Strategic Foresight in Civic Engagement for Racial Justice: Exploratory Qualitative Perspectives of Public Library Staff in the American South

This paper briefly identifies qualitative themes from semi-structured feedback collected in online interviews/focus groups with forty public library staff in the American South about their foresight regarding library roles in civic engagement to promote racial justice. The research is timely in its engagement with stakeholders who are now directly impacted by the recent political and financial threats to federal funding and support of library-related agencies and assaults on public organizations that promote diversity and inclusion. Library staff provide potential directions of future engagement to support racial justice that spotlights their constructive role of resilience in response to these harsh political realities in the United States. Questions around the why’s, how’s, what’s, and specific actions integrated in data collection form a possible framework providing potential holistic structure of organization, content, representation, and delivery of civic engagement for racial justice in public library and communities to be developed further in future research.

Xenoglossophobia and information seeking behavior of African Graduate students

This study explores the effect of xenoglossophobia on information needs and seeking behavior of African Graduates, using graduate students from Nigeria and Ghana at the University of South Carolina, United States, as a case study. Xenoglossophobia is the abnormal and exaggerated anxiety of speaking a foreign language (Böttger & Költzsch, 2020). Although previous investigations have focused on how the realities of moving to a new city may shape the information needs of transnational newcomers (Kim & Lingel, 2016), there is a dearth of empirical evidence in Library and Information Science literature on how xenoglossophobia affects information needs and seeking behavior. The purposive random sampling was adopted to select 36 graduate students from Nigeria and Ghana to participate in the pilot study. Findings revealed that xenoglossophobia, such as accent-related anxieties affect information needs and everyday life information-seeking behavior of African students, especially in their first year of arrival in the United States. This implies that accent is an important factor in accessing and using information, especially for foreign graduate students who are non-native English speakers. This aligns with the findings of Colón-Aguirre and Alcalá (2021). For African graduate students in the United States to effectively seek and use information for everyday life activities it would be critical for them to speak English clearly and in a manner that it is understood by either a librarian or other information service providers. This study has implications for students, information workers, librarians, and agencies who work directly with new international students

Library Worker Oral Histories

Funded by the Archie Green Fellowship through the Library of Congress (LOC), the authors collected oral history interviews from Wisconsin Library Workers. The purpose of this project was to share everyday stories about information work from library workers themselves. The use of the term “library worker” rather than “librarian” was deliberate, to include those who may not have an MLIS degree. The authors interviewed 20 library workers across the State of Wisconsin. Trying to gain a broad view of library work, they included workers from academic, public, school, and special libraries. The interview recordings, interview transcripts, and photographs are being added to the LOC’s Occupational Folklife Project, which is part of the American Folklife Center.   These oral histories contribute to the larger story of work in America. The authors carefully prepared their materials for additional to the American Folklife Centers’s archive, including creating metadata according to the LOC’s specifications. The authors applied ethical practices such as communicating considerately, fully informing participants about the details of the project, and providing the interview questions to participants in advance. Participants were informed that they could withdraw at any time. Once this project is complete, the authors will use these archived interviews for future research. As the archives are public and digitally available, other researchers may access and use this data as well.  

Memes and Meme Communication within Online Game Communities on Social Media: Reddit and Facebook

With their increasing popularity, memes have been extensively studied in academia but mainly refined to a single context, such as politics and gender. In this regard, this study examines meme interactions within online game communities that encompass complicated contexts to get deeper and more comprehensive insights into memes and meme communication through a theoretical lens of information domains (Burnett, 2015) and boundary objects (Star & Griesemer, 1989). Two online game groups related to League of Legends on Reddit and Facebook were chosen, considering their global popularity and diverse sociocultural in-game content. To reflect both creators’ and readers’ perspectives, 1,671 memes were directly collected through a two-month observation of the communities, and 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the student-run online game organization members at the Florida State University. The quantitative and qualitative content analyses were conducted for the collected memes and interview data. The results showed similarities in topics, major information values, and the typical format of memes between the memes and interview analysis. However, there was a difference in users’ information behaviors with memes, such as reactions to offline events. The findings also showed that even communities centered on the same online game can differ in scale and culture, involving various contexts. Consequently, the themes and content employed in memes, as well as the patterns of information behavior around their use, can vary significantly

Exploring Links Between Informal Learning, Library Provision, and Recidivism Rates in the USA (1974 to 2024): A Thematic Literature Review

We propose a thematic literature review of informal learning and library provision in United States carceral facilities over the last fifty years of mass incarceration (1974 to  2024). We will explore the reported impacts of library provision and informal learning opportunities in carceral facilities--i.e. recreational reading and non-credit bearing programs--on recidivism rates. We anticipate finding a general consensus among library, information, and education scholars and practitioners that increased opportunities for informal learning results in reduced recidivism rates, but we hypothesize that there is a lack of conclusive evidence of a causal relationship due to small sample sizes for each study or article and the likelihood that carceral and detention facility librarians and lifelong education providers rarely track recidivism at the facility level. We will gather information about how recidivism has been discussed in research and practice in the American context from scholarly publications such as Library Quarterly and The Journal of Prison Education Research (formerly The Journal of Prison Education and Reentry), and relevant trade publications such as the American Library Association\u27s magazine, and policy documents. Despite expectations of evidentiary gaps, particularly regarding the impact of such informal learning on recidivism, we hope to identify promising interventions in the literature, and build a foundation for future research, and evidence-based practice

