Reading as Belonging: Implications for Library and Information Practice
by Dr. Nadia Caidi, Professor and Director of International Student Experience Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
ABSTRACT
In this Lecture, I want to challenge us to think about the extent to which our library and information field is truly moving the dial on today’s pressing societal challenges. Are we really equipping our students and staff with the skills and mindset they need to work meaningfully with communities, to practice an ethics of care towards the most marginalized, to take responsibility for our collective future? We will do so by examining the example of migration and belonging through the lens of heritage language and young people’s engagement with reading for pleasure. Despite playing a crucial role in communities as spaces of gathering, learning, memory and culture, libraries are also institutions that continue to be perceived and experienced as culturally and linguistically homogeneous. I argue that a systemic approach to understanding the issues of identity and heritage language loss can benefit librarians (and other actors) in supporting the youth’s intertwined identities as members of rich cultural, linguistic and reading communities. The Lecture presents a recent study of over 50 Canadian youth (aged between 13-18) who are members of the French official language minority community in Ontario, using a participatory approach that included 4 co-design workshops with youth, an 8-week reading diary activity, and interviews with key actors was devised. The findings open the way for critical discussions about the field and practice of librarianship, and about what we risk losing if we do not invest and lean on solidarity networks to sustain (or rebuild) our field’s societal trust and relevance.
