Prelims

Half Title Page

HOW PUBLIC LIBRARIES BUILD SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Editorial Page

ADVANCES IN LIBRARIANSHIP

Advances in Librarianship Editor

• Bharat Mehra, The University of Alabama, Series Editor

Advances in Librarianship Editorial Board

• Denise E. Agosto, Drexel University, USA

• Wade Bishop, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA

• John Buschman, Seton Hall University, USA

• Michelle Caswell, University of California Los Angeles, USA

• Sandra Hughes-Hassell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

• Paul T. Jaeger, University of Maryland, USA

• Don Latham, Florida State University, USA

• Jerome Offord, Harvard University, USA

Title Page

Advances in Librarianship - Volume 53

HOW PUBLIC LIBRARIES BUILD SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

EDITED BY

KAURRI C. WILLIAMS-COCKFIELD

University of Tennessee, USA

AND

BHARAT MEHRA

University of Alabama, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Editorial matter and selection © 2023 Kaurri C. Williams-Cockfield and Bharat Mehra.

Individual chapters © 2023 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: www.copyright.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80382-436-9 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-435-2 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-437-6 (Epub)

ISSN: 0065-2830 (Series)

Dedication Page

This book is dedicated to the steadfast and brave librarians of the Ukraine and to Ms Larysa Luhova, Director of the Lviv Regional Library for Children and Vice President of the Ukrainian Library Association at the time work on this publication began. Ms Luhova was selected to submit a chapter about public library ecological projects for children that were in development prior to the start of the Ukrainian War. Once the war began, Ms Luhova had to stop working on her chapter for this publication and devote her time to preserving Ukrainian culture. Our hope is that she will share this story with the library profession at some time in the future.

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 7

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 12

Chapter 14

Chapter 17

About the Contributors

Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (MLS, LEED AP) is currently the Executive Director of the Mid-Hudson Library System (NY). Rebekkah is the Co-founder and Board President of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative and Principal Author of the award-winning Sustainable Library Certification Program. Rebekkah is the author of Sustainable Thinking: Ensuring Your Library’s Future in an Uncertain World and Resilience, part of the American Library Association’s Futures Series; and co-editor of Libraries & Sustainability: Programs and Practices for Community Impact.

Kaitlin Wynia Baluk, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. At McMaster, Kaitlin likewise received her PhD in Health and Society in 2021. Her current research explores digital literacy training solutions for older adults living in affordable social housing.

Lynn Blair is a Public Librarian in Western Massachusetts. She has a Bachelor’s in English with a minor in Biology, and a Master’s in Library Science. In libraries, she has worked in children’s services, teen services, and has worked as a Library Director for seven years.

Andrea Bugbee holds a BA in English and an MAT in Secondary English. During her 10 years as a teacher and 22 years as a freelance feature writer, Ms Bugbee has remained a staunch supporter of local libraries. She has twice served on the Southwick Public Library Strategic Planning Committee, she is a Founding Member of the Pioneer Valley Library Collaborative, and she remains an active patron volunteer for the PVLC.

Lynn Silipigni Connaway, PhD, Executive Director, Research, has authored numerous journal publications, is an international speaker, and is co-author of the 4th and 5th editions of Basic Research Methods for Librarians and the 6th and 7th editions of Research Methods in Library and Information Science. She is Past President of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Past Chair of the Association of College and Research Libraries Value of Academic Libraries Committee, the recipient of the ASIS&T 2019 Watson Davis Award, and the 2020 Distinguished Alumna at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Information School. She held the Chair of Excellence, Departmento de Biblioteconomía y Documentación, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, was a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, and Visiting Scholar at the Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark.

Samantha Connell is a Librarian at New Canaan Library, Connecticut, USA. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her Master of Library and Information Sciences at Rutgers University. She is currently the Chair of the Connecticut Library Association’ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Section and has a passion for amplifying marginalized and absent voices.

