Centering a BIPOC Library Workforce

Excited to share with you all an autoethnographic piece I wrote with my dear friend Janis J. Shearer; we’re both proud alums of the ARL Kaleidoscope Program. Read the full article in the “Anti-Racist Action in Libraries” special issue of Reference Services Review (a pre-print version is also available). Mark A. Puente and Jim Hahn wrote a guest editorial concerning the special issue.

Citation

Shearer, J. J. & Chiewphasa, B. B. (2022). Radical re-imagination: Centering a BIPOC library workforce in an asset-based autoethnography. Reference Services Review, 50(1), 113-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-07-2021-0029

Abstract

Purpose: Academic BIPOC librarians oftentime struggle to envision themselves and navigate in White-dominant spaces due to deficit thinking. To better understand how DEIA efforts can bolster structural change in academic libraries, the two BIPOC authors opted to lean on an asset-based exercise–imagining a positive work environment made possible through a library staffed entirely by BIPOC individuals.

Design/methodology/approach: Through collaborative autoethnography, the two authors interviewed one another and centered their unstructured conversations around one question: “What does an academic library composed entirely of a BIPOC workforce look like?” Three emergent themes were agreed upon and finalized by the two authors.

Findings: The authors’ imagined library is able to foster a supportive community and also function efficiently thanks to its shared purpose grounded in DEIA. Despite relying on an asset-based framework, the authors found themselves having to reckon with trials and tribulations currently faced by BIPOC librarians. Effectively envisioning the “ideal” library environment is not possible without also engaging with librarianship’s legacy of racial injustices.

Originality/value: Recognizing that confronting systems of oppression naturally invokes trauma, this paper encourages librarians to challenge deficit thinking and instead rely on asset-based models to candidly imagine an anti-racist academic library. The authors acknowledge that BIPOC voices and experiences add tremendous value to the library workplace. At the heart of this paper is the belief that reparations for past racial injustices should not only fix past wrongdoings, but also contribute to positive workplace cultures.