The Open Knowledge Lab

Libraries

Critical Librarianship

  • Accardi, M. T., Drabinski, E., & Kumbier, A. (Eds.). (2010). Critical library instruction: Theories and methods. Library Juice Press.
  • Adler, L. K., Halperin, J., Lain, S., & McElroy, K. (2018). Reference librarianship and justice: History, practice, and praxis. Library Juice Press.
  • Brook, F., Ellenwood, D., & Lazzaro, A. E. (2015). In pursuit of antiracist social justice: Denaturalizing whiteness in the academic library. Library Trends, 64(2), 246–284.
  • Buschman, J., Lankes, R. D., & others (Eds.). (2010). Critical theory for library and information science: Exploring the social from across the discipline. Libraries Unlimited.
  • Clarke, M. (2021). Liberating the Library: What it Means to Decolonise and Why it is Necessary. In J. Crilly & R. Everitt (Eds.), Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries (pp. 127–138). Facet; Cambridge Core. https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783304998.011
  • Cooke, N. A. (2020). Critical library instruction as a pedagogical tool. Communications in Information Literacy, 14(1), 86–96.
  • Crissinger, S. (2015, October 21). A critical take on OER practices: Interrogating commercialization, colonialism, and content. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2015/a-critical-take-on-oer-practices/
  • Drabinski, E. (2019). What is critical about critical librarianship? Art Libraries Journal, 44(2), 49–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/alj.2019.3
  • Eisenhower, C., & Smith, D. (2009). The library as ‘stuck place’: Critical pedagogy in the corporate university. In M. T. Accardi, E. Drabinski, & A. Kumbier (Eds.), Critical library instruction: Theories and methods (pp. 305–318). Library Juice Press.
  • Ettah, F. (2018, January 10). Vocational awe and librarianship: The lies we tell ourselves. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/
  • Ferretti, J. (2018, November 15–16). Neutrality is polite oppression: How critical librarianship and pedagogy principles counter neutral narratives and benefit the profession. Critical Librarianship and Pedagogy Symposium (CLAPS), Tucson, AZ. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/631144
  • Ferretti, J. A. (2020). Building a critical culture: How critical librarianship falls short in the workplace. Communications in Information Literacy, 14(1), 134–152.
  • Gage, R. A. (2004). Henry Giroux’s Abandoned generation & critical librarianship: A review article. Progressive Librarian, 23(65), 1–6. https://www.progressivelibrariansguild.org/PL_Jnl/contents65.shtml
  • Hathcock, A. (2015, October 7). White librarianship in blackface: Diversity initiatives in LIS. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2015/white-librarianship-in-blackface/
  • Hathcock, A. (2018, August 22). Racing to the crossroads of scholarly communication and democracy: But who are we leaving behind? In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/racing-to-the-crossroads/
  • Inokuchi, H., & Nozaki, Y. (2010). Critical approach to Asia through library collections and instructions in North America: Selection of culture and counter-hegemonic library practices. In M. T. Accardi, E. Drabinski, & A. Kumbier (Eds.), Critical library instruction: Theories and methods. Library Juice Press, LLC.
  • Interlibrary loan opens doors to knowledge at the Graduate Center and Beyond. (2025, August 13). CUNY Graduate Center. https://www.gc.cuny.edu/news/interlibrary-loan-opens-doors-knowledge-graduate-center-and-beyond
  • Lamdan, S. (2019, November 13). Librarianship at the crossroads of ICE surveillance. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2019/librarianship-ice-surveillance/
  • Leung, S., & López-McKnight, J. R. (2020). Dreaming revolutionary futures: Critical race’s centrality to ending white supremacy. Communications in Information Literacy, 14(1), 12–26.
  • Leung, S. Y., & López-McKnight, J. R. (Eds.). (2021). Knowledge justice: Disrupting library and information studies through critical race theory. MIT Press.
  • Leung, S. Y., & López-McKnight, J. R. (2021). Conclusion: Afterwor(l)ding toward Imaginative Dimensions. In S. Y. Leung & J. R. López-McKnight (Eds.), Knowledge Justice (pp. 317–334). The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11969.003.0022
  • Nicholson, K. P., & Seale, M. (Eds.). (2018). The politics of theory and the practice of critical librarianship. Library Juice Press.
  • Pagowsky, N., & McElroy, K. (Eds.). (2016). Critical library pedagogy handbook. Association of College and Research Libraries.
  • Sangwand, T.-K. (Ed.). (2020). Black Excellence in LIS Syllabus. https://blackexcellenceinlis.carrd.co/
  • Vong, S. (2020). Redefining Library Service through Embedded Critical Reflective Practice. In V. A. Douglas & J. Gadsby (Eds.), Deconstructing service in libraries: Intersections of identities and expectations. Litwin Books.

