{"id":134,"date":"2021-07-15T10:00:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T10:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/?p=134"},"modified":"2021-07-15T12:11:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T12:11:14","slug":"critical-approaches-to-libraries-2021calc-day-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2021\/07\/15\/critical-approaches-to-libraries-2021calc-day-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Approaches to Libraries 2021(CALC) Day 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is once again Conference Season, where academic librarians would usually be collecting a variety of colourful lanyards, discussing who had the best snacks with mid-morning coffee and which exhibitors had the best swag. It\u2019s a great time to network with colleagues from other institutions or sectors, and to make new contacts and finally put a face to the name of those twitter accounts. However, as we rounded the bend on a year of online working, we\u2019ve all become quite well versed in the pivot to not only online teaching but also online events. Although we\u2019re used to communicating through a screen \u2013 and the related Zoom Fatigue \u2013 CALC was an event to get excited about. The speaker list was diverse and exciting. The topics felt relevant to the work we\u2019re doing, or want to be doing. The days looked well thought out and not too overwhelming. The ethics of the conference organisation included an optional additional fee to allow the organisers to provide bursary places free of charge to those from marginalised backgrounds.
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My colleague Christine has already written about the sessions she attended on the first day of the conference on the 5th<\/sup> May, here<\/a>. This post follows with information about some of the sessions from the second day, 6th<\/sup> May 2021.<\/p>\n

I joined during the welcome meeting which always includes a bit of housekeeping even in an online event. However the CALC organisers were clearly experienced in the ways of opening sessions as they decided to kick things off with a bang, with a virtual visit to an alpaca farm! While the camelids didn\u2019t exactly contribute to the meaningful content of the morning, they certainly made their presence felt and Twitter was abuzz with the notion of alpacas at all conferences going forward.<\/p>\n

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A tweet from CILIP Scotland introducing Primrose the alpaca<\/p><\/div>\n

The first parallel session I attended was Using student focus groups and curators to diversify reading lists at Northumbria University<\/strong>, presented by Dr Biddy Casselden, Dr Kelly Stockdale and Rowan Sweeny. The session introduced a study the researchers from Northumbria had completed where they asked student focus groups from two disciplines (Criminology and Computer and Information Sciences) to consider the bias in their reading lists. The intention was not only to publish the findings in academic papers, but also to employ two student curators to develop student-led resources in relation to the project.<\/p>\n

They discussed the recruitment process, the different approaches each subject took, and some of the challenges of conducting this research before describing how the focus groups ran. This included asking students to plot reading list titles on the Stockdale & Sweeney intersectionality matrix (2019).<\/p>\n

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Intersectionality matrix (Stockdale & Sweeney, 2019)<\/p><\/div>\n

The results of the plotting were not surprising, but the student response was interesting. Computing studies students cared less about the authorship of the texts and more about the way the text was written \u2013 whether they could absorb information easily, whether it resonated with them \u2013 but importantly the exercise of plotting the texts on the inclusivity matrix acted as a trigger for them to consider how biased the material may be. Most didn\u2019t see the background of the author as important, so long as the information was high quality, and many didn\u2019t see or consider class an issue in representing diversity. The majority of students thought it was important to look at diversity going forward, but were split over whether it would influence their behaviour.<\/p>\n

“I think it has raised my awareness, I\u2019m not sure that it\u2019s going to change anything I do at the moment. I think the reason for that is that there is so much to do, I\u2019m not sure I feel I have got the time to be worrying so much. That sounds awful, doesn\u2019t it?”<\/p>\n

“For me I would like to go and research female BME background authors in my subject. Because I am quite astonished that I don\u2019t know any authors form that background”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The matrix was a useful tool to begin discussions with students, and many hadn\u2019t considered the authorship of texts before. STEM was considered a white, male subject by many, and the students believed that for some topics, and niche areas, it is not always possible to read a diverse range of voices. The speakers left us with questions about where to go from here, and what the role of the academic librarian could be in helping students critically assess the resources they use. While it wasn\u2019t the intention of the session to provide answers to these questions, I feel that I\u2019ll certainly be looking out for forthcoming publications from these researchers on this topic to further inform my praxis.<\/p>\n

Another session I attended was Critically Appraising for Antiracism<\/strong>, a talk given by Ramona Naiker, an Information Specialist at the Northern Care Alliance, which is a combination of two NHS trusts in the North of England. In her presentation Ramona examined:<\/p>\n