Advancing anti-racism in public libraries for Canadian racialized youth

Abstract

My research aims to examine systemic racism in public libraries and its impacts on racialized youth in Canada. It is grounded in an anti-oppression methodology, specifically anti-racism, and suggests that failing to account for race and redress systemic power relationships in public library development and policy denies historical imbalances of power and serves to further entrench systemic racism. Principally, I am concerned with the untenable position of library policy being both neutral and diverse and aim to identify reflective anti-oppressive practices that support all Canadian youth. This presentation will focus on the design and methodological foundation of my research project entitled “Advancing anti-racism in public libraries for Canadian racialized youth”. This is an urgent and relevant inquiry into how systemic racism impacts service delivery to racialized youth in Canadian public libraries and responds to immediate and resounding calls to examine the role of social institutions in perpetuating inequity and our collective responsibility to address structural barriers.

Amber Matthews

Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University

Amber Mathews is a Library and Information Science (LIS) doctoral student at Western University. Her research examines systemic racism in public libraries and its impacts on racialized youth in Canada. Her research is grounded in an anti-oppression methodologies, specifically anti-racism, and suggests that failing to account for race and redress systemic power relationships denies historical imbalances of power and entrenches systemic racism.