Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science

Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science presents a range of case studies that have successfully implemented social justice as a designed strategy to generate community-wide changes and social impact.

Each chapter in the collection presents innovative practices that are strategized as intentional, deliberate, systematic, outcome-based, and impact-driven. They demonstrate effective examples of social justice design and implementation in LIS to generate meaningful outcomes across local, regional, national, and international settings. Including reflections on challenges and opportunities in academic, public, school, and special libraries, museums, archives, and other information-related settings, the contributions present forward-looking strategies that transcend historical and outdated notions of neutral stance and passive bystanders. Showcasing the intersections of LIS concepts and interdisciplinary theories with traditional and non-traditional methods of research and practice, the volume demonstrates how to further the social justice principles of fairness, justice, equity/equality, and empowerment of all people, including those on the margins of society.

Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science will be of great interest to LIS educators, scholars, students, information professionals, library practitioners, and all those interested in integrating social justice and inclusion advocacy into their information-related efforts to develop impact-driven, externally focused, and community-relevant outcomes.

Bharat Mehra is EBSCO Endowed Chair in Social Justice and Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama, USA. His many research interests include diversity and inclusion advocacy, intercultural communication and communicative action, social justice in library and information science, community-engaged scholarship, and critical and cross-cultural studies. He has applied action research to further community-engaged scholarship while collaborating with racial/ethnic groups, international diaspora, sexual minorities, rural communities, low-income families, small businesses, and others, to represent their experiences and perspectives in the design of community-based information systems and services.