MLA Zoom Link
In recent years, librarian scholars including Julia Glassman and Meredith Farkas have advocated for what they term “slow librarianship.” Slow Librarianship questions the imperative that librarians should be ever-focused on innovation and optimization and calls on librarians to instead reflect on the actual needs of their communities and the importance of creating services that are sustainable for library workers and organizations.
Over the past months, library workers have faced a number of political actions from the Trump administration that impact our work as both information professionals and as providers of student services. These actions include the removal of government web pages containing data and research, the suspension of federal grant funding for research, attacks on academic freedom and free speech, and the erosion of civil rights for many Americans (to name just a few). These developments raise important questions about slow librarianship. As library workers, how can we respond to these actions in a way that is sustainable and intentional? What work do we need to let go of, and how do we determine our priorities? How do we best provide support and advocate for our students, colleagues, and ourselves? These are questions that we will explore in this roundtable.
