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The Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies Colloquium took place at University of Toronto Faculty of Information on October 18, 2014. The conference was the result of book four, Feminist and Queer Information Studies Reader of the Litwin Books series Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies. The book was published in October 2013. The event was hosted by one of the book editors,Patrick Keilty, and the editor of the book series, Emily Drabinski.
Contents
The conference emphasized topics in gender, sexuality, LGBTQ, race, and legal studies in the library and information science and archival science professions. The presenters interrogated prevailing practices in library and archival cataloging, classification, organization, and appraisal. Library and archive collections of difference using queer theory, critical race theory (intersectionality), standpoint theory, and appraisal theory, to name a few, were used to develop arguments. Presenters also discussed the right to disappear online, print and digital resources, and institutional and community archives.
There were approximately 100 attendees.
Format
The day began with the opening session, "Queering Order." All conference participants attended the opening panel. The day was then organized into nine breakout sessions that took place in assigned rooms.
The breakout sessions were organized as follows:
All paper titles, abstracts, and some presentations can be found on the colloquium agenda page, which will serve as an open access repository. Some papers will be selected for publishing in a special issue of the peer-reviewed academic journal, Library Trends.
The organizers were not certain if the conference was a one-time event, or if it would be the first of many.
Controversy
Many attendees noted a lack of diversity in language and attendance. Attendance and participation was particularly low among transgender black people, transgender people of color, cisgender black people, and cisgender people of color. Further, there was a critique of the emphasis on normative perspective, i.e. the white female librarian, or archivist perspective was emphasized in most presentations.
Social Media
The public could access updates from the conference by following the Twitter hashtag, #gsisc14. Additionally, an attendee generously collected a series of tweets, and created a publicly shared Storify.
Library Juice Press and Litwin Books, LLC
Library Juice Press began as an online blog by Rory Litwin. By 2005, the blog became collaborative. Among other topics, the blog covers issues in privacy, information policy, and the library profession.
Libray Juice Press is a subsidiary of Litwin Books, LLC. Litwin Books, LLC is an independent academic publisher that publishes topics in media, communication, and the cultural record.
References
External Links
University of Toronto Faculty of Information School (http://www.ischool.utoronto.ca/ ) Library Juice Press (http://libraryjuicepress.com/about.php) Litwin Books (http://litwinbooks.com/ ) Emily Drabinski (www.emilydrabinski.com) Patrick Keilty (http://www.patrickkeilty.com/ ) Rory Litwin (http://rorylitwin.info/ )