Leveraging social justice pedagogy to counter racism: Conceptualizing an Advanced Certificate in Social Justice for Information Professionals

Issue title: Race Relations and Racial Inequity in LIS

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Singh, Rajesh^* | Rioux, Kevin

Affiliations: Division of Library and Information Science, St. John’s University, Queens, New York, USA

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Division of Library and Information Science, St. John’s University, Queens, New York, USA. E-mail: singhr1@stjohns.edu.

Abstract: The goal of the Advanced Certificate in Social Justice for Information Professionals at St. John’s University (SJU) is to offer both current LIS practitioners and LIS students a curriculum explicitly grounded in social justice principles and concepts that builds and enhances capabilities to substantively counter racism and other challenges to social justice that are reflected in the information sphere of the 2020’s. This article reports on the contexts, motivations and considerations for developing the Certificate. Included is a brief overview of current courses related to social justice offered by ALA-accredited graduate programs in North America, and a list of thematic emphases based in social justice frameworks that will drive the Certificate upon its launch.

Keywords: Social justice, LIS education, antiracism pedagogy

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-211506

Journal: Education for Information, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 203-217, 2021