Time: Monday, April 20, 2020, 2-2:30pm (Mountain time)
Location: Google Hangouts. Upon registration link will be emailed
Fees: $0. FREE.

Monday April 20, 2-2:30 pm (MT Edmonton)

Decolonizing library instruction: A community of practice approach
Virtual presentation hosted by Maskwacis Cultural College Library


Description

In post-TRC Canada, many people are aware that we have been called to Decolonize and/or Indigenize education, services, and policies. In response to this call, the question becomes how we can do this work without committing further harm. In this context, it is clear that academic libraries and their staff members must acknowledge their colonial histories. Decolonizing and/or Indigenizing in these ways can be uncomfortable and even daunting, not least because this work requires us to think about ourselves, our institutions, academic authority, and history in different ways. Acknowledging the colonial foundations of our work is also personally challenging, particularly as it demands that we recognize our complicity in ongoing inequities.

In this presentation, staff from Simon Fraser University (SFU) will share their recent efforts to decolonize library instructional services. The presenters will introduce their process for facing the overwhelming feeling that taking action on these challenging issues is “impossible.” Presenters will share their understanding of the value of connection within a community of practice in supporting engagement with and learning about Decolonization and Indigenization. They will discuss their use of a reading group model to engage in collective discussion and reflection about how colonization has shaped and continues to shape instruction in our academic institutions, and what we can do to begin to decolonize our practices.


Presenter bios


Ashley Edwards
Ashley (she/her/hers) started at SFU as a Library Assistant with the Learning & Instructional services division at the WAC Bennett Library, and recently moved into the role of Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre Librarian. She graduated from the UFV LibIT program in 2009, and just this month completed the coursework for an MLIS in the UofA online program, with an expected graduation date of June 2020. Ashley has Métis-settler heritage, and grew up on Stó:lō territory in the Fraser Valley. When not working or studying, she can often be found curled up reading or playing Stardew Valley with a cat or two in her lap.


Julia Lane
Julia (she/her/hers) is a queer, vegan, feminist. She is also a white settler who lives, mothers, writes, and teaches on unceeded Coast Salish territories. She holds a PhD in Arts Education from Simon Fraser University and her dissertation is about the application of a theatrical clowning practice to scholarship, specifically researching, teaching, and writing. Her master’s degree is from Trent University’s Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies program and her M.A. thesis focused on environmental education. She completed her undergraduate studies at York University in the theatre department, specializing in theatre creation and performance. Julia is currently a Writing Services Associate with the Student Learning Commons in the SFU Library.


Hope Power
Hope Power is the Teaching & Learning Librarian at Simon Fraser University (SFU), where she currently coordinates the library’s Instruction Interest Group. She is also a co-founder of the Metro-Vancouver Teaching & Learning Librarians Group as well as the SFU Open Educational Resources (OER Working Group). Last summer, she worked with colleagues Ashley Edwards and Julia Lane to pilot the Decolonizing the Library reading group at SFU Library. She is privileged to live, work, play and raise her family on the unceded and shared traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.
 
Contact Manisha Khetarpal  mkhetarpal@mccedu.ca    or call toll free: 1 866 585 3925

Registration link: https://forms.gle/cGrNwR6DJkapaUqn8