Christine D’Arpa, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit. Her research focuses on the history of libraries; the role of the federal government in information provision; and public libraries and community engagement. Her educational training includes an MS and PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Nicole K. Dalmer, MLIS, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health, Aging and Society at McMaster University. She is also an Associate Director of the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging. With a background in Library and Information Sciences, Nicole’s work is centered at the intersection of information and care, working with and learning from family care providers, older library patrons, and older adults who use (and/or refuse!) technologies.

Claire Dannenbaum is a Reference and Instruction Librarian at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, USA. She received a BA in Visual Arts from Antioch College, an MA in Visual Ethnography from San Francisco State University, and an MLIS from the University of British Columbia. Claire’s professional work focuses on information literacy, feminist pedagogy, and the possibilities for civic engagement in undergraduate education. Her enduring personal interests in visual art and anthropology inform her teaching, learning, and research.

Timothy J. Dickey, winner of the 2022 ALA-RUSA Margaret E. Monroe Award for Library Adult Services and a 2021 ASIS&T Distinguished Member, is an Adult Services Librarian with the Columbus (OH) Metropolitan Library. He teaches on the graduate LIS faculties of Kent State University and San Jose State University, and prior to that assisted Dr Lynn Silipigni Connaway at the OCLC Office of Research. Dr Dickey’s book Library Dementia Services: How to Meet the Needs of the Alzheimer Community was published by Emerald in 2020.

Brooke Doyle, M.Ed., is a Senior Project Coordinator with OCLC. Brooke’s expertise in curriculum development and grant management serve her well at OCLC where her work includes being a co-author on the OCLC briefing, New Model Library: Pandemic Effects and Library Directions and assisting in the Building a National Finding Aid Network project.

Sarah A. Evans is Assistant Professor in the College of Information at University of North Texas. She serves as the Director for the Children’s and Young Adult Librarianship Program and as Co-Director of the Multiple Literacies Lab. Her research examines the literacies and identities taken up in voluntary learning experiences.

James Gillett, PhD, is an Associate Professor in McMaster University’s Department of Health, Aging, and Society and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Dr Gillett’s key areas of research include human–animal relationships; sport, leisure, and recreation; mental health and well-being; media and communications; perspectives on living with health and illness across the life course; and inquiry as an approach to education and learning.

Meridith Griffin, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Aging, and Society at McMaster University and she is also an Associate Director of the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging. Her research is focused upon lived experiences, spaces and places, and critical exploration of inequalities therein. Her work explores the topics of physical culture(s) and inclusivity, and she also looks broadly at leisure: engagement, accessibility, and the ways in which it is integrated into identity/selfhood and meaning-making across the life course. She is interested in the intersections between public libraries and community well-being.

Gabrielle Griffis is the Assistant Youth Services Librarian for Brewster Ladies’ Library, Repair Event Coordinator, Advocate, and a leading member of the Blue Marble Librarians. She is a contributor to Libraries and Sustainability: Programs and Practices for Community Impact as well as 25 Ready-to-Use Sustainable Living Library Programs from ALA Editions, and Repair Revolution: How Fixers are Transforming Our Throwaway Culture from New World Library.

Suzanne Grossman is an Assistant Professor in Health Sciences at James Madison University. Her research focuses on the role of public libraries in promoting the health of historically underrepresented populations and communities. She earned her DrPH in Community Health and Prevention with a minor in immigrant and Latinx populations from Drexel University, an MSc in Cultural Studies from the University of Edinburgh, and a BA in Anthropology and Theatre from Smith College.

Suliman Hawamdeh is a Regents Professor in the Department of Information Science, College of Information, University of North Texas. He founded and directed several academic programs. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Information and Knowledge Management (JIKM) and the editor of the book series on Innovation of Knowledge Management published by World Scientific.

Siti Indarwati is a Librarian at the Public Library of Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She was awarded the Best Librarian of the Year by the National Library of Indonesia in 2015. Currently, she is Vice Chair of Gunungkidul Library Association, Secretary of Gunungkidul Reading Development, and Coordinator of Yogyakarta Reading Development.

