UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Libraries will host a Library Faculty Organization Fall Colloquium titled "We have a problem with political diversity: Discourse on the margins of scholarly communities” from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, on the University Park campus, and online via Mediasite.
The colloquium is free and open to all and features the authors of two chapters from the forthcoming Association of College & Research Libraries early 2019 monograph, “Libraries Promoting Reflective Dialogue in a Time of Political Polarization” — Sarah Hartman-Caverly, reference and instruction librarian, Penn State Berks; Spencer Brayton, library manager, Waubonsee Community College; and Natasha Casey, communications professor, Blackburn College.
Hartman-Caverly's chapter, “TRUTH always wins: Dispatches from the Information War,” explores information ethics in the context of the QAnon conspiracy theory, discussing critical media source evaluation and those seeking alternative and nontraditional news sources.
Brayton and Casey's chapter, “Not tolerating intolerance: Unpacking critical pedagogy in classrooms and conferences,” looks closely at the 'blinders' in information literacy, critical information literacy, and media literacy scholarly communities, specifically with regard to students, colleagues or others holding conservative views. Both works use autoethnography to confront and delve into political, ideological and ethical tensions within the library profession and academia at large.
A group of Facebook employees recently challenged the social media giant’s alleged ‘political monoculture.’ Is academia — within academic libraries and beyond — also becoming an environment where ideological diversity is unwelcome? And if so, how does this impact the sharing of ideas and academic freedom on our campuses and in our scholarly communities?
For more information on this event, contact Ellysa Cahoy, education librarian, at ellysa@psu.edu or 814-865-9696.