In Our Own Voices, Redux: The Faces of Librarianship Today

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In the 20-year reboot of Neely and Abifs 1996 In Our Own Voices, fifteen of the original contributors revisit their stories alongside the fifteen new voices that have been added. This Collective represents a wide range of life and library experiences, gender fluidities, sexualities, races, and other visible, and invisible identities. In addition to reflections on lives and experiences since the 1996 volume, chapters cover the representation of librarians of color in the profession at large, and more specifically, those among them who are still the only one; the specter of us serving themstill; and migrations from libraries to other information providing professions. These authors reflect on their careers and lives in libraries and other school and workplace settings, as activists, administrators, archivists, library students and information professionals. They share stories of personal and professional abuse, attempts to find and secure gainful employment, navigating the profession, and how they overcame decades of normalized discrimination to complete their educational and career pursuits. They write about the need for support systems, work-life balance, self-care, communities of support, and the importance of mentoring and being mentored. And above all, they persist, and continue to disrupt systems. These essays are from contributors from a variety of libraries and library related environments, and provide answers to questions professionals new to LIS havent even asked yet. The inclusion of a new group of librarian his-, her-, and their-stories provides a voice for those currently finding their way through this profession. These essays bring honesty, vulnerability, authenticity, and impactfulness to the diversity conversation in libraries and beyond. And more importantly, these voices, from a variety of races, ethnicities, genders and sexualities, matter.

Reviews

In Our Own Voices, Redux features fearless, heroic contributors share their diverse journeys through powerful voices and thoughtful reflection. Shame on us if in the next twenty years there is not a more positive narrative. Required reading for all, but especially library leaders. -- Irene M. H. Herold, author and editor of Creating Leaders: An Examination of Academic and Research Library Leadership Institutes, past ACRL President (2016-2017), and librarian of the College, The College of Wooster.
An honest, and courageous collection of writing illustrating the significant accomplishments by People of Color in librarianship in the face of structural racism and oppression. The everyday experiences chronicled are a clear indication that despite diversity initiatives and programs, our profession need to better support marginalized workers. What you'll read here are stories most of us can identify with. It is refreshing to see People of Color taking up space in this field, speaking our universal truth to power. Writing our canon. -- Jennifer A. Ferretti, digital initiatives librarian, Maryland Institute College of Art
Neely and Lpez-McKnight re-route the historical narrative of our profession, making it broader, deeper, and inclusive. Racism abounds in our profession. Microagressions can not be denied. Put down the diversity plan, listen to these voices, and take note of the moments described with an open access heart and mind. Our colleagues, with their commitment, passion and skill - survive and thrive, in spite of. Their presence is critical to the vitality and relevancy of librarianship and information management. Up from the mineshaft of authenticity, in their own voices! We must listen, learn, dismantle, and recreate! -- Sandra Ros Balderrama, former director, Office for Diversity, American Library Association and National President, REFORMA

Author Bio

Dr. Teresa Y. Neely is professor of librarianship, and assessment librarian in the College of the University Libraries & Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. Dr. Neely has worked in academic research libraries for more than 20 years, and is the author or co-author/editor of six books and conference proceedings and has authored/coauthored numerous scholarly peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, conference papers, and a white paper for ACRL. Her research interests include African American and Native American rap and hip-hop lyrics as activist narrative; women and the economic enterprise in the19th century southwest, text and sentiment analysis in social media data. Jorge R. Lpez-McKnight was most recently the First-Year Experience Librarian at the College of the University Libraries & Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. In that role, he participated in numerous teaching and learning activities with freshman and transfer students to support their growth and educational processes. His research interests include critical race theory and library & information science, educators of color identities and teaching practices, and university/college libraries-high school relationships.