DEIA in Faith-based Higher Education Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums

To address LIS’ insufficient progress in racial equity, a number of LIS scholars and publications have deemed it necessary for LIS to be disrupted and reimagined through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and with the overarching goal of “a commitment to social justice and to the elimination of racial oppression and all forms of oppression” (Leung & López-McKnight, 2021, pg. 18). Building on existing DEIA scholarship to address significant gaps examining critical race theory and faith-based library work, this volume, adds to the editors’ own research exploring DEIA in Catholic and other faith-based higher education institutions. Survey results revealed a few important findings we believe worthy of exploration in a book:

• A call for library workers at faith-based higher education institutions to have a space to share their experiences and perspectives
• Incongruity between faith-based higher education institutions which largely point to implicit religious teaching and values rather than explicitly addressing their perpetuation of racial or gender/sexual-based prejudice, discrimination, and inequalities
• The rarity of actionable decolonization efforts, especially in faith-based institutions with a history of Black and Indigenous oppression.

This volume, underpinning the study of DEIA in faith-based galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) with CRT, will invite LIS scholars, practitioners, and organizations to critically examine how white supremacy continues to infect LIS and what we can do to address and eradicate racial oppression and other inequalities in LIS settings. Chapters will include contributions of original research, narrative accounts, practitioner-developed curricula, and creative works on DEIA initiatives, practices, challenges, and successes in LIS environments and campuses.

V. Dozier is an Education Librarian and Associate Professor at the University of San Diego, in San Diego, California. She is the embedded librarian for the School of Leadership and Educational Sciences (SOLES) where she facilitates library instruction sessions, research support workshops & consultations, and curates a resource collection designed to support SOLES’ interdisciplinary teaching & research needs, with an emphasis on needs of BIPOC & other underrepresented faculty, staff, and students. V’s research interests include critical librarianship & pedagogy, the experiences of BIPOC and other marginalized populations in academic libraries, and graphic novels/comics in educational settings. She’s presented at multiple academic library and education conferences including the Association for College & Research Libraries, LOEX, and the American Educational Research Association. Recent publications include the Theological Librarianship article, When DEIA meets faith in heightened tensions: DEIA initiatives at Catholic-serving institutions (2022) and a book chapter in ACRL’s Implementing excellence in diversity, equity, and inclusion: A handbook for academic libraries (2022).

Martha A. Adkins (she/her) is Associate Professor and Research and Instruction Librarian at the University of San Diego. She is subject liaison, providing support for teaching and learning for the students, faculty, and staff in Theology & Religious Studies, Philosophy, Classical Studies, Changemaking, the Franciscan School of Theology, and the Division of Mission Integration, which includes Mission, Ministry, and the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture. She holds a MSLS from the University of North Texas School of Library Information Science, a Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School, and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to research interests in bibliometrics, intellectual freedom, and activism in libraries, she has recently focused on DEIA in libraries at Catholic and other faith-based institutions. Martha is a perpetual student, intentionally exploring new ideas and new ways to learn.