All times listed are eastern daylight time (EDT).
Zoom information will be shared with registered attendees.
Thursday, October 8, 2020
1:00 p.m.–1:05 p.m. Welcome
John Culshaw, Jack B. King University Librarian, The University of Iowa, and ARL President 2020–2021
1:05 p.m.–2:00 p.m. New Paradigms of Justice: How Librarians Can Respond to the Knowledge Crisis
Julia C. Blixrud Memorial Lecture (sponsored by EBSCO)
In her recent best-selling book Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Noble challenges the idea that “Big Tech” offers an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities. Her work argues that the combination of private interests, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of internet companies, leads to a limited understanding of how racism is created, maintained, and disseminated in everyday digital engagements.
Data discrimination is a real social problem, and in this talk, Noble offers a powerful set of data points, examples, and provocations. She asserts we are at the beginning of creating new paradigms of justice in the technology sector. Noble’s talk suggests both practical and imaginative ways for information professionals like librarians to take seriously the role they can play in synthesizing complex social crises into their work and their ability to positively employ social change.
Moderator:
Carmelita Pickett, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources and Content Strategy, University of Virginia
Speaker:
Safiya Umoja Noble, Associate Professor, Department of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Co-director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry
2:00 p.m.–2:15 p.m. Break
2:15 p.m.–3:30 p.m. Fresh Perspectives on Making an Impact and Taking Action
As libraries consider actions to take against racism and in support of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, a broader view is needed to make the greatest impact. Campus context, strategic direction, and community expectations inform relevant and meaningful steps and investment. Our panelists have been invited to share their experiences and perspectives with driving organizational change towards more inclusive practice and offer their thoughts on how libraries might take purposeful action.
Moderator:
Lisa Carter, Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Panel Facilitator:
Tracie Hall, Executive Director, American Library Association
Speakers:
Patricia Hswe, Program Officer for Public Knowledge, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Tara Robertson, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Professional in the Tech Sector
Patrick Sims, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, University of North Carolina School of the Arts
3:30 p.m.–3:45 p.m. Break
3:45 p.m.–4:30 p.m. Risk, Relation, Revolution, Repair: Refusing Closure, Accepting Ambivalence
Risk, Relation, Revolution, and Repair: these four concepts will serve as the basis for a conversation about how anti-colonial storytelling might disrupt hegemonic political, social, and cultural discourse. What are the risks involved in producing subversive and inelegant subject formations that inform emerging political imaginaries, ways of being—alternative cultural geographic revolutions that pulsate with anger, love, and optimism? What relations, and at what scale, are negotiated in the process? How might we highlight the risks of investing in this approach—to map out moments of uncertainty that animate social and political projects of possibility—given the colonial violence that structures and saturates mainstream media spaces? This paper will explore my personal and professional ambivalence, through struggles and unsettling moments that have occurred over the past two years, as I created and hosted a daily radio show entitled Sense of Place. Through a series of vignettes and radio clips, I focus on the concepts of risk, relation, revolution, and repair to share with listeners what anti-colonial approaches can do to engage and refuse ongoing forms of colonial violence.
Moderator:
Beth Sandore Namachchivaya, University Librarian, University of Waterloo
Speaker:
Minelle Mahtani, Associate Professor, Institute for Social Justice, The University of British Columbia
4:30 p.m.–4:45 p.m. Wrap-Up
Moderator:
Anne Langley, Dean of UConn Library, University of Connecticut
Speaker:
Gwen Bird, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, Simon Fraser University