Critical Cataloging

  • Baxmeyer, J. (2023, April). The past and future of inclusive cataloging [Conference session]. Jumpstart Inclusive Cataloging.
  • Buerge, K. (2021, November 12). Middlebury libraries to replace controversial subject headings: A reparative cataloging project update. Middlebury Libraries. https://www.middlebury.edu/library/news/middlebury-libraries-replace-controversial-subject-headings-reparative-cataloging-project
  • Crilly, J., & Everitt, R. (Eds.). (2021). Cataloguing, Classification and Critical Librarianship at Cambridge University. In Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries (pp. 173–188). Facet; Cambridge Core. https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783304998.014
  • Drabinski, E. (2013). Queering the catalog: Queer theory and the politics of correction. Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 83(2), 94–111.
  • Drabinski, E. (2015). Teaching the radical catalog. In K. R. Roberto (Ed.), Radical cataloging: Essays at the front (pp. 198–205). McFarland & Co.
  • Howard, S. A., & Knowlton, S. A. (2018). Browsing through bias: The Library of Congress Classification and subject headings for African American studies and LGBTQIA studies. Library Trends, 67(1), 74–88.
  • Joseph, C. (2021, August 18). Move over, Melvil! Momentum grows to eliminate bias and racism in the 145-year-old Dewey decimal system. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/move-over-melvil-momentum-grows-to-eliminate-bias-and-racism-in-the-145-year-old-dewey-decimal-system
  • Littletree, S., & Metoyer, C. (2015). Knowledge organization from an Indigenous perspective: The Mashantucket Pequot Thesaurus of American Indian Terminology Project. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 53(5–6), 640–657.
  • Mendes, L., Bailund, A., & Moore, J. R. (2024, April 29). Inclusive cataloging: YOU can do it! University of San Diego. https://digital.sandiego.edu/symposium/2024/2024/10/
  • Nunes, Z. C. (2018, November 26). Remembering the Howard University librarian who decolonized the way books were catalogued. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/remembering-howard-university-librarian-who-decolonized-way-books-were-catalogued-180970890/
  • Olson, H. A., & Schlegl, R. (2001). Standardization, objectivity, and user focus: A meta-analysis of subject access critiques. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 32, 61–80.
  • Olson, H. A. (1998). Mapping beyond Dewey’s boundaries: Constructing classificatory space for marginalized knowledge domains. Library Trends, 47(2), 233–254.
  • Olson, H. A. (2001). The power to name: Representation in library catalogs. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 26(3), 639–668.
  • Vaughan, C. (2018). The language of cataloguing: Deconstructing and decolonizing systems of organization in libraries. Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 14. https://doi.org/10.5931/djim.v14i0.7853
  • Wilson, K. (2021). Decolonising Library Collections: Contemporary Issues, Practical Steps and Examples from London School of Economics. In J. Crilly & R. Everitt (Eds.), Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries (pp. 225–250). Facet; Cambridge Core. https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783304998.017

Critical Information Literacy

  • Bezerra, A. C., Schneider, M., & Saldanha, G. S. (2019). Competência crítica em informação como crítica à competência em informação. Informação & Sociedade, 29(3). https://periodicos.ufpb.br/ojs/index.php/ies/article/view/47337
  • Cuevas-Cerveró, A., Colmenero-Ruiz, M.-J., & Martínez-Ávila, D. (2023). Critical information literacy as a form of information activism. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49(6), 102786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2023.102786
  • Downey, A. (2016). Critical information literacy: Foundations, inspiration, and ideas. Library Juice Press.
  • Drabinski, E., & Tewell, E. (2019). Critical information literacy. In The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy (pp. 1–4). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118978238.ieml0042
  • Elmborg, J. (2006). Critical information literacy: Implications for instructional practice. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(2), 192–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2005.12.004
  • González, G. (2019). La alfabetización informacional crítica: Una corriente incipiente en Latinoamérica. Revista Eduweb, 13(1), 59‐73.
  • Gregory, L., & Higgins, S. (Eds.). (2013). Information literacy and social justice: Radical professional praxis. Library Juice Press.
  • Langille, D. (2018). Decolonizing academic libraries: Critical information literacy and truth and reconciliation [Conference session]. Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians Annual Conference.
  • Marsh, F. (2022). Unsettling information literacy: Exploring critical approaches with academic researchers for decolonising the university. Journal of Information Literacy, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.11645/16.1.3136
  • Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. NYU Press.
  • Pashia, A., & Critten, J. (Eds.). (2019). Critical approaches to credit-bearing information literacy courses. Association of College and Research Libraries.
  • Rapchak, M. (2019). That which cannot be named: The absence of race in the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Journal of Radical Librarianship, 5, 173–196.
  • Tewell, E. (2015). A Decade of Critical Information Literacy: A Review of the Literature. Comminfolit, 9, 24. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2015.9.1.174
  • Tewell, E. (2016, October 12). Putting critical information literacy into context: How and why librarians adopt critical practices in their teaching. In the Library with a Lead Pipe. http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2016/putting-critical-information-literacy-into-context-how-and-why-librarians-adopt-critical-practices-in-their-teaching/
  • Tewell, E. (2018). The practice and promise of critical information literacy: Academic librarians’ involvement in critical library instruction. College & Research Libraries, 79(1), 10–34. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.79.1.10
  • Torrell, M. (2020). That was then, this is WoW: A case for critical information literacy across the curriculum. Communications in Information Literacy, 14(1), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2020.14.1.9

Decolonizing Libraries