Bharat Mehra – författare

Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science presents a range of case studies that have successfully implemented social justice as a designed strategy to generate community-wide changes and social impact.

Each chapter in the collection presents innovative practices that are strategized as intentional, deliberate, systematic, outcome-based, and impact-driven. They demonstrate effective examples of social justice design and implementation in LIS to generate meaningful outcomes across local, regional, national, and international settings. Including reflections on challenges and opportunities in academic, public, school, and special libraries, museums, archives, and other information-related settings, the contributions present forward-looking strategies that transcend historical and outdated notions of neutral stance and passive bystanders. Showcasing the intersections of LIS concepts and interdisciplinary theories with traditional and non-traditional methods of research and practice, the volume demonstrates how to further the social justice principles of fairness, justice, equity/equality, and empowerment of all people, including those on the margins of society.

Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science will be of great interest to LIS educators, scholars, students, information professionals, library practitioners, and all those interested in integrating social justice and inclusion advocacy into their information-related efforts to develop impact-driven, externally focused, and community-relevant outcomes.

Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science presents a range of case studies that have successfully implemented social justice as a designed strategy to generate community-wide changes and social impact.

Each chapter in the collection presents innovative practices that are strategized as intentional, deliberate, systematic, outcome-based, and impact-driven. They demonstrate effective examples of social justice design and implementation in LIS to generate meaningful outcomes across local, regional, national, and international settings. Including reflections on challenges and opportunities in academic, public, school, and special libraries, museums, archives, and other information-related settings, the contributions present forward-looking strategies that transcend historical and outdated notions of neutral stance and passive bystanders. Showcasing the intersections of LIS concepts and interdisciplinary theories with traditional and non-traditional methods of research and practice, the volume demonstrates how to further the social justice principles of fairness, justice, equity/equality, and empowerment of all people, including those on the margins of society.

Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science will be of great interest to LIS educators, scholars, students, information professionals, library practitioners, and all those interested in integrating social justice and inclusion advocacy into their information-related efforts to develop impact-driven, externally focused, and community-relevant outcomes.

Antiracist Library and Information Science: Racial Justice and Community presents the scholarship and insights of seasoned academic researchers and experienced practitioners as well as emerging scholars, graduate students, new professionals and activists in the field of LIS on the topic of antiracism. The chapters represent a combination of critical, scholarly and reflective perspectives on the theory, practice and progress made towards the actualization of antiracism in LIS and the creation of racially just communities.

This volume has been divided into three main sections. The first section, ‘Theoretical Groundings,’ addresses the philosophical, ontological, axiological, theoretical and epistemological perspectives on race-based oppression, racial justice and anti-racist values and ethics. The second section, ‘Dimensions of the Problem of Race in LIS and Community,’ presents explorations of the specific problems of racism in LIS practice – racism embedded in the tools and technologies of the profession and its services, in social relations and in the practices of LIS workplaces. The final section, ‘Developing Antiracist LIS and Creating the Beloved Community’ presents practical solutions for realizing the vision of an antiracist LIS and the creation of racially justice communities.

The contributors have provided a response and initial solutions for how the LIS professions can meet their espoused ideals for providing the best services for their communities. This work provides scholarship, food for thought, frameworks, and proposals for discussions for achieving the end of racism in LIS and the creation of just world.

Antiracist Library and Information Science: Racial Justice and Community presents the scholarship and insights of seasoned academic researchers and experienced practitioners as well as emerging scholars, graduate students, new professionals and activists in the field of LIS on the topic of antiracism. The chapters represent a combination of critical, scholarly and reflective perspectives on the theory, practice and progress made towards the actualization of antiracism in LIS and the creation of racially just communities.

This volume has been divided into three main sections. The first section, ‘Theoretical Groundings,’ addresses the philosophical, ontological, axiological, theoretical and epistemological perspectives on race-based oppression, racial justice and anti-racist values and ethics. The second section, ‘Dimensions of the Problem of Race in LIS and Community,’ presents explorations of the specific problems of racism in LIS practice – racism embedded in the tools and technologies of the profession and its services, in social relations and in the practices of LIS workplaces. The final section, ‘Developing Antiracist LIS and Creating the Beloved Community’ presents practical solutions for realizing the vision of an antiracist LIS and the creation of racially justice communities.

