Urban Librarianship

The moment you assign something a name you have to consider all of the implicit associations that name carries. As we set about implementing the new Urban Librarianship graduate certificate (UL) in the School of Library and Information Science, it may be prudent to openly muse about the implicit associations that the term "urban librarianship" carries and to articulate what it means for the faculty who teach the courses in this area. Some of the ways I think that the term "urban librarianship" often gets mischaracterized by well-meaning people (including librarians). I will also share how I approach the study of urban librarianship in one of the core classes in Urban Librarianship entitled Social and Cultural Competencies for Library and Information Science Professionals.

Image created by: Katherine Bryant, Saraj Jurek, Megan Mott, Andrew Vyjack, and Arlene Wood. These students were enrolled in Dr. Kumasi's course - LIS 7850: Social and Cultural Competencies for LIS Professionals.

Common Misconceptions About Urban Librarianship

It might be helpful to start this discussion by identifying two of the most common misconceptions about what the study of urban librarianship entails. Then, for each of these misconceptions, offer a rationale as to why such a characterization might be problematic.

Urban librarianship is about:

1. Learning ways to work with "diverse" (aka non-white) patrons whom comprise many urban communities.

This view is problemmatic because white librarians become the normative frame of reference for examining what diversity means in the library. In doing so, non-white, non-English speaking patrons get "othered" in a way that allows whiteness to escape scrutiny. This eliminates the possibility of helping the majority of the white student population and librarian workforce to look reflectively at their own views of what diversity really means and consider how it might inform their practices.

The core course integrates examinations of "whiteness" into the conversation about cultural competence and provides students with an opportunity to be reflective about their own privilege and how they see various non-white, non-English speaking communities. Studying "whiteness" also allows students to complicate their understandings of diversity in a way that helps everyone see the degrees of privilege each of us enjoy (e.g. birthplace, employment, gender, parental education, skin color). By allowing students to explore these layers of identity, the hope is that they become more culturally sensitive towards others.

2. Addressing the high illiteracy rates and helping close the literacy achievement gap among urban populations.

Although scholars have come to understand literacy as much more than one's ability to decode text on a written page, many people - when speaking of Detroit or other urban communities - immediately reference statistics that portray the majority of the population as functionally illiterate. One definition of literacy involves one's ability to navigate their social environment or engage with various kinds of non-traditional (e.g. digital) texts.

However, some people hold deeply onto the illiteracy discourse without questioning the source from which these statistics arise or without even knowing the exact source of the statistic before repeating them to others - not to mention calling the measurement itself into question. The basic problem with this discourse is that it is rooted in a deficit ideology that places people of color in a stagnant position at the bottom of the social ladder with no foreseeable way up. This kind of discourse can have a damaging psychological effect on us all.

There are much more generative ways these issues can be addressed without creating such polarization. For instance, students can read about various kinds of literacy and other critical scholarship that highlights the complex and rich home and community literacies that many urban youth possess and express through genres such as Rap, spoken word, graffiti, and tattoos. To that end, I created a field experience in this core class where students met at a local high school and facilitated the Young Urban Scholars Book Club. One of the goals of the book club was for pre-service librarians to help bridge academic literacies with student's home and community literacies by reading short stories and allowing students to create their own digital stories based on the themes found in the texts. One of the culminating activities was for the book club scholars to come to Wayne State University to complete their digital stories using the campus computer lab while getting a tour of the Adamany Undergraduate Library.

Hamtramck High School students and Wayne State University graduate students in the School of Library and Information Science in front of the Purdy Kresge Library on a field trip for the Young Urban Scholars Book Club.

Urban Librarianship Studies

So what does urban librarianship studies entail? To start with, the study in urban librarianship focuses on three avenues of study - sociological, theoretical, and experiential. While none of these approaches are mutually exclusive, parsing them apart helps to frame this discussion.

Sociological study helps students better understand how cities and municipalities are structured, financed and governed and the attendant bureaucracy involved with operating in a big city. The economic and political aspects of urban cities are very complex, which might lend to a case study approach to teaching and learning. A sample research project might look at the viability of city branch libraries becoming independently chartered by private interests as opposed to being closed by the city and the pros and cons of this option.

Theoretical study helps students understand the social and cultural histories of various groups that comprise urban areas and provide a lens through which to understand their racial identity formation and other unique cultural practices. A sample research project might look at how libraries helped to "Americanize" certain European immigrant populations in history and examine the various services they offered to these groups. Such a study should be clear to infuse critical race theory perspectives that account for the ways Black citizens were treated by public libraries at the same historical moment.

Experiential study helps students gain practical experience working in an urban library setting. The possibilities are limitless for the type of experience students might gain in working in various library environments (e.g. special, public, school). A sample research project might entail students working with a library employer to help identify and solve a common problem the library is facing. The project might culminate with the student providing the employer with a white paper or an annotated bibliography on the subject.

So, the next time you have the opportunity to discuss "urban librarianship" and what it entails, hopefully you can offer a set of talking points that move away from the polarizing misconceptions. For future librarians, knowing the breadth and complexity of these issues can only help you during your job interview!

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