In our own voices, redux : the faces of librarianship today

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Where to find it

Information & Library Science Library

Call Number
Z682.2.U5 I52 2018
Status
Available

Authors, etc.

Names:

Summary

In the 20-year reboot of Neely and Abif's 1996 In Our Own Voices, fifteen of the original contributors revisit their stories alongside the fifteen new voices that have been added. This Collective represents a wide range of life and library experiences, gender fluidities, sexualities, races, and other visible, and invisible identities. In addition to reflections on lives and experiences since the 1996 volume, chapters cover the representation of librarians of color in the profession at large, and more specifically, those among them who are still the "only one"; the specter of "us serving them--still;" and migrations from libraries to other information providing professions. These authors reflect on their careers and lives in libraries and other school and workplace settings, as activists, administrators, archivists, library students and information professionals. They share stories of personal and professional abuse, attempts to find and secure gainful employment, navigating the profession, and how they overcame decades of normalized discrimination to complete their educational and career pursuits. They write about the need for support systems, work-life balance, self-care, communities of support, and the importance of mentoring and being mentored. And above all, they persist, and continue to disrupt systems. These essays are from contributors from a variety of libraries and library related environments, and provide answers to questions professionals new to LIS haven't even asked yet. The inclusion of a new group of librarian his-, her-, and their-stories provides a voice for those currently finding their way through this profession. These essays bring honesty, vulnerability, authenticity, and impactfulness to the "diversity" conversation in libraries and beyond. And more importantly, these voices, from a variety of races, ethnicities, genders and sexualities, matter.

Contents

  • List of Figures p. xi
  • Foreword p. xiii
  • Acknowledgments p. xvii
  • Introduction: The Struggle Renewed p. xix
  • Part 1 Back in the Day p. 1
  • 1 Still Ambiguous after All These Years: Reflections on Diversity in Academic Libraries p. 3 Deborah R. Hollis
  • Part 2 They Have Magic p. 13
  • 2 Malore the Explorer: Becoming Global with a Library Touch p. 15 Malore I. Brown
  • 3 The Less Than One Percent: Native Librarians in Conversation p. 23 Sarah R. Kostelecky and Lori Townsend
  • 4 Moving On and Upward: A Conversation with Dexter R. Evans p. 33
  • 5 Boundaries of the Body-Finding My(whole)self: Rituals and Rites p. 41 Jennifer Brown
  • 6 Do It for the Culture: My Life as an Archivist p. 49 Rachel E. Winston
  • Part 3 Strength p. 57
  • 7 You Are Not Alone p. 59 Joanna Chen Cham
  • 8 How I Got Over p. 65 Evangela Q. Oates
  • 9 The Jackie Robinson of Library Science: Twenty Years Later p. 73 Teresa Y. Neely
  • 10 "The Shoe Is Too Small and Not Made for You!": Racial "Covering" and the Illusion of Fit p. 83 Silvia Lin Hanick
  • Part 4 Leading by Reflection p. 93
  • 11 "While I Have the Floor ..." p. 95 Mark D. Winston
  • 12 What Have I Learned from the Past, Present, and Future? p. 101 José A. Aguiñaga
  • Part 5 Family p. 111
  • 13 Like Our Lives Depended on It: Reflections on Embodied Librarianship, Counterspaces, and Throwing Down p. 113 Nicholae Cline and Jorge R. López-McKnight and Madelyn Shackelford Washington
  • Part 6 Disrupting the System p. 123
  • 14 Una De Solamente Cuatro: Overcoming Barriers to Minority Recruitment in Appalachia p. 125 Monica Garcia Brooks
  • 15 How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: The School-to-Prison Pipeline p. 135 Sheree D. White
  • 16 "I Shall Become a Collector of Me" p. 143 Kimberly Black
  • Part 7 They Persisted p. 151
  • 17 Serving the Sons and Daughters of Mechanics and Farmers at the Crossroads of America p. 153 Madelyn Shackelford Washington
  • 18 Grief in Five Stages: Postgraduate Librarian Degree p. 165 Leni Matthews
  • 19 Confessions of a Retired Librarian p. 173 Lisa Burwell
  • 20 Being a Super Token at the American Heritage Center-University of Wyoming p. 177 Manda Estelí Jacinto
  • Part 8 Warrior Women p. 189
  • 21 Shi Shei liná Naaltsoos Bá Hooghan: "My Library Life p. 191 Monica Etsitty Dorame
  • 22 The Skirt Revolution: Speaking Out as a Mexieana Librarian p. 201 Jimena Bretón
  • 23 Reflections of a Long Journey p. 211 Mee-Len Horn
  • 24 What Do I Have to Be? p. 219 Tanya Elder
  • Part 9 Bringing Us Home p. 229
  • 25 My America p. 231 Ngoc-My Guidarelli
  • 26 I'm Still Here: An Addendum to a Personal Perspective of Academic Librarianship p. 241 Lisa Pillow
  • 27 How Never to Be a Librarian: A View from Retirement p. 247 Zora J. Sampson
  • 28 Letter to New People of Color in LIS p. 257 Sofia Leung
  • Epilogue p. 265 Jorge R. López-McKnight
  • Appendix: In Our Own Voices: The Changing Face of Librarianship (Scarecrow Press, 1996) p. 269
  • Bibliography p. 271
  • Index p. 283
  • About the Editors p. 293
  • About the Contributors p. 295

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