Draft Schedule

Gender & Sexuality in Information Studies Colloquium
Simmons University, Main Campus Building: Paresky Room and E305 July 20, 2018 | 8:30AM — 5:00PM

8:30am-9am
Paresky Room
Registration, breakfast and networking

9am-9:30am
Paresky Room
Welcome, logistics, review of Code of Conduct, introduction of posters

The World of Women: Resources /Kellian Clink

Documenting the Role of Women in Labor History /Kristen Chinery and Elizabeth Clemens

The Politics of Ephemerality: Queer Analogies for Zine Collection Development Ethics /Andrew Wang

9:30-10:45
Paresky Room
Session 1: Track A

Writing Ourselves Into Our Future: Dismantling and Envisioning Alternative Models of Library Leadership
Sofia Leung and Jennifer Ferretti

Recognizing librarianship is a feminized profession with people of color making up less than twenty percent of the workforce, it is easy to be disillusioned with the present state of our field. If the structures of leadership are dismantled and different models are in place, what opportunities does this open up? Bringing together frameworks and strategies from community organizing, science fiction, equityXdesign, and Critical Race Theory, the presenters, Jennifer Ferretti and Sofia Leung will have a conversation around these questions. This conversation will help frame a learning activity that will engage the audience in re-envisioning library leadership.

9:30-10:45
E305
Session 1: Track B

Aesthetically Potent Environments: Conversation Theory, Gender, and Radical Collaborations in the Public Library
Leigh Hurwitz

Cyberneticist Gordon Pask's concept of "aesthetically potent environments" (the idea that a work of art is a system all its own) is a relevant framework for looking at the intersection of art and information in the public library. With a focus on describing and understanding the way meaning and knowledge are constructed, and how learning occurs, Pask's theories allow for a dynamic discussion of the relationships that enable knowing and learning. As Pask scholar, Paul Pangaro states, the premise of Pask's Conversation Theory is that "conversation and identity arise together," in the subjective observation of our participation in an interaction.

10:45-11
Paresky Room
Coffee Break

11-12:15
Paresky Room
Session 2: Track A

(Re)productive Labor and Information Work
Gina Schlesselman-Tarango, Alanna Aiko Moore, Chiméne Tucker, Carrie Wade

This panel highlights the voices of four librarians who explore how information work intersects with reproductive expectations and experiences, which are no doubt shaped by gender, sexuality, and various other facets of identity. Topics to be addressed include queer parenting and reproductive information access, naming and categorization, and informal social media groups; the neoliberal casting of unsuccessful reproduction as "failure" and its intersections with information work; choosing to remain childless on the tenure track in academic librarianship, a female-majority profession; and the parallels between how librarians and those with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome are similarly desexualized, defeminized, and made somehow "irregular."

11-12:15
E305
Session 2: Track B

Is It Better to Burn Out than to Fade Away? Reflections from New Librarians of Color
Nicky Andrews and Hannah Rainey

Please join us for an honest and critical discussion around juggling the nuances of identity and the changing demands of professionalism. We will discuss our experiences resisting burnout, racial battle fatigue, and self-doubt in our roles as new professionals and people who advocate for social responsibility. As new librarians and individuals whose identities include femininity, queerness, and mixed-race ethnicities; it is increasingly difficult to separate our personal experiences from the impacts of our professional interactions. The audience will engage in dialogue around maintaining a sense of self-worth amid toxic and problematic messaging both from within the profession, and externally.

12:15-1:30
Paresky Room
Lunch - provided. Options:
  - Deli Sliced Turkey and Swiss on Hearty Wheat Bread served with Mustard, Mayo and Beverage
  - Honey Mustard Ham and Swiss Ciabatta served with Mustard, Mayo and Beverage
  - Grilled Vegetable Wrap served with Mustard, Mayo and Beverage
More information and allergen information

1:30-2:45
Paresky Room
Lightning Talks

Internalized Symbolic Annihilation: Emotional Labor in/of Archives / Joyce Gabiola

My Biggest Problem Isn't Time Management: Trauma and Academic Ableism in the LIS Profession / Laura Schmidt

Let's Look at One Another: Ways of Seeing in the Library/Meaghan Moody Storytelling as Knowledge Production: Reproductive health and Personal Testimony / Chloe Raub

Male Librarians and Access to Male Privilege /Julia Bullard and Dean Giustini

11,000 Wikipedia Articles Later: Art+Feminism at Five Years/ Siân Evans

2:45-3
Paresky Room
Coffee Break

3-4:15
Paresky Room
Session 3: Track A

Deconstructing Service: Intersections of Identity Joanna Gadsby, Veronica Arellano Douglas, Jennifer Brown, Sofia Leung How do our own gender and racial identities impact others' expectations and perceptions of our service responsibilities? Many librarians feel service is at the core of the profession's identity, but in taking a critical lens to this value, we hope to highlight the experiences of women and people of color in libraries in order to work towards a more just and inclusive work environment. This panel discussion will deconstruct the ethos of service in academic libraries and examine how it combines with gender, race/ethnicity, and other intersecting identities to create, stagnate, or even destruct librarians' professional identities.

3-4:15
E305
Session 3: Track B

Collection Development as Emotional Labor: Trauma, Sentimentality, Solidarity, and Care Leah Richardson, Dolsy Smith and Elizabeth Settoducato

Libraries, as an institution, have always had a role in maintaining structures of power and in the construction of gender. Our collections are a key site of this process. Instead of looking at collections as a monolithic and stable entity, the three presenters in this panel will explore collections and collecting practices as sites of violence, rupture, fantasy, erasure, desire, nostalgia, and radical possibility. This panel will be performative and challenging: our aim is not to prescribe, but to push us out of our cultural and professional containment in order to realize a more meaningful and radical potential for libraries.

4:15-4:30
Paresky Room
Closing Remarks

5:00-onwards
Flann O'Brien's
Social hangout at Flann O'Brien's (1619 Tremont St.)
http://www.flanns.com/