Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS

by Rose L. Chou (Editor), Annie Pho (Contributor)

Using intersectionality as a framework, this edited collection explores the experiences of women of color in library and information science (LIS). With roots in black feminism and critical race theory, intersectionality studies the ways in which multiple social and cultural identities impact individual experience. Libraries and archives idealistically portray themselves as egalitarian and neutral entities that provide information equally to everyone, yet these institutions often reflect and perpetuate societal racism, sexism, and additional forms of oppression. Women of color who work in LIS are often placed in the position of balancing the ideal of the library and archive providing good customer service and being an unbiased environment with the lived reality of receiving microaggressions and other forms of harassment on a daily basis from both colleagues and patrons. This book examines how lived experiences of social identities affect women of color and their work in LIS.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, Social Justice, Library Science, Feminism, Librarianship, Professional Development

510 pages, Paperback

Published September 17, 2018

Reviews

[Haley Hope Gillilan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just stupendous. There were parts of this that made me feel seen and other parts that made me reexamine. So much in here that I will take with me throughout my career.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

SUPER RECOMMEND for anyone who works in libraries, with data/information, in academia at large. Collection of essay/quantitative surveys, historical and institutional outlooks on institutional racism-sexism, challenges in being a WoC in library-info settings; some focus on resiliency, intergenerational mentorship, deeply psychological and also policy-broad as well. Would like to see this be a foundational library school text, cultural competency/humility 101 material. Anthology pulls from mostly academic librarian WoC, with some archives, and public library/researcher/prof crossover.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is yet another interesting publication from Library Juice. The title of the book gives you a strong idea of what the content is. This is a book for many library staff to read, as it provides helpful information, and some strategies for making improvements in the library as work place and the library as library. This is a book about collections, services, maker spaces, readers' advisory work and much more. I have lots of notes in this book to follow up on. I keep deleting other sentences, because the most helpful thing I can say is, go and read this book.

[Marcela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent starting resource. There are so many more avenues I'd like to see this expanded into, and I hope this book is just the beginning. For a variety of reasons, this book is very heavily weighted in academic librarianship, so I'd love to see future work focus in on the unique issues inherent to other kinds of libraries, especially public and schools, but also special libraries, like medical. Still, definitely worth the read.

[amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gets stronger as it goes. The last two chapters extremely get me. Recommend for anyone interested in library labor.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't love every chapter, but the ones I loved I loved a lot. Fobazi's preface is amazing and chapters 4, 6, 7, 15, 16, and 17 were standouts for me.

[Julie Botnick]

Important read for white librarians. It traces a lineage of non-white librarianship and the physical and emotional wear of constantly fighting for one's place in a majority-white profession. Ultimately, the profession, the people in it, and those we serve are harmed when we do nothing to question the status quo and create a safe, empowering workplace and scholarly field.

I especially appreciated the breadth of methodologies the editors included, from personal testimony to round table transcripts to interviews to social science studies. Books like this legitimize the range of research tools available and decenter the rigidity of what we are told [inaccessible, inequitable, exclusive] "academic research" must look like to be "acceptable."