Urban Public School Libraries and Educational Reform: The Case of the Detroit Public Schools

This article explores the implications of school reform on school libraries using the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) as a case study in urban librarianship. A literature review on the role and impact of school librarians in K-12 education is included to help illustrate the role of school libraries in public school reform. Two DPS reforms are selected for closer evaluation: a 2002 district-initiated reform and a 2008 state-mandated reform. The article concludes by offering a list of recommendations to help strengthen DPS reform goals and objectives by utilizing the professional knowledge and resources of school librarians in the district. These recommendations are shaped by the author’s personal and professional experiences as a former school library media specialist in DPS and as a college professor who teaches school and urban librarianship courses

Cultural Inquiry: A Framework for Engaging Youth of Color in the Library

This article describes the conceptual underpinnings of a learning approach described as cultural inquiry. This learning approach grew from the author’s work with a diverse group of African American youth in an after school book club, named Circle of Voices. The purpose of describing this learning approach is to help youth services librarians develop strategies for engaging youth of color in the library. An equally important goal of this work is to provide a theoretical framework for explaining some of the cultural disconnects that youth of color experience while learning in mainstream schools and libraries. Some of the theoretical influences of this learning approach, which are described in this article include: social constructivist theory, critical pedagogy, and the Afrocentric idea in education. Contrasts are drawn between the conceptual underpinnings of information inquiry and cultural inquiry. Lastly, Callison’s four phases of inquiry are used to contextualize real world examples of cultural inquiry from the Circle of Voices book club

Getting InFLOmation : A Critical Race Theory Tale from the School Library

Using Critical Race Theory\u27s storytelling method, this chapter weaves a tale set in a school library setting told through the eyes of Jamal, a 17 year old Black male Harvard -bound scholar athlete. Using artifacts to build the plot, the story shines light on places where diversity and inclusion initiatives fail, where unchecked privilege and whiteness do harm to everyone touched by them, where inequality ruins lives and where libraries might be spaces of hope and possibility

INFLO-Mation: A Model for Exploring Information Behavior through Hip Hop

This paper explores the insights that hip hop might afford young adult library researchers who study information behavior, particularly in online environments. A Critical Race Theory (CRT) approach was used to explain how existing information behavior models describe youth experiences in ways that mask their unique racialized experiences and culturally specific information-creating behaviors. Using CRT’s counter-storytelling method, a new model called INFLO-mation is introduced, featuring a continuum of information behaviors captured within three descriptive categories of creativity: Rhythm, Rhyme, and Remix (R3). Findings include a discussion the INFLO model, its classification scheme, and illustrative examples from contemporary teens’ digital media practices rooted in hip hop culture

Roses in the Concrete: A Critical Race Perspective on Urban Youth and School Libraries

This article utilizes Critical Race Theory (CRT) to interrogate school library practices and school librarian belief systems as they relate to serving urban youth of color. The author offers several area for interrogation including: 1) disrupting cultural deficit views; 2) honoring students voices and life experiences; 3) recognizing structural inequalities; and 4) understanding whiteness. This work has implications for helping school librarians develop the cultural sensitivities and dispositions necessary for creating library programs that support and affirm urban youth of color

Teaching Race in Cyberspace: Reflections on the “Virtual Privilege Walk” Exercise

Teaching for Justice describes the efforts of LIS faculty and instructors who feature social justice theory and strategies in their courses and classroom practice

Critical Race Theory and Education: Mapping a Legacy of Activism and Scholarship

This chapter explores the intellectual origins and historical precursors of Critical Race Theory (CRT), a lively branch of critical social theory. One of the goals of this work is to help novice educational scholars learn more about the history of CRT and to specifically see how it is used by contemporary scholars in the field of education to address a range of equity issues. The chapter begins by contextualizing contemporary discourse on race and education. It then chronicles the life work of key individuals whose antiracist, anti- colonial ideas and actions helped lay the foundation for the body of legal thought that was eventually coined “CRT” during the Civil Rights Era. The legal origins of CRT are discussed and definitions of key CRT constructs are outlined. The chapter concludes with a close examination of two articles that exemplify how educational scholars are using CRT to address equity issues around research and teaching

Critical Inquiry: Library Media Specialists as Change Agents

This article describes some of the key concepts and strategies associated with the term critical inquiry that are relevant to the work of school libraries in secondary settings. Practical examples are given for conducting critical inquiry in the library based on the authors work with African American youth in an after school literacy program