Whose Safety is the Priority?
Police and policing have tacitly, and at times explicitly, been normalized as aspects of library service in the U.S. As American forms of policing are exported at an international scale, this has international implications. Justification for embedded policing inside library walls has turned upon lib...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
East Carolina University
2021-09-01
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| Series: | The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/article/view/36187 |
| _version_ | 1797934720276758528 |
|---|---|
| author | Allie Fry Jeanie Austin |
| author_facet | Allie Fry Jeanie Austin |
| author_sort | Allie Fry |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Police and policing have tacitly, and at times explicitly, been normalized as aspects of library service in the U.S. As American forms of policing are exported at an international scale, this has international implications. Justification for embedded policing inside library walls has turned upon librarian and library staff conceptions of safety. This essay posits that a lack of critical engagement with the topics of policing and safety reflects the deficit of substantive discourse around antiracist pedagogy within library and information science (LIS) education and practice. The paper pairs critical research on safety and criminalization with patrons’ comments on policing and grassroots activism by LIS professionals to rethink safety as something shared between librarians, staff, patrons, and potential patrons (the community). Ongoing, organized campaigns around policing and security within libraries are documented so that their efforts, trials, and successes will engender further research and set a marked precedent of how LIS education and professions can reevaluate the role of policing and police in library settings everywhere. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:03:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f6db1d1221714802a6268495cd207ab3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2574-3430 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:03:20Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | East Carolina University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion |
| spelling | doaj.art-f6db1d1221714802a6268495cd207ab32023-02-02T14:28:05ZengEast Carolina UniversityThe International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion2574-34302021-09-015310.33137/ijidi.v5i3.36187Whose Safety is the Priority?Allie Fry0Jeanie Austin1University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignSan Francisco Public LibraryPolice and policing have tacitly, and at times explicitly, been normalized as aspects of library service in the U.S. As American forms of policing are exported at an international scale, this has international implications. Justification for embedded policing inside library walls has turned upon librarian and library staff conceptions of safety. This essay posits that a lack of critical engagement with the topics of policing and safety reflects the deficit of substantive discourse around antiracist pedagogy within library and information science (LIS) education and practice. The paper pairs critical research on safety and criminalization with patrons’ comments on policing and grassroots activism by LIS professionals to rethink safety as something shared between librarians, staff, patrons, and potential patrons (the community). Ongoing, organized campaigns around policing and security within libraries are documented so that their efforts, trials, and successes will engender further research and set a marked precedent of how LIS education and professions can reevaluate the role of policing and police in library settings everywhere.https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/article/view/36187divestmentgrassroots activismpolicingsocial justicerisksafety |
| spellingShingle | Allie Fry Jeanie Austin Whose Safety is the Priority? The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion divestment grassroots activism policing social justice risk safety |
| title | Whose Safety is the Priority? |
| title_full | Whose Safety is the Priority? |
| title_fullStr | Whose Safety is the Priority? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Whose Safety is the Priority? |
| title_short | Whose Safety is the Priority? |
| title_sort | whose safety is the priority |
| topic | divestment grassroots activism policing social justice risk safety |
| url | https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/article/view/36187 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alliefry whosesafetyisthepriority AT jeanieaustin whosesafetyisthepriority |