T11 - Understanding Librarianship in the Time of Trump
Session Description
What does it mean to be a librarian in a time of Trump, Leitch, Brexit, post-truth, fake news, authoritarianism, xenophobia, and racism, as our faith in Google as a benign, neutral resource proves to be unfounded and even dangerous? We believe that librarians must come together to explore these critical issues, both to understand what they mean for our communities, but also what they mean for us as librarians, regardless of where we work.
To start this conversation, we would like to invite all librarians to come together for an informal, welcoming discussion. Rather than a presentation or panel, this session will be a dialogue, so please come prepared to share your thoughts and ideas. The aims of the session are:
-To build a diverse, informal group to explore librarianship and its unique value today.
-To identify and undertake projects in the community, outside of our organizations, demonstrating what we do and believe in as librarians, regardless of whether we work for public, academic, or special libraries, or even outside of libraries altogether.
We hope you will join us!
Speakers
Kevin Stranack, Public Knowledge Project, Simon Fraser University Library
Biography
Kevin Stranack is the Associate Director for Community Engagement & Learning at the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) at Simon Fraser University, where he leads the PKP School for open access publishers and is responsible for the Project’s continuing education, community development, user experience, and communications.
Phil Hall, MLS
Biography
Phil Hall has spent 37 years of his life working in libraries or as a librarian, starting as a “Stack Assistant” in a medical library to his current position as Systems Librarian at Vancouver Public Library. He has operated various collaborative provincial programs for public libraries and non-profit professional communities and helped a wide range of library colleagues identify and learn new techniques, new subjects, and new tools as the world changes around us.
Tami Setala, MLIS
Biography
Tami Setala is the Licensing and Business Development Manager for the BC Libraries Cooperative and really hates writing bios. She does love engaging with the library community to talk about ways the profession can thrive through these challenging times. With over 18 years experience in public and special libraries, she’s witnessed lots of changes in the library world.