{"id":1091,"date":"2025-07-22T08:37:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T08:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/?p=1091"},"modified":"2025-07-22T10:42:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:42:40","slug":"approaching-critical-library-practice-calc25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2025\/07\/22\/approaching-critical-library-practice-calc25\/","title":{"rendered":"Approaching critical library practice : CALC25"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Critical Approaches to Libraries Conference poster<\/p><\/div>\n

I attended the online CALC25 [Critical Approaches to Libraries] Conference from 13 \u2013 15 May 2025. The programme, slides and recordings are available at https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/calcconference\/calc2025<\/a> \u00a0It was great to see Alice our Strathclyde placement student there too.<\/p>\n

As you would expect from a conference on critical librarianship the programme topics were wide-ranging and diverse. Topics included professional identity, slow librarianship, supporting neurodivergent colleagues, information imperialism, and justice-orientated librarianship. I would highly recommend this affordable conference. It is \u00a315 for 3 days and you can choose to donate a \u00a315 entrance fee for another participant who can then attend for free.\u00a0Most of the sessions were recorded and are on Youtube or the above website.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is a very friendly and inclusive forum and describes itself as \u201cchallenging power structures in libraries in a spirit of liberation and joy, while living our values and creating a safe space for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

A stand-out speaker for me was Rachel Brett, asking \u201cJust how critical can librarians be?\u201d, discussing the commodification of HE, and positing that HE library wellbeing collections and colouring books infantilise students, when actually they should be taught to be critical thinkers and encouraged to understand Marxist critical theory.<\/p>\n

Jane Furness<\/p>\n

Academic Support Librarian, ECA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I attended the online CALC25 [Critical Approaches to Libraries] Conference from 13 \u2013 15 May 2025. The programme, slides and recordings are available at https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/calcconference\/calc2025 \u00a0It was great to see Alice our Strathclyde placement student there too. As you would … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[35],"tags":[47,31,42,17],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcUES5-hB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":541,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2023\/06\/21\/critical-approaches-to-libraries-calc-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":1091,"position":0},"title":"Critical Approaches to Libraries (CALC) 2023","date":"June 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I attended the CALC Conference on 24th and 25th May and can thoroughly recommend this annual event to other professionals interested in critical librarianship. The gathering was welcoming and introduced the day by stating \u201cwe will operate within a spirit of liberation at this conference\u201d. If you have not heard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":839,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2024\/07\/26\/ai-vs-the-imago-dei-views-from-us-theological-libraries\/","url_meta":{"origin":1091,"position":1},"title":"AI vs the Imago Dei : views from US theological libraries","date":"July 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On Tuesday 18 June, I flew half way around the world to attend the Atla conference in Long Beach, California. There were two questions that Atla delegates asked me that I had to pause and think about to answer. The first was \u2018Why did you come such a long way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2024\/04\/Artificial_intelligence.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":101,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2021\/06\/08\/critical-approaches-to-libraries-2021calc-day-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":1091,"position":2},"title":"Critical Approaches to Libraries 2021(CALC) Day 1","date":"June 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"On Monday 5 May I attended the Critical Approaches to Libraries 2021 conference, a really interesting and dynamic gathering exploring all aspects of critical practice in libraries. My first session was\u00a0A novel data solution to analyse the diversity of reading lists - The case of Imperial College London Masters in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2021\/06\/CALC-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":110,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2021\/07\/16\/decoloniality-and-the-library-cilips-conference-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":1091,"position":3},"title":"Decoloniality and the library (CILIPS Conference 2021)","date":"July 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"On 7 June I attended a CILIPS conference session on Decoloniality and the library: the case at Goldsmiths, University of London, by\u00a0Marilyn Clarke, Director of Library Services at Goldsmiths, University of London. Marilyn started off with a quote from Desmond Tutu \u201cIf you are neutral in situations of injustice, you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2021\/06\/Liberate_bookplate-CLP-Chapter_MC.PNG-217x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":721,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2024\/04\/01\/ai-theological-libraries-and-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":1091,"position":4},"title":"AI, Theological Libraries \u2026 and me","date":"April 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The University of Edinburgh hosted the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries conference this year at New College on 21-23 March. As usual there was the opportunity for discovering fascinating and historic libraries, including (of course) New College Library, the National Museum of Library of Scotland and the Signet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2024\/04\/Artificial_intelligence.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":606,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2023\/10\/09\/meeting-the-challenges-facing-ecclesiastical-libraries\/","url_meta":{"origin":1091,"position":5},"title":"Meeting the challenges facing ecclesiastical libraries","date":"October 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"BETH are a European group of national organisations representing librarians working in theological college, seminary, Church and monastic libraries. Solo librarians or librarians working in small teams are characteristic of their membership, although there is also representation from University libraries. I attended their conference on the theme of Challenges facing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"Cordoba Mosque \/ Cathedral","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2023\/10\/Cathedral.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1091"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1097,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091\/revisions\/1097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}