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other information-related settings, the contributions present forward-looking strategies that transcend historical and outdated notions of neutral stance and passive bystanders.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other information-related settings, the contributions present forward-looking strategies that transcend historical and outdated notions of neutral stance and passive bystanders.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.

Public libraries can increase their impact on knowledge development, innovation, and social change by promoting parent and family engagement in children's learning.Libraries are increasingly focusing on families. Educational research confirms that family engagement in children's learning and development predicts school readiness, positive social behaviors, high school graduation, interest in STEM careers, and post-secondary education.A Librarian's Guide to Engaging Families in Learning will inspire libraries and librarians to innovate and promote family learning from a child's earliest years through adolescence. By bringing together research and practice, it will deepen librarians' understanding of families' role in education and help them to learn new ways to build positive and trusting family partnerships that honor diverse cultures and languages, as well as to develop leadership for community impact.Written by thought leaders in the fields of family engagement and library science, each of the three main sections of the book begins with a framework followed by case studies illustrating key concepts of the framework. Cases are followed by reflections from practicing librarians. All chapters focus on practical family engagement in the social infrastructure, lifelong learning, and diversity and social justice.

Libraries are at the heart of many of the communities they serve. Increasingly, it is important for them to adjust to serve minority groups, including LGBTQ+ communities. This collection presents original scholarship on the emerging directions of advocacy and community engagement in LGBTQ+ librarianship. With contributions from library and information professionals, this volume explores how librarians and library professionals can embrace a more proactive role as social justice advocates, and help promote fairness, justice, equality, equity, and activism on behalf of LGBTQ+ people. Starting within the library space, the volume offers an introduction to terminology and resources around LGBTQ+ information, before moving on to explore examples of how LGBTQ+ librarianship can adopt innovative approaches to better serve their patrons in select settings around the world. Including case studies on health services, historical archives, and LGBTQ+ homelessness, this collection dispels misperceptions and myths surrounding social justice research and is vital for any researcher or practitioner interested in supporting evolving communities.

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.

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.

Social Justice in Library and Information Science addresses an urgent need for more credible, accurate, authoritative, authentic, and current experiences about library and information science (LIS) research, practices, policies, and services in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The collection of edited contributions focuses on how social justice and social equity is emerging as a powerful force in shaping contemporary LIS developments in Iran. The experiences capture the complex nuances of intersecting realities in local context, unrepresented voices, and empowering efforts in LIS to overcome marginalizing conditions and circumstances. Chapters include the participatory (and engaging) aspects of LIS (including academic libraries, public libraries, special libraries, LIS education, and more) that document empirical evidence and current scholarship on how progressive institutions and fearless change agents in LIS are promoting social justice outcomes and impacts via information-related work.

Poetry as Knowledge in Librarianship draws on poetry to illustrate its role in library and information science professionals' intertwined personal and professional streams of life journeys.The edited collection explores the power of poetry as a “voice” in transforming librarians’ lives and shaping their motivations, directions, choices, and actions at intertwined personal and professional nexus of intersection from all around the globe. Chapters provide an opportunity for librarians and information professionals worldwide to discuss the use of poetry and its transformational potential within and beyond the academy. The authors draw on the theoretical construct of “voice” as an instrument of self-consciousness, narrative development, storytelling, and discourse analysis.

This is an edited collection of sustainability efforts in academic libraries, partnering with various types of institutions and organizations, including libraries from higher education that are public or private, research universities, degree-awarding or vocational, among others. This volume includes research, case studies, and reflective narratives from academic libraries and their collaborations working with varied partners toward operationalizing the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This collection offers valuable insight into how academic library partnerships, both direct and indirect, contribute to sustainability efforts, with a focus on social equity, economic feasibility, and environmental stewardship to nurture community resilience. Structured into five sections, it highlights the global impact of academic libraries and their partners in adopting and implementing the SDGs to drive social change. These sections specifically explore how libraries are: serving the mission of higher education, extending education to sustainable cities, becoming embedded in communities, forming partnerships for greater impact, and achieving cross-cutting impacts across various initiatives. These insightful chapters include innovative strategies and global perspectives on some of the cutting-edge work initiated and/or led by academic libraries to build sustainable and resilient communities, through collaborative ventures and out-of-the-box partnerships.

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.