Abstract
This paper outlines the theoretical foundations of an ongoing research project examining the presence and force of systemic racism in library and information science scholarship and practice. It examines how uncritical attachment to core values like neutrality, objectivity, colour-blindness and diversity have served to entrench practices that marginalize and exclude racialized groups. Finally, it draws on scholarship in critical diversity and anti-racism studies to theorize new research trajectories for LIS that are attuned to structural dimensions of power and privilege.
Amber Matthews
Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University
Amber Mathews is a Library and Information Science (LIS) doctoral student at Western University. Her research examines systemic racism in public libraries and its impacts on racialized youth in Canada. Her research is grounded in an anti-oppression methodologies, specifically anti-racism, and suggests that failing to account for race and redress systemic power relationships denies historical imbalances of power and entrenches systemic racism.