Vanessa Irvin is an Associate Professor with the Master of Library Science Program at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina. Her research has centered on public libraries and librarian professional development. Dr Irvin’s work has been published in Public Library Quarterly, Journal of Education in Library and Information Science (JELIS) and Education for Information: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Information Studies.

Yong Ju Jung is an Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Oklahoma. She received her PhD in Learning, Design, and Technology from the Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on embodied interactions and interest-driven learning of children and families in libraries, museums, and makerspaces.

Lisa Gangemi Kropp is the Director of the Lindenhurst Memorial Library, which was the third public library to achieve Sustainable Libraries Certification from the Sustainable Libraries Initiative. She is the past Coordinator of the ALA’s sustainability roundtable, SustainRT, and serves as the Chair of the Sustainability Committee for her state library association. She is a member-at-large advisory board member of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative.

Tordis Holm Kverndokk is currently the chief librarian at Vestby Public Library in Norway. Between 2013 and 2022, Kverndokk was the Senior Advisor first at Akershus County Library. Prior experience includes service as a children’s librarian for two public libraries in the Oslo area from 1984 to 2013.

Lesley A. Langa, PhD, is an Associate Research Scientist with OCLC. Lesley’s research interests include information access and availability, preservation, and metadata.

Noah Lenstra is an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science and an Affiliated Faculty Member in the Gerontology Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he founded Let’s Move in Libraries in 2016. Lenstra is a Principal Investigator of multiple federal and state government funded programs focused on understanding and supporting public library workers as critical community health partners. Lenstra’s educational training includes an MS and PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Hilde Ljødal is currently the Senior Advisor at the Department for Library Development at the National Library of Norway, Oslo. From 2007 to 2010, Ljødal served as the Senior Advisor at the Department for Libraries at the Center for Archives, Museum and Library in Norway. Prior experience includes 24 years working as a librarian in both public library and special libraries.

Amber Matthews is a Library and Information Science (LIS) Doctoral candidate at Western University and holds a Master of LIS degree. She was the recipient of the prestigious Canada Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in 2021. Through a variety of professional and scholarly mediums, she challenges institutional and systemic barriers to engagement and aims to create anti-oppressive spaces and practices that support all youth.

Bharat Mehra is EBSCO Endowed Chair in Social Justice and Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama, USA. His research focuses on diversity and social justice in library and information science and community informatics including the use of information and communication technologies to empower minority and underserved populations to make meaningful changes in their everyday lives. He has applied action research to further engaged scholarship and community engagement while collaborating with racial/ethnic groups, international diaspora, sexual minorities, rural communities, low-income families, small businesses, and others, to represent their experiences and perspectives in the design of community-based information systems and services.

John Meiklejohn, MSW, LICSW, is a Member of the Voices for Climate [V4C] Committee, a grassroots community partner with the Pioneer Valley Library Collaborative. V4C supports the Collaborative in being a hub for climate conversation and public education. Mr Meiklejohn is retired from a career of psychotherapy for children, youth, and adults.

Kendra Morgan is a Senior Program Manager at OCLC and is particularly interested in the role libraries play in supporting healthy communities, and has managed a number of grant-funded programs that address these issues. Kendra received her MLIS from the University of Hawai’i; and prior to joining OCLC in 2007, she provided training and technology support in hundreds of libraries as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s US Libraries Program, and served as a Technology Consultant at The Library of Virginia.

Wendee Mullikin uses her 26 years’ experience as an educator; editing certification; and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace certification to provide comprehensive editorial review of professional development and training, publications, and Wonders of the Day® on NCFL’s award-winning website, Wonderopolis®. Before joining the team at NCFL, Wendee taught K–12 music, 6–12 English/language arts, collegiate-level composition (developmental, Comp I, and rhetoric), provided K–12 special education services, and worked with adjudicated youth. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Music and English as well as a Master’s degree in Special Education with supervisor coursework completed.

