Pathfinder (Journal)
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Challenges and LIS Responses to Digital Literacy in Crisis
Get PDFAs a result of the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in the Spring of 2020, vulnerable Canadians were left behind by digital exclusion, which was exacerbated by an increased reliance on digital technologies. In this article, I seek to provide an overview of the links between digital inclusion, social justice, and the values of the LIS profession. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, another crisis of digital exclusion has revealed the ways in which digital citizenship and socio-economic exclusion are fundamentally intertwined. In response, many LIS professionals have overcome extensive closures and reductions in resources to find innovative solutions to this crisis of inequality. This article will provide just a few examples of these responses from LIS organizations. Indeed, even among overwhelming barriers, LIS professionals have not lost sight of community values and commitment to social justice in challenging times. In unprecedented times, LIS professionals have found innovation to address ongoing social and economic barriers of digital exclusion
Indians in the Database: Student Relationships with Subject Headings
Get PDFThe goal of this exploratory research study is to better understand how students in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta relate to terminology for Indigenous peoples in Canada, namely Indian, in controlled vocabulary subject headings. The language used in controlled vocabularies to describe resources about Indigenous peoples does not always reflect terms Indigenous peoples use to describe themselves, leading to a disconnect between users and subject headings. Although this issue is beginning to enter academic discourse alongside reconciliation efforts, to date no research study has examined how students react to this issue. In this study interviews were conducted with five students from the Faculty of Native Studies to better understand how they relate to terminology. Students reported feeling uncomfortable at being forced to use language they saw as racist or insensitive. Future research should be conducted to better understand student relationships with subject headings, particularly at different institution
The Value of a Book: Beyond the Price
Get PDFThis research comments on the historical and current trends of special collection libraries and the ways in which their collection policies reflect priorities of protecting certain voices over others, thus assigning a value to those books which are sought after. While book value has been discussed extensively, most of the literature has not taken into account the significance of collection policies, which is a gap that my research aims to address. The methodology includes a literature review of the different ways in which book value is determined and an examination of the collection policy documents of twenty North American special collection libraries. This examination, accomplished via coded data analysis, will determine how these documents reflect the historical and current priorities of special collections and how they subsequently assign value to books. The results of this analysis indicate a consistent commitment to acquiring materials that build on existing collection strengths, as well as a prioritization of locality as it relates to potential additions. Furthermore, the lack of inclusion for marginalized communities in collection policies suggests a need to discuss the future direction of documentation as it relates to recognizing the value of marginalized voices. 
Library Considerations for the Colonial Impacts of Indigenous Cookbook Publishing
Get PDFAccording to Natifs (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems), the first action in understanding the Foundations of an Indigenous Food System Model is the “Removal of Colonized Thought.” food sovereignty, physical and spiritual connection to land, and sustainable food practices are interlocked with decolonial action. Considering Traditional Knowledge (TK), as intellectual property, what does it mean for libraries to collect books containing TK, such as cookbooks written by Indigenous authors, published by Indigenous publishers or otherwise dealing with Indigenous Food Systems? Mindful of the colonial impacts on cookbook publishing in Canada, the author proposes a 4-part framework for libraries when acquiring or weeding Indigenous cookbooks to and from their collections. Used as a tool, the framework promotes the stewardship of collections (and metadata) that do not perpetuate colonial violence through language and Eurocentrism, but champion Indigenous authors, publishers, and content. Written from the position of queer-settler, the essay provides examples of published works that meet the criteria of the framework, celebrating Indigenous Food Systems that predate librarianship’s colonial classification. Through personal narrative, the author demonstrates how the offerings of such texts can become integrated into a personal stewardship of the teachings being shared that directly informs the case for equitable collections management
Theory and Practice: Introduction to the FiP 2021 Conference
Get PDFIn this short introduction, the co-chairs of the 2021 FIP Conference discuss the effect the pandemic had on the conference, the importance of theory to practice, and the moral importance of theory to librarianship. 
The Onus of Explanation
Get PDFThis manuscript contains the text of the key note speech given at the 2021 Forum for Information Professionals
Indigenous Knowledges and Scholarly Publishing: The Failure of Double-blind Peer Review
Get PDFAt its core, academic knowledge production is predicated on Western notions of knowledge historically grounded in a Euro-American, White, male worldview. As a component of academic knowledge production, scholarly publishing shares the same basis of Whiteness. It excludes knowledge that doesn’t conform to White, Western notions of knowledge, forces conformity to (and therefore reinforcement of) a Western standard of writing/knowledge, and leads to a reverence of peer-reviewed literature as the only sound source of knowledge. As a tool of scholarly publishing and the editorial process, blind peer review, though perhaps well-intentioned, is fraught with problems, especially for BIPOC researchers and writers, because it fails in its intended purpose to drastically reduce or eliminate bias and racism in the peer review and editorial processes; shields peer reviewers and editors against accusations of bias, racism, or conflicts of interest; and robs BIPOC, and particularly Indigenous, writers and researchers from having the opportunity to develop relationships with those that are reviewing and publishing their work
Support local: Public libraries and local authors
Get PDFIn 2020 we have experienced movements to support local creators, restaurants, and businesses; how can the library community support local authors? This extended abstract discusses research conducted about how public libraries support local authors, with a focus on how these works are included in library collections and made findable to community members. Twelve public libraries from British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan were selected for analysis of collection policies and item metadata. Qualitative content analysis is used to code collection policies, and systemic analysis of item metadata is used to understand methods of identifying locally-authored items. The results of this research indicate that collection policies provide both opportunities and barriers for including locally-authored items and there is a lack of consistent methods for identifying items as locally-authored within item metadata. Some of these barriers can be attributed to the challenge of identifying and defining “local authorship”. This extended abstract will conclude with recommendations for how libraries can modify collection policies and methods of identifying items as locally-authored in order to support local authors and make these items more accessible to the community
Suppressing communities: An analysis of LGBTQ+ censorship in libraries
Get PDFLibrarians serve as defenders of intellectual freedom and social responsibility, and this includes speaking out against censorship. Censorship of information, materials, and books occurs in the public, but censorship can also occur in libraries themselves. Those impacted the most by this censorship are marginalized communities, such as the LGBTQ+ community. The purpose of this paper is to explore how internal, external and institutional censorship affects the LGBTQ+ community and what librarians can do to uphold their defense against censorship. Internal, or self-censorship, occurs at the librarian level where LGBTQ+ materials may be hidden by librarians or library staff or simply not ordered due to pressure from the community the library serves. External censorship occurs at the community level where the community culture pushes for the censorship of LGBTQ+ materials. Lastly, institutional censorship occurs at the classification level where classification models such as the Dewey Decimal System or subject headings may not provide accurate representation for LGBTQ+ materials. In order to put an end to these forms of censorship, trained and certified librarians must act as agents of change, committing to their due diligence to provide information to all members of their communities