Workshop 5
Academic Libraries as Centers of Equity on Campus
Karen Sobel and Zachary Newell
Participants max. 25-30
Universities in the United States have recently placed emphasis on civic engagement and issues related to equity and social justice. Academic libraries have received a mandate to engage their campus in these issues, which has been accelerated by the position of the library as both an interdisciplinary partner and a cross-cultural facilitator. James Elmborg proposes in his work the idea of third space as a space that reinvents the library from the premise that libraries and librarians can develop ways of working with increasingly diverse populations in increasingly dynamic contexts. The presenters will approach the workshop by providing evidence by which the library serves as a “third space” where students from all backgrounds can be open about their needs and their knowledge (or lack thereof), and in which negotiations take place so that new understandings can emerge.