CFP: Edited Collection Liberatory* Librarianship: Case Studies of
Information Professionals Supporting Justice*, due Nov. 30



Editors:

Dr. Laurie Taylor (University of Florida, USA)

Dr. Shamin Renwick (University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad
and Tobago)

Brian Keith (University of Florida, USA)



Background:

In this volume to be published by the American Library Association, we seek
to explore what is “liberatory librarianship,” using liberatory to mean
serving to liberate or set free and using “librarianship” capaciously, to
include all information professionals, including archivists, museum
professionals, and others who may or may not identify as librarians.



Liberatory librarianship involves the application of the skills, knowledge,
abilities, professional ethics, and personal commitment to justice and the
leveraging of the systems and resources of libraries to support the work of
underrepresented, minoritized, and/or marginalized people to increase
freedom, justice, community, and broader awareness.



 In this volume, we want to address questions like:

   -

   How can librarianship be liberatory?
   -

   How is library capacity and expertise used to increase freedom, justice,
   and community?
   -

   What is your story of being a liberatory librarian?
   -

   Tell us the story of liberatory librarianship that inspired you in your
   work?


   -

   In 2020 many librarians were shocked by tragic racially based events and
   motivated to become more focused on social justice work – how has that
   translated into library work?





We seek stories of liberatory librarianship so that collectively we can learn
from impactful luminaries, who too often are unknown and their work
unspoken.  In this volume, we seek to define, recognize, and foster
liberatory librarianship by bringing together many voices sharing the stories
of this work.



For what we hope is the first of many volumes, we seek:

   -

   Practical stories to inspire us to think about our work and inform it,
   not opinion pieces
   -

   Stories based on information professionals doing something
   -

   Stories of stalwarts and champions who have forged progress in this area
   -

   Autobiographical entries are welcomed


   -

   Stories from the across the world
   -

   Entries in English (the stories may depicted work undertaken in other
   languages)
   -

   Cases are expected to follow practices of reciprocity and community, and
   so are expected to engage and return to the community. Community members
   should be afforded the opportunity to review and comment. For example, if
   the story of liberatory librarianship includes work with a particular
   community, will a member of that community be a contributor to the piece?

   -

   For essays where the person is alive and available, the book process
   will include inviting the person to take part and incorporating their
   perspective to share their voice (incorporated into the entries). As
   with all of the essays, these will share stories of specific work and
   person working following liberatory librarianship.



The editors expect to include approximately:

   -

   10 long-form profiles (3,000-4,000 words)
   -

   15 short-form profiles (under 350 words)



We will select based on the importance of sharing hidden stories,
representativeness of the stories, and the ability of each story in terms
of how they can educate, inform, and inspire.



This volume will complement recent scholarship on liberatory archives and
justice in libraries, known by many terms, as with Michelle Caswell’s Urgent
Archives (Routledge 2021) and Sophia T. Leung and Jorge R.
López-McKnight’s Knowledge
Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Critical Race
Theory (MIT 2021). This book will parallel the collection edited by Shameka
Dalton, Yvonne J. Chandler, Vicente E. Garces, Dennis C. Kim-Prieto, Carol
Avery Nicholson, and Michele A. L. Villagran, Celebrating Diversity: A
Legacy of Minority Leadership in the American Association of Law Libraries,
Second Edition (Hein 2018), which offers a thematic overview with specific
stories of excellence and impact. This volume shares a methodology with
grounded theory, narratology, and feminist practices, as with books like
Sherry Turkle’s Evocative Objects (MIT 2011). In the telling of specific
stories that speak to greater truths, the essays in this volume will
illuminate complexity through accessible, readable, and engaging stories.



As a collected set of stories of the profession, this volume will be of
interest to those working in librarianship, defined broadly, as well as to
faculty and students in information science and museum studies programs.



Please send the following to [log in to unmask] by November 30, 2022:

   -

   Name(s)
   -

   Email(s) for all
   -

   100-250 word bio of the author(s), which may include links
   -

   For a short form (under 350 words), please submit the full piece


   -

   For a longer form (3,000-4,000 words), please submit the full piece
or a 250-500
   word proposal



For submissions:

   -

   Please use Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition.
   -

   Photos, images, or artwork should be saved in separate electronic files
   (each photo, image, etc. as a separate file). Indicate their placement with
   an all-caps comment in the manuscript, immediately following the paragraph
   that includes the reference to the figure, table, or box, for example:
   INSERT FIGURE 6.3 APPROXIMATELY HERE.



The editors will respond by December 5, 2022.



For longer form, final submissions will be due February 15, 2022.