A Journey Towards Personal Cultural Heritage

This Creative Track presentation is a bilingual recitation in English and Spanish of my poem “The Journey.” The poem is part of the forthcoming edited volume, Poetry in LIS, by Drs. Bharat Mehra and Vanessa Irvin. Catalyzing my submitted chapter on oral personal cultural heritage practices that make connections to my identity as a daughter of immigrants through oral traditions like storytelling, I share insights into my family, their traditions, and their past in Havana, Cuba. These traditions reveal emotions, words, and memories expressed through joy, sorrow, and sometimes anger and fear—insights into experiences we may not have personally witnessed. Such practices have deepened my connection to my heritage, especially when physical traces of my family history are not visible, tangible, or preserved. As an archival educator, I am particularly concerned about the future of these vital personal oral artifacts that exist solely due to the age-old craft of storytelling. The risk of these stories being lost is confirmed as a daily concern. Having experienced life as a child of immigrants, witnessing my family share their stories has fostered a healing that spans generations. Oral storytelling provides an opportunity to reclaim identity and enable future generations to learn about their ancestors. Additionally, oral personal cultural heritage practices allow previously invisible family members to be seen. As a personal record keeper, I treasure these moments to listen to stories and share memories, traditions, and the resilient ways my family has lived through the narratives passed down, capturing the essence of who I am. As a child of immigrant parents, I hope this poetry recitation inspires others to seek and preserve their own stories.  The presentation begins with an introduction to my work, which will run for 2 minutes. I will introduce attendees to the context and theme of my poem. This will be followed by a 5-minute recitation of the poem in English and Spanish. After the poem is recited, the last two minutes are reserved for the conclusion

Ethical Practices in Ethnographic Archival Representation

This research aims to examine ethical challenges in ethnographic archival workflows, particularly how they intersect with decolonizing pedagogies, community agency, and archival practices. By drawing on participatory and collaborative archival methodologies, this study investigates how archivists navigate tensions between preservation, access, and ethical representation — especially concerning Indigenous and marginalized communities. This research also challenges hierarchical systems that privilege Western archival frameworks over community-driven knowledge by critically evaluating how archival structures reinforce dominant epistemologies. A qualitative case study approach is first employed by integrating sustained participant observation of daily archival workflows and semi-structured interviews with archival professionals. Fieldwork includes direct observations of processing, description, and preservation workflows, along with informal interactions with staff to assess how ethical considerations emerge in practice. Institutional policies on collection development, donor relations, and archival description will be examined to determine their alignment with ethical frameworks, such as those established by the Society of American Archivists. This study also explores efforts to restructure policies to promote equity, accessibility, and cultural responsiveness toward community participation in archival decision-making. To complement qualitative methods, a quantitative companion study provides statistically significant findings demonstrating strong public support for cultural heritage preservation and a willingness to engage in participatory archival events. This research incorporates reflexive archival considerations that account for power dynamics and positionality, and contributes to broader discussions on archival ethics, agency, and institutional accountability. It explores decolonizing pedagogies by critically examining how archives function as both instruments of institutional authority and as potential sites for community empowerment

Translation as Politics: Translating Nikolai Karamzin’s Letters of a Russian Traveler in Nineteenth-Century France

This article examines the three translations of Nikolai Karamzin’s Letters of a Russian Traveler published in nineteenth-century France. Relying on Descriptive Translation Studies so as to challenge the traditional narrative about the political innocuousness of Karamzin’s travelogue, it reconstructs the historical contexts of the three publications in order to highlight the political agendas of their translators and/or translating patrons. Far from being the innocent product of the translators’ sheer curiosity, the three translations prove to be political objects, used at three key moments in the history of Franco-Russian relations in the nineteenth century, in order to call for political change, to try and restore Russia’s damaged reputation, or to attempt to forge new diplomatic alliances

From Frontier to Borderland: Border Actors in Orenburg Province, 1735-75

This article examines the rise of borderland actors in Russia’s Orenburg province in the mid-eighteenth century. Established in the 1730s and the 1740s, the fortified line along the Iaik River became a hard border separating Russian-controlled Bashkiria and the Kazakh-Kalmyk steppes to the south. Using numerous case studies culled from the State Archive of the Orenburg Region, it considers the multi-national borderland communities (Tatar, Russian, Bashkir, Kalmyk, Kazakh, and Zunghar) that populated both sides of the Orenburg Line. Despite Russia’s attempts to control movement and monitor identities, border actors displayed considerable agency throughout this period, as their migrations, escapes, and crossings helped determine the transnational character of Russia’s southeastern region.   &nbsp

Sabotage, Implementation, and Expanded Geo-engineering: An Interview with Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne on Collaborative Practice

Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne have made more critical interventions into fossil fuel capitalism than possibly any other artists or climate activists working with digital media today. In transforming digital tools away from their intended commercial use, they have calculated carbon offsets based on pipeline disruption (Offset, 2023–ongoing), made botnets that swarm climate change news articles (Synthetic Messenger, 2021), and redistributed grant funding to incarcerated climate activists (Fragile States, 2022). In addition to their visual projects, Brain and Lavigne have both published widely on their work, from creative re-envisionings of the LaTex white paper to more formal statements on their theories and methods (“All That Is Air Melts Into Air,” e-flux Architecture, 2024). In this interview with the guest editors of the “Media and Climate” special issue, Brain and Lavigne discuss the aforementioned projects, as well as how their practices are informed by data activism, alternative methods for technology under capitalism, and providing models and interventions that reach beyond the art world