[Libs-Or] CFP: Libraries Promoting Reflective Dialogue in a Time of Political Polarization

[Robert Schroeder]

Dear colleagues,

Please consider submitting a chapter proposal to the forthcoming book*
Libraries Promoting Reflective Dialogue in a Time of Political Polarization*
(to be published with ACRL Publications in late 2018). Below is a more
detailed description of this timely topic. Proposals are due *March 1st*.
The call is also available at https://tinyurl.com/yagamr99.

Thank you for considering a contribution!
Andrea, Ellysa, and Bob

As political polarization has continued to grow within and beyond the
United States in past decades, the challenges of engaging in open,
constructive dialogue have become increasingly
apparent. Relatedly, this sociopolitical moment has drawn attention to the
powerful role that affect plays in interpersonal relationships, human
cognition, and information behaviors. It is in such times that constructive
dialogue is both most needed and most difficult. Recognizing this reality,
many librarians are reexamining our professional roles within the library
and in relation to social justice, community engagement, and civil
discourse.

Political polarization’s significance to academic library work has been
most apparent in conversations about information literacy education as a
response to post-truth rhetoric and motivated reasoning. The impacts of
this polarization are nonetheless also evident in numerous other aspects of
library work, including in interactions and relationships in our local
contexts and in our larger professional community. These effects can be
seen in all areas of the Library - classrooms, collections, technology,
management, programming, and spaces.

This edited volume will explore various ways in which librarians experience
and respond to political polarization and its effects - in our everyday
work, in our professional communities, and in our engagement beyond the
workplace. These responses play out in librarians’ cognitive, affective,
and physical worlds. Particular attention will be given to how librarians
and libraries can promote constructive dialogue in such environments and to
the barriers to or limitations of dialogue.

Potential questions for exploration include:

   - Have recent political events or issues influenced your campus or your
   library work in particular ways?

   - Where have you experienced political polarization or tension in your
   professional work and life? What shapes does this polarization take, and
   what dynamics are at play? What effects does it have, and how do or might
   librarians respond in these contexts?

   - What barriers stand in the way of open dialogue, particularly in the
   context of library work? Where are the potential openings for critically
   reflective dialogue in our professional work and in our interactions with
   other librarians, faculty, students, and community members?

   - What role does empathy play in your professional engagement? What
   possibilities or challenges does empathy or “an ethics of care” present for
   library work?

   - How might politically polarized environments influence how people
   engage in information seeking, evaluation, or use? How might such contexts
   influence how people learn or teach about information literacy?

   - How do students view the library in these highly charged times? Are
   there certain characteristics of library spaces or library ethos that
   students value highly or view negatively? How can librarians help create a
   more safe, dialogic space in libraries?

   - How do we think about the concept of neutrality at a politically
   contentious time? What value and what problems might the concept of
   neutrality present, if we seek to promote dialogue and inquiry while also
   remaining true to our professional or personal values?  How can we draw
   from the lessons of past politically volatile eras to inform current
   practice?

   - What influence has “post-truth” rhetoric or discussions about fake
   news had on your library work?

   - How might political polarization or tension influence librarians’
   professional relationships and interactions?

The editors invite potential chapter authors to use any research method or
theoretical approach that they deem appropriate. New or seldom used methods
in LIS are welcome and could include, but are not limited to,
interpretivist or humanistic methods; feminist scholarship; narrative;
(auto)ethnography; poetry; fiction; bricolage; or comics. Contributions
that apply standard qualitative or quantitative research methods are also
welcome.

Please email your proposal as a Microsoft Word document to
lib.dialogue.book at gmail.com by *March 1st*. Please include the following
information:

   - Your name and contact information
   - The title of your chapter
   - A 500-100-word abstract of your chapter (Please include the approach,
   method, or form of your chapter.)
   - If available, a list of other writings or presentations that you have
   given on this or similar topics

Publication timeline:

   - 3/1/2018 Proposals due to editors
   - 3/31/18 Editors respond to chapter authors re: inclusion or not
   - 6/15/18 Draft chapters due to editors
   - 9/07/18 Final chapters due to editors
   - 12/15/18 Publication date

Andrea Baer
Instructional Services Librarian, University of West Georgia

Ellysa Stern Cahoy
Education Librarian & Assistant Director, The Pennsylvania Center for the
Book; Pennsylvania State University

Bob Schroeder
Education Librarian, Portland State University

-- 

*"First they came for the Immigrants, and I did not speak out—Because I was
not a Immigrant..."*

- An update of Martin Niemöller's quotation for our times.

 _________________________________________________________
 Robert Schroeder
 Education Librarian,
 Associate Professor
 Portland State University

 503 725 4519
 schroedr at pdx.edu
 Room 280F Millar Library
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