Lydia P. Ogden, PhD, MSW, is an Associate Professor at the Simmons University School of Social Work and a Licensed Psychotherapist. Her scholarship is informed by her social work practice experience with persons living with serious mental illnesses in housing and other social service and psychotherapy settings. Dr Ogden’s scholarship is centered on the aim of improving the mental health and wellbeing of all persons, including those who seek services and those who provide them.

Micaela Porta is the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Coordinator at New Canaan Library in Connecticut, where she is Project Lead on its Design for Freedom pilot partnership toward eliminating forced labor from the global construction supply chain. As a freelance writer, editor, and curator, she has worked on community nonprofit initiatives in the arts, ecology, and civics.

Ida Fajar Priyanto is a Senior Lecturer at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He was formerly Director of Gadjah Mada (2002–2012) and Chair of Yogyakarta Library Council (2011–2015). He has been active in various library associations especially the Indonesian academic and school library associations and he is also active in promoting rural libraries and their activities.

Sarah E. Ryan is an Associate Professor of Information Science and Director of the Law Librarianship Program at the University of North Texas. She was the nation’s first empirical legal research librarian, at Yale Law School. Sarah researches in the areas of A.I. solutions for legal research and open government challenges, criminal justice reform, and iSchool curriculum.

Emily Sedgwick serves as a Content Specialist – Family Engagement for NCFL, where she provides support for several initiatives. As NCFL’s staff librarian, she also works to develop family literacy relationships with libraries and library organizations across the country. Before joining NCFL in 2014, she served as the Federal Government Documents and reference librarian for the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA). Emily earned her Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the University of Kentucky. She earned her Post Baccalaureate Certification in Family Literacy from Penn State University.

Ali Solhi, MA, is a PhD student in the Department of Health, Aging, and Society at McMaster University. Ali’s doctoral research focuses on social inequality, psychological well-being, and health equity among immigrants and marginalized groups. He has work experience in both academic and public libraries, as well as a background and interest in film production.

Pastor Sandie Thomas is the Director and CEO of the Where We Are Now Black Community Centre and Public Library. She also sits on the Board of Directors for several local initiatives including Internet Sense First, the Community, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy – Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Oppression Working Group for the City of London, the Anti-Black Racism Citizen Advisory Panel for the London Police Service, and the Anti-Racism Panel for the London Middlesex Health Unit. She is also an Advisor and mentor for Black businesses in the Canadian Black Chambers of Commerce.

Debra Trogdon-Livingston is the User Experience and Education Strategist for Region 2 of the Network of the National Library of Medicine in Charleston, SC, USA. She has more than 18 years of library experience and has presented at local, regional, and national conferences. Debra’s current research interest is library equity with a focus on LGBTQIA+ equity.

Agung Wibawa is a Librarian at Public Library of Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He was awarded the Best Librarian of the Year by the National Library of Indonesia in 2016. He is currently Chair of Gunungkidul Library Association and Master Trainer for library social inclusion programs.

Rachel D. Williams is an Assistant Professor at the Simmons University School of Library and Information Science. Her research examines public library services for people in crisis. Dr Williams’ scholarship is centered on considering the role of interprofessional collaboration between social workers and public librarians and boundary management in supporting people in crisis in public libraries.

Kaurri C. Williams-Cockfield, MLIS, has 30+ years of progressively responsible work experience in both US and international library settings including public, academic, school, and corporate institutions. Between 2003 and 2021, Ms Williams-Cockfield served as a Public Library Director in Tennessee and in the Cayman Islands. She retired as a Public Library Director in May 2021 and currently teaches, writes, and presents on public libraries, community social justice issues, and how public libraries impact the development of sustainable communities. Ms Williams-Cockfield has been teaching at the University of Tennessee Knoxville School of Information Science, USA, since the spring of 2010.