The contributors have provided a response and initial solutions for how the LIS professions can meet their espoused ideals for providing the best services for their communities. This work provides scholarship, food for thought, frameworks, and proposals for discussions for achieving the end of racism in LIS and the creation of just world.

Public libraries, through their mission, vision, and position in the community, play a significant part in building community sustainability and are already positioned to serve as a “backbone support organization” for collective impact initiatives. However, their efforts are often unrecognized by local governments and other social justice organizations. How Public Libraries Build Sustainable Communities in the 21st Century, through research, case studies, and personal narratives representing both national and international perspectives, examines the capacity of public libraries to impact social change at the community level. The overarching goal is to change the narrative with community stakeholders by presenting illustrative examples of how public libraries are driving community change and how these efforts align with the UN SDGs.

Public libraries, through their mission, vision, and position in the community, play a significant part in building community sustainability and are already positioned to serve as a “backbone support organization” for collective impact initiatives. However, their efforts are often unrecognized by local governments and other social justice organizations. How Public Libraries Build Sustainable Communities in the 21st Century, through research, case studies, and personal narratives representing both national and international perspectives, examines the capacity of public libraries to impact social change at the community level. The overarching goal is to change the narrative with community stakeholders by presenting illustrative examples of how public libraries are driving community change and how these efforts align with the UN SDGs.

The need for decolonizing cultural institutions and their mismanagement practices in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, of First Nations peoples’ materials and knowledge has been widely recognised. However, this has not translated into an information systems design, nor a complementary solution representing an alternative world view. Instead, the entrenched legacy of the neoliberal sector’s curatorial and archival practices remains intact, and their authority stays unquestioned. This edited book’s unique viewpoint is its exploration of projects that investigate innovative data curation strategies through the thematics of visual representation of infrastructure, and bodies of knowledge.

Authors from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds underpin their chapters with a social justice approach to investigations around different knowledge systems. They powerfully challenge entrenched assumptions of knowledge capture and dissemination of the western academy. An emphasis on visualisations of cultural heritage materials across a variety of case studies using technologies that range from augmented and virtual realities to mixed reality aims to raise questions for debate in the way Indigenous data is collected, managed, curated, governed, and represented and by whom.

The need for decolonizing cultural institutions and their mismanagement practices in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, of First Nations peoples’ materials and knowledge has been widely recognised. However, this has not translated into an information systems design, nor a complementary solution representing an alternative world view. Instead, the entrenched legacy of the neoliberal sector’s curatorial and archival practices remains intact, and their authority stays unquestioned. This edited book’s unique viewpoint is its exploration of projects that investigate innovative data curation strategies through the thematics of visual representation of infrastructure, and bodies of knowledge.

Authors from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds underpin their chapters with a social justice approach to investigations around different knowledge systems. They powerfully challenge entrenched assumptions of knowledge capture and dissemination of the western academy. An emphasis on visualisations of cultural heritage materials across a variety of case studies using technologies that range from augmented and virtual realities to mixed reality aims to raise questions for debate in the way Indigenous data is collected, managed, curated, governed, and represented and by whom.

During the 2020-2023 years of the pandemic, when it came to the workplace, public librarians creatively adjusted their practices and their praxis to keep communities engaged with a myriad of virtual information services and distal information delivery during lockdown, lasting for often long and uncertain timeframes. Library staff then had to transition back to providing information services that resembled pre-pandemic services, but with added virtual options that library users had become accustomed to. How the pandemic affected librarian praxis has become a testimony of how librarian ethos has grown and become stronger for the lessons learned.

Defining the librarian ethos as the character of the librarian identity, Reading Workplace Dynamics offers a renewed ethos for public librarianship synthesizing frontline practitioner outcomes with scholarship via a blend of chapters presenting innovative and bold testimony on ways in which COVID-19 forever changed public librarianship. With a diverse geocultural scope, all chapters mindfully focus on the value of regionality and geoculture, centering and highlighting new voices to document the knowledge and wisdom of scholars and practitioners with front-line experience and longevity in public library services.

Reading Workplace Dynamics appeals to public library professionals globally interested and invested in their professional development, and wider readers seeking to understand experiences, practices, and initiatives in public libraries.