Call for papers on critical pedagogy and library instruction

July 9, 2008 by RoryLitwin

Critical Pedagogy and Library Instruction: An Edited Collection

Critical pedagogy seeks to identify, critique, and disrupt the inequalities of the dominant culture, thus equipping learners to transform oppressive social, cultural, and economic conditions. While many theorists, critics, and practitioners have considered how critical pedagogical strategies and perspectives might be employed in higher education, the academic library remains mostly absent in these discussions. There have been few interventions in the library literature with specific reference to critical pedagogy, but these perspectives mostly consider critical literacy applications. Other forms of critical pedagogy, such as feminist, queer, and anti-racist, have yet to be fully explored in the context of the library instruction classroom. We intend for this book to intervene in this gap in the literature.

Objective of book

This book, to be published by Library Juice Press in Spring 2010, proposes to consider the following questions: How might library instruction benefit from exploring critical pedagogical strategies? What challenges are posed by the unique requirements of library instruction? And how might our use of critical pedagogical strategies help us embed library instruction in the critical classrooms on our campuses? We invite proposals that 1) investigate intersections between critical pedagogy and the library instruction classroom and 2) identify pedagogical applications that can be adopted in library instruction programs.

Target audience

The target audience for this book includes librarians who teach, library instruction program coordinators, faculty and instructors interested in bringing librarians into the classroom, and librarians interested in developing liberatory and anti-oppressive professional practices.