Julie Ann Winkelstein, MLIS, PhD, is an Activist Librarian, Writer, and Teacher. Her writings include Libraries and Homelessness: An Action Guide, as well as several book chapters and articles. She has presented internationally on the topic of libraries and homelessness, including LGBTGEQ+ youth homelessness, and teaches a library school class on this topic.

Series Editor’s Introduction

I am delighted to take this opportunity and introduce myself as the new Series Editor of Advances in Librarianship since January 2021. In this capacity, I plan to extend the series’ impact via integrating a critical perspective that spotlights social justice and inclusive praxis from the shadows to become an emerging canon at the very core of who we are and what we value as legit in Library and Information Science (LIS) scholarship and practice. This strategic vision requires destabilizing of entrenched hegemonies within our privileged ranks and external communities to alleviate intersecting political, economic, social, and cultural anxieties, and power imbalances we witness today. As we move toward the quarter-century mark, we also need to effectively document such paradigmatic shifts in LIS, serving as a foundation of inspiration upon which, together in our multiple identities and diversities, we can proudly contribute to the building of a meaningful society toward a brighter future for our children to inherit.

New stimulating models reimagining (or extending) the roles for cultural memory institutions (e.g., libraries, museums, archives, schools, etc.) and the field of information are much required to develop symbolic and real infrastructures for moving us forward. We also need to better tell our stories of information activism and community mobilization in the face of overwhelming challenges to human existence, from forces of neoliberal corporatization, political ransacking, media irresponsibility, climate change, environmental degradation, pandemic dis/misinformation, etc. What do the contemporary threats of human extinction and cultural decay mean for LIS professionals, be it scholars, researchers, educators, practitioners, students, and others embedded in a variety of information settings? Not only does it require actions in the “doing” of resistance via information to decenter dysfunctional powerbrokers and their oppressions and entitled privileges. However, disseminating a forward-thinking agenda and narrative beyond our internally focused bastardized institutional bastions is equally important, as we adopt an active stance to promote fairness, justice, equity/equality, change agency, empowerment, community building, and community development.

Advances in Librarianship holds a special place in the hands, hearts, and minds of readers as a key platform to support creative ideas and practices that change and better articulate the vital contributions of libraries and the impact of information on diverse multicultural communities in a global network information society. Moving forward, my aim for the series is to engage our diverse professional communities in critical discourse that enable real transformations to occur. It is important to propel progress in shifting entrenched positionalities in LIS, while making visible content related to the “margins.” Decentering canons and practices toward equity of representation, inclusivity, and progressive change will naturally occur. Intersecting social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals in recent times demand an urgent response from the LIS professions in this regard.

I am truly honored and privileged to build on the legacy of Paul T. Jaeger, who served as Series Editor of Advances in Librarianship since 2013. His research helped to mobilize LIS in addressing concerns surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion more substantially beyond past lip service, also shaping the focus of the book series. I plan to operationalize new directions for single- or multi-authored book-length explorations and edited collections by shifting focus on understudied spaces, invisible populations from the margins, and knowledge domains that have been under-researched or under-published in what we consider as high impactful venues in LIS and beyond. Examples might involve a reflective journey that established, or newly emerging LIS scholars, researchers, practitioners, and students critically reflect, assess, evaluate, and propose solutions or actions to change entrenched practices and systemic imbalanced inequities in different library and information-related settings. It might also involve decolonizing LIS publication industries in their biased Euro/Anglo-centricities with inclusion of content from geographical diversities around the world.

I am reaching out to our multiple audiences for their support toward these goals in spreading the word for proposals to new volumes in the series. Let us find our “collective voice” in the LIS professions to make us all uncomfortable as we continue to “push the buttons,” thereby, becoming stronger in our quest to further social justice and develop our humanity, human dignity, respect, and potential to the fullest.

Bharat Mehra

EBSCO Endowed Chair in Social Justice and Professor

School of Library and Information Studies

University of Alabama