Let’s Get Critical: Understanding and Applying Critical Theory in Library Practice

Friday, May 6, 2022

2:00 PM – 3:20 PM CT

Location: 345

Primary Presenter/Session Organizer(s)

catherine lockmiller

health science librarian
Northern Arizona University / Cline Library

Slides Handouts

Presenter(s)

Meredith I. Solomon, AHIP

Senior Outreach Officer
Countway Library of Medicine/Outreach Office
Quincy, Massachusetts
EV

Emily Vardell, PhD, AHIP

Assistant Professor
Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management
Olathe, Kansas
David G. Keddle

Medical Library Services Director
Health Sciences Library
Woodland Hills, California
Nina Exner

Research data librarian
Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
Richmond, Virginia
Laura A. Murray, MSIS, MBA, AHIP

Graduate Medical Education Librarian
University of South Florida, HCA Healthcare/USF Morsani College of Medicine GME Programs
Tampa, Florida
Soph Myers-Kelley

Medical Liaison
East Carolina University
St. Paul, Minnesota
Brenda M. Linares, MLIS, MBA, AHIP

Health Sciences Librarian
A.R. Dykes Library, University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, Kansas

Session Format:
This guided session includes a presentation in conjunction with active learning breakout groups.

Session Objective/

Overview:
This immersion session focuses on the role that critical theory plays in health sciences and medical library practice. In the past several years, critical theory frameworks have been the focus of increased attention, particularly critical race theory and, in library discourse, critical librarianship. Along with this attention has come an overwhelming amount of misdirection and misinformation about critical theory scholarship and practical application. In this session, we will lay a foundation for understanding the history of critical theory and draw a through line to present-day critical theory modalities. We will then proceed to break out into small groups and discuss how critical theory is applied across library disciplines while outlining different critical discourses, including (but not limited to) critical race theory, feminism, queer theory, critical disability studies, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and Marxist theory.

Methods:
Facilitators will introduce the session norms of participation and communication at the beginning of the session. Secondly, facilitators will present a brief history of critical theory and outline major branches and frameworks. After the presentation, participants will break out into small groups focusing on theoretical frameworks that spark their interest. Facilitators will guide the small groups through a series of learning activities designed to achieve each learning outcome. The large group will reconvene for share back, questions, and considerations for wider library application.

Participant Engagement:
Learning activities include individual reflection, sharing, and group documentation to be done in small and large groups. Facilitators will lead participants through large and small group activities.

Sponsor(s):
LGBTQIA+ Caucus, African American Medical Librarians Alliance Caucus, Medical Library Education Caucus, and Social Justice & Health Disparities Caucus
Learning Objectives:
Define critical theory in the context of its history and current applications, with a focus on library practice and theory of critical library pedagogy.
Recognize the role of critical theory in understanding systems of power, with a focus on the connections between power and oppression in libraries and library work.
Understand the linkages between critical theory and critical librarianship, with a focus on application in personal library practice.