Seeking to Understand: A Journey into Disability Studies and Libraries

While we are not unusual; we are not aberrant. We are disabled librarians. We work in libraries all over the country. Our differences are wide-ranging. We have the same genders, ethnicities and sexual preferences as the rest of the library community.

Some of us deal with mobility impairments. However, a large part of this community is dealing with invisible impairments.

This can be seen as not only academic research but also emancipatory research, since we seek to change the world. We would like to help create:

A renewed commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion;

Mass transit as an equity issue;

A resource guide for developing a culture of empathy in your library;

Why is Medicare for All an accessibility issue;

How to make job ads equitable.

Our hope is that this book will offer affirmation to anyone who is a disabled library worker. It is also intended to be a resource anyone who works with or supervises a disabled library worker.

Robin Brown is Associate Professor and Head of Public Services for the A. Philip Randolph Library of Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York [CUNY]. She has a MLS from Rutgers University (New Brunswick) and a MA in World History from Rutgers University (Newark). Her email is rbrown@bmcc.cuny.edu.

Scott Sheidlower is a Professor and head of circulation and the archivist in the library at York College of the City University of New York [CUNY] in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. He has an M.A. in Art History from NYU; an M.A. in Arts Administration, also from NYU; and an M.L.S. from Queens College/CUNY. He is co-author of Humor and Information Literacy: Practical Techniques for Library Instruction (Libraries Unlimited, 2011). He is also co-author of Engaging diverse learners: Teaching strategies for academic librarians (Libraries Unlimited, 2017). His e-mail is ssheidlower@york.cuny.edu.