy’s affective and structural adaptations to climate change alongside speculative futures of memory work in climate fiction. The article argues for Anthropocene archivists to adopt a palliative practice based on transdisciplinary principles of radical care, intentional degrowth, anticipatory grief, and maintenance theory.
Pre-print first published online 06/13/201