OVERDUE: Weeding Out Oppression in Libraries Episode 13: Librarians with Spines, Part 2 with Autumn Anglin, Max Macias & Yago Cura

Librarians with Spines: LIS Publishing for BIPOC and other Oppressed Groups

 

Reading Group Resistance Showcase

[Please share widely!] 

Please join us for another outstanding Librarians with Spines author showcase! This time we are doing something completely different! Librarians with spines editors, Max Macias and Yago Cura, along with designer extraordinaire Autumn Anglin will be interviewed by the Auraria Technical Services Division reading group! 

 The reading group has been reading Librarians with Spines Vol. 1 and will be sure to have some great questions for Autumn, Max and Yago. 

 The event takes place on Thursday, October 29th 2020 at 12pm PST. 

 Potential topics covered: Book publishing Editing Writing LIS And more 

Audience: LIS students Library workers Librarians BIPOC LIS students/Librarians/library workers/information professionals People interested in publishing Information professionals in general Others

Librarians With Spines is Available here!

Librarians with Spines can be a useful classroom teaching tool for LIS.

It is unique and has a broad range of topics from a diverse group of authors!


Yago, Autumn and I would like to thank the authors and the gofundme contributors for making this project possible!

LWS TOC

LWS TOC

HINCHAS PRESS TO PUBLISH ANTHOLOGY OF ESSAYS ON RADICAL LIBRARIANSHIP TITLED, “LIBRARIANS WITH SPINES” PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE:

Please Help Us Publish Librarians With Spines

This is your chance to be part of a unique publishing endeavor. Yago S. Cura and Max Macias are co-editing a book of essays written by specifically invited librarians who we feel have some of the best minds in the world. We need help with funds for publishing. Please consider giving what you can to help us create this one of a kind work. We plan on continuing with a series of unique, forward-thinking and courageous librarian works from outstanding minds in the Information world.

My name is Max Macias and my Co-editor is Yago Cura. We are seeking help publishing an invitational anthology of radical essays written by exceptional librarians, many of whom are also librarians of color. All funds will be used for publishing and promotional costs. We are projecting to publish this anthology of essays by May, 2017. Few books have been written about how information and culture impact the creation of knowledge. Even fewer books critique how oppression is bolstered and enhanced by cultural concepts that are embedded in our information. Since information is important to all of us as librarians and consumers of information, these essays will seek to fill the void described above. One of the things we are trying to understand is the relationship between culture and information, and how this impacts the creation of knowledge. 

These essays will range in theme from colonialism and whiteness in library science to representation in children’s literature. Going beyond what has been written in the past on this subject and bringing together a diverse group of great librarians is the goal of this endeavor. These essays will attempt to move LIS forward in the areas of culture, information and education. You will not only be helping us publish this work, but you will be helping the field and profession of Library Science with your support. Please give anything you can to help us change the field of library related publishing. Description: Hinchas Press invites original chapters for a new volume. 

This edited volume seeks to understand culture and its impact on information and knowledge in LIS and Education in general. We seek contributors involved in the ongoing critique of information and culture in the United States and Canada and the rest of the Americas--especially those who are interested in sharing and speaking candidly about their experiences with culture and information in libraries, authorship, books, films, comics, other media and in education. This monograph will offer multiple views and insights from the greatest minds in LIS during the second decade of the 21st century. 

These essays will cover major breakthroughs, barriers to progress, cultural innovation and information, and radical thinking in libraries and in education and other vital areas. What progress has LIS made regarding major problems concerning information and culture? What successes have individuals had creating change? What do great contemporary librarians think about colonialism, feminism, multiculturalism, religion and race, intersectionality and other social justice and equity issues? This compilation will be edited by two of today’s shakers and movers in information and culture: Max Macias and Yago 

Topics to consider from a theoretical and/or practical perspective: Information, culture and user needs Computers and culture Whiteness in Libraries and Education Women and computers in libraries Open educational resources and representation Microaggressions in education, academia, in print Cultural representation in children’s literature Cultural representation in comics Erotica and Information in libraries Sexual identity and collection development Classism in LIS education and librarian culture Hip-Hop culture in libraries...

 Below is the golden ticket we sent invited authors and a link to our GoFundMe drive.  

Please give what you can.

Hackers Have a Stronger Sharing Ethic than Librarians

The dysfunctional model of Librarians, who already have great jobs as librarians--writing books for ALA, or other publishers who will then pimp their information out to libraries who can afford the price to these publications. Most often, these publications are on essential library best practices and technology implementations. To put up a barrier to this librarian created information is ethically and morally wrong. It goes against the librarian principle of sharing information.

This information should be made freely available to libraries who can't afford the new ALA techSource title, or to small rural libraries who can't afford to attend the 350.00 pre-conference.

Shit--I have learned more from Hackers for free than I have learned from librarians sharing their vital information.

This site needs to be hackerfied--meaning--it should be converted to an information sharing site:

http://www.alatechsource.org

When I was first introduced to computers and the internet I had a friend who was a hacker. He turned me onto a group of White Hat Hackers who dedicated their lives to sharing information.

Much of what they did was illegal, but it was not malicious. It was about sharing. These people would spend hours and hours creating tutorials for users--this is where I learned about ports, scanning, FTP and more--all for FREE.

This sharing ethic made such a huge impression on me that I wondered why more people don't share information so freely.

Then I became a librarian and was so excited by the purported ethic of sharing information with those who are in need. Once I became a librarian, I quickly realized that this was not the case. What I mean by that is that in order to serve your patrons well, then you will have to cough up the money (most often) to get that information in the form of a pre-conference, a publication or a trainer. BIG bucks paid to librarians, whose ethics are supposed to include sharing information--even with those who have nothing. There is something wrong when our profession sells information.

One of my academic friends on FB told me that it is a tenure issue--"...people need to publish in the antiquated system in order to be recognized professionally."


While, this is indeed the case for academic librarians, we ALL need to be pushing the envelope on the publishing platform issue. Blogs and other related platforms can and should be used by academia to publish their work and get critiques from colleagues and a wider breadth of readership than simply publishing your article in one journal. Blogging to a wider audience can inject a healthy dose of transparency, information diffusion and a diversity of ideas into Academia. Academia is in dire need of these things at the moment.

Librarians should set up a virtual publishing center and publish their work there. It should be Be freely available to anyone who needs the information and should also include multimedia production and storage capabilities.

I should note here that many library related publications that are written by librarians and sold by publishers do not pay a dime. However, the publishers make money if the book sells through library related channels.