Medical libraries and their complicated past: an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial science
For over a millennium, libraries and library workers have advanced the knowledge of human science by building, preserving, and sharing collections and research. Historically, libraries have also aligned their institutional responsibilities to adhere to and support the values and virtues of oppressiv...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2023-07-01
|
| Series: | Journal of the Medical Library Association |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1728 |
| _version_ | 1797783664802660352 |
|---|---|
| author | Raymond Pun Patrice R. Green Nicollette Davis |
| author_facet | Raymond Pun Patrice R. Green Nicollette Davis |
| author_sort | Raymond Pun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | For over a millennium, libraries and library workers have advanced the knowledge of human science by building, preserving, and sharing collections and research. Historically, libraries have also aligned their institutional responsibilities to adhere to and support the values and virtues of oppressive and colonial practices. Library history has shown the mistreatments and denials of information access of marginalized groups. The history of libraries in the health and medical sciences reveals how these institutions and their workers have preserved and circulated research studies perpetuating racial science. This commentary highlights how such institutions shape and contribute to racial science in the field of medicine. By exploring the history of medicine through this lens, we examine how such institutions have been complicit in upholding racial science. We explore historical documents and archival collections that have been collected and preserved, particularly records and data of vulnerable groups, to advance the knowledge and understanding of the human body through the ideology of racial science. We argue that health and medical sciences librarians need to critically interrogate the racism in medical libraries and its history and address how health misinformation is common even in scholarly publications.
|
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:29:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7911e35a8e474860afa41a996d59eca7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1536-5050 1558-9439 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:29:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of the Medical Library Association |
| spelling | doaj.art-7911e35a8e474860afa41a996d59eca72023-07-10T20:57:23ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghJournal of the Medical Library Association1536-50501558-94392023-07-01111310.5195/jmla.2023.1728Medical libraries and their complicated past: an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial scienceRaymond Pun0Patrice R. Green1Nicollette Davis2Alder Graduate School of EducationAfrican American and African Diasporic Collections, Harvard Radcliffe Institutex, Cambridge, MA Assistant Librarian, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LAFor over a millennium, libraries and library workers have advanced the knowledge of human science by building, preserving, and sharing collections and research. Historically, libraries have also aligned their institutional responsibilities to adhere to and support the values and virtues of oppressive and colonial practices. Library history has shown the mistreatments and denials of information access of marginalized groups. The history of libraries in the health and medical sciences reveals how these institutions and their workers have preserved and circulated research studies perpetuating racial science. This commentary highlights how such institutions shape and contribute to racial science in the field of medicine. By exploring the history of medicine through this lens, we examine how such institutions have been complicit in upholding racial science. We explore historical documents and archival collections that have been collected and preserved, particularly records and data of vulnerable groups, to advance the knowledge and understanding of the human body through the ideology of racial science. We argue that health and medical sciences librarians need to critically interrogate the racism in medical libraries and its history and address how health misinformation is common even in scholarly publications. https://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1728Library historymedical librariesracial sciencemedical collectionsracism |
| spellingShingle | Raymond Pun Patrice R. Green Nicollette Davis Medical libraries and their complicated past: an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial science Journal of the Medical Library Association Library history medical libraries racial science medical collections racism |
| title | Medical libraries and their complicated past: an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial science |
| title_full | Medical libraries and their complicated past: an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial science |
| title_fullStr | Medical libraries and their complicated past: an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial science |
| title_full_unstemmed | Medical libraries and their complicated past: an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial science |
| title_short | Medical libraries and their complicated past: an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial science |
| title_sort | medical libraries and their complicated past an exploration of the historical connections between medical collections and racial science |
| topic | Library history medical libraries racial science medical collections racism |
| url | https://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1728 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT raymondpun medicallibrariesandtheircomplicatedpastanexplorationofthehistoricalconnectionsbetweenmedicalcollectionsandracialscience AT patricergreen medicallibrariesandtheircomplicatedpastanexplorationofthehistoricalconnectionsbetweenmedicalcollectionsandracialscience AT nicollettedavis medicallibrariesandtheircomplicatedpastanexplorationofthehistoricalconnectionsbetweenmedicalcollectionsandracialscience |