#meredith farkas

[byjoveimbeinghumble]

Librarians may not be able to change Google or Facebook, but we can educate our patrons and support the development of the critical-thinking skills they need to navigate an often-biased online world. We can empower our patrons when we help them critically evaluate information and teach them about bias in search engines, social media, and publishing. Libraries that have created research guides for Black Lives Matter and other social justice topics are helping to curate information and points-of-view that might not be traditionally published.   We are not doing our job if we remain neutral when it comes to library technologies. Accepting many of the technologies available to support our missions means accepting technologies that are biased, not accessible, not protective of the privacy of our users, and not easily usable by some of our patrons. A commitment to social justice is a commitment to equal access, which is at the heart of our professional values. We are not being neutral when we advocate for our patrons, but we are being good librarians.

Meredith Farkas, “Never Neutral” (American Libraries, Jan/Feb. 2017)

[byjoveimbeinghumble]

Critical librarianship supports the belief that, in our work as librarians, we should examine and fight attempts at social oppression.   Over the past few years, critical librarianship has become a force that pervades every area of our work, from reference (radicalreference.info) to library instruction (bit.ly/alelmborg), collection development (weneeddiversebooks.org), cataloging (bit.ly/aldrabinski), and storytime (storytimeunderground.org). Biweekly #critlib Twitter chats (critlib .org) address topics across all areas of librarianship. Many librarians are thinking about how they can fight for social justice in their work, which raises the question of whether that work reflects the neutrality that has long been a value in our profession.   One tenet of critical librarianship is that neutrality is not only unachievable, it is harmful to oppressed groups in our society. In a world that is fundamentally unequal, neutrality upholds inequality and represents indifference to the marginalization of members of our community. If the majority of what is published represents a white, male, Christian, heteronormative worldview, then we are not supporting the interests of other members of our communities by primarily buying those works. If Library of Congress Subject Headings whitewash injustices like Japanese-American internment with terms like "Japanese Americans-Evacuation and relocation," then neutrality supports it.

Meredith Farkas, “Never Neutral” (American Libraries, Jan.Feb. 2017)

[byjoveimbeinghumble]

Only recently have I begun to see critiques of technology through the lens of critical librarianship. It is tempting to believe that searching in our library discovery systems is somehow more neutral because results are ranked by relevance based on an algorithm. But that's far from the case, as many researchers have suggested that algorithms can reproduce and support the same negative stereotyping that occurs in society. Grand Valley State University librarian Matthew Reidsma published a fascinating analysis of bias in library discovery systems and explored some of the biased and offensive search results he found in his library's discovery layer (bit.ly/alreidsma).    Whether or not we improve library discovery systems, our patrons are still using online tools that have been shown to be biased. In his TED talk "Beware Online Filter Bubbles" (bit.ly/alpariser), Eli Pariser showed how tools like Google and Facebook personalize what users see and primarily show content that agrees with their worldview. Information scientist Safiya Umoja Noble studied Google search results to show the damage done to young black girls when the top results in a search for "black girls" are highly sexualized (bit.ly/alsnoble). When the internet tools we use provide a partial or distorted view of the world, they influence the attitudes, actions, and self-esteem of the people we serve.

Meredith Farkas, “Never Neutral” (American Libraries, Jan.Feb. 2017)

[stephenfrancoeur]

Pull quote: "I think many libraries first developed tutorials based on the way we teach in the classroom, when most tutorials are actually meant to be used at a students’ point of need. A tutorial designed to help a student at their point of need should look a lot more like a reference desk interaction than classroom instruction. However, that doesn’t mean that learning objects based on the way we teach in the classroom are bad. They’re absolutely fine when assigned to students in a class as part of their learning in a class. In online classes that do not have synchronous components, this may be the only way for a librarian to provide instruction that is course-integrated. And when well-integrated, with discussion or activities or assessment attached to the viewing of a tutorial, it can be a very effective learning tool."

[stephenfrancoeur]

Pull quote: "Library managers need to see their employees as more than a collection of skills. We need to see them as whole people; people with short-term goals, future ambitions, and things that make coming to work enjoyable. Libraries need to not only provide employees with a paycheck and a place to go during the day; they need to give them work that speaks to their passions and furthers their professional goals."

[stephenfrancoeur]

Pull quote: "When I see a shiny new thing, I ask myself, 'How will this further the library’s goals?' If I struggle to find an answer, I know it’s not worth pursuing."

[stephenfrancoeur]

Pull quote: "I don’t know if there have been studies on this, but it would be interesting to figure out at which level does it make the most sense to provide face-to-face instruction and at what level would students benefit most from learning objects. It seems like most suites of learning objects designed to replace face-to-face instruction happen at the Freshman level, but that might just be because there are so many sections of the same few courses and it’s easier to create something that works for many, many, many classes."

[stephenfrancoeur]

Pull quote: "I’ve become increasingly convinced that screencasts are not the right fit for teaching people how to use online databases. It’s very difficult while watching a video to work with a database. It’s also difficult to scan for just what content one needs when they are actually using the database. Lori Mestre’s study on learning styles and learning objects confirmed my suspicions when she found that students using a static HTML tutorial were better able to do database searching than a group that watched a Camtasia screencast because they could go back and forth between the tutorial and the database and practice what they were learning while they were learning."