Articulating Our Very Unfreedom: The Impossibility of Refusal in the Contemporary Academy

This paper begins and ends with a provocation: I argue that refusal in librarianship is both impossible and necessary. Reviewing examples of crisis narratives which permeate both American and Canadian universities, I take a materialist perspective on the idea of refusal within academic librarianship. To do so, I draw on the work of Audra Simpson, Kyle Whyte, Eve Tuck, Mario Tronti, and Rinaldo Walcott to examine the sites of impossibility of refusal in the practice of academic librarianship within contemporary neoliberal education institutions. Then, I analyze the totality of capitalism in setting the limit for the practice of refusal through case studies of direct action, including the Icelandic Women’s Strike of 1975 and the 2020 Scholar Strike Canada. Finally, I identify private property and history as key frames for understanding the contradiction at the heart of refusal of crisis. As such, any refusal that does not address the centrality of labour and private property relations can thus be understood as harm reduction rather than emancipation. Ultimately, I argue that for librarians to refuse would require an abandonment of liberalism as librarianship’s guiding philosophy, and a redefinition of librarianship as such.

Unresolved Privacy and Ethics Issues Related to Learning Analytics in Higher Education and Academic Librarianship

Learning analytics involve big data collection, analysis processes, and technology that are used in higher education institutes and academic libraries to support student success and perform organizational assessment. Since these processes require the input of personally identifiable student and patron information to be effective, there are major ethical and legal considerations that must be addressed concerning privacy. This article demonstrates that privacy concerns about learning analytics can be mitigated by requiring informed consent from participants, establishing protocols for the collection and management of personally identifiable information, and advocating privacy rights of patrons. By synthesizing and expanding on viewpoints from the literature, this article offers recommendations pertaining to the collection, analysis, and management of patron data that are gathered for the purpose of learning analytics.

Academic Librarianship: A Crisis or an Opportunity?

Academic Librarianship: A Crisis or an Opportunity?

Promoting Professionalism and Academic Librarianship: Observations on the Marketing of the M.L.S.

Despite the requirement for librarians to hold an MLS or equivalent, many librarians have not sought opportunities to publicize their credentials. In the college and university environment, this is surprising given the importance placed on credentials and advanced degrees. A brief survey of academic library websites reveals that few are using the web to publicize librarian credentials, and as a result, are missing opportunities to promote their expertise and advanced qualifications to their community.

Academic Librarianship: A Crisis or an Opportunity?

Academic Librarianship: A Crisis or an Opportunity?

Promoting Professionalism and Academic Librarianship: Observations on the Marketing of the M.L.S.

Despite the requirement for librarians to hold an MLS or equivalent, many librarians have not sought opportunities to publicize their credentials. In the college and university environment, this is surprising given the importance placed on credentials and advanced degrees. A brief survey of academic library websites reveals that few are using the web to publicize librarian credentials, and as a result, are missing opportunities to promote their expertise and advanced qualifications to their community.

The invertebrates scale of librarianship: Finding your niche

As a new academic librarian trying to establish myself and build relationships, I’ve been forced to give a fair amount of thought to what kind of librarian I want, and need, to be. Like many academic librarians, I have been trying to find the balance between being available for our faculty—supporting their (and their students’) instruction needs and facilitating their research—and being a professional in my own right, advocating for myself and my expertise.Many articles about the faculty-librarian relationship focus on faculty perceptions of librarians (or vice versa) and on the need for collaborative relationships. These are important aspects of academic librarianship to address, but they don’t really speak to a significant contributing factor—librarians’ perceptions of themselves and their role.