An “Owning Up” of White-IST Trends in LIS to Further Real Transformations
Abstract
In the shadow of a uniquely American struggle for racial equality, who were we historically in the library and information science (LIS) professions and how has it shaped who we are in the present? An honest acceptance is important to realistically move forward in the future. On the occasion to commemorate Library Quarterly’s tenth decade, this article reflects on “owning up” of historical and contemporary White-IST trends considered “normative” in LIS for authentic transformations to expand diversity and social justice within its privileged canon and ranks. The representational form of the term “White [dash] IST” (in ALL CAPS) is coined in the article as an amalgamation of “White + Elitist” practices during six phases in LIS of the past and the present. An owning up of historical lapses and identifying limitations in contemporary LIS practices is important for reconciliation, retribution, and overcoming White-IST tendencies that exist even today.
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Recruiting and hiring diverse staff is challenging as the number of visible minorities in academic librarianship has remained stagnant.
“However, recruiting and hiring diverse staff is challenging as the number of visible minorities in academic librarianship has remained stagnant.”
From Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Statements on Academic Library Websites: An Analysis of Content, Communication, and Messaging (2021) · cites this paper as [55]
Cites
Transformative Paradigm: Mixed Methods and Social Justice
Mertens, D. M. (2007) · Journal of Mixed Methods Research · doi:10.1177/1558689807302811 · Cited by 860 · see citing works
COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL INTERACTION: ELEMENTS OF A COGNITIVE IR THEORY
INGWERSEN, P. (1996) · Journal of Documentation · doi:10.1108/eb026960 · Cited by 717 · see citing works
In Pursuit of Antiracist Social Justice: Denaturalizing Whiteness in the Academic Library
Brook, F., Ellenwood, D., & Lazzaro, A. E. (2015) · Library Trends · doi:10.1353/lib.2015.0048 · Cited by 133 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Often noticeable to the person of color is that he or she is outnumbered and a token representative of his or her racial group (Brook, Ellenwood, and Lazzaro 2015; Hudson 2017; Gray 2018).”
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Ely, E. (2021) · Information Technology and Libraries · doi:10.6017/ital.v40i4.13353 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mehra, B., & Gray, L.
- Venue
- The Library Quarterly
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2020-04-01
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 189-239
- ISSN
- 0024-2519 (ISSN-L)
- 1549-652X
- OpenAlex
- W3013423977
- Cited by
- 88
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 84.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Library Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Library Science and Administration
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Information Science and Libraries
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Library Science and Information
- Keywords
- social justice, elitism, canons, reconciliation
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