In Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries, editors Jess Crilly and Regina Everitt bring together contributors to explore the variety of creative initiatives undertaken by academic libraries and archives to open their doors to underrepresented voices. This timely collection is a brilliant effort to unite the thinking behind the movements to decolonise the curriculum, writes Amy Lewontin

Lewontin, Amy

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LSE Research Online

Book	Review:	Narrative	Expansions:	InterpretingDecolonisation	in	Academic	Libraries	edited	by	JessCrilly	and	Regina	EverittIn	Narrative	Expansions:	Interpreting	Decolonisation	in	Academic	Libraries,	editors	Jess	Crilly	and	ReginaEveritt	bring	together	contributors	to	explore	the	variety	of	creative	initiatives	undertaken	by	academic	libraries	andarchives	to	open	their	doors	to	underrepresented	voices.	This	timely	collection	is	a	brilliant	effort	to	unite	thethinking	behind	the	movements	to	decolonise	the	curriculum,	writes	Amy	Lewontin.	If	you	are	interested	in	Narrative	Expansions,	you	can	also	read	editor	Jess	Crilly’s	LSE	RB	blog	postintroducing	the	collection	as	well	as	a	piece	by	LSE	Library’s	Kevin	Wilson	drawing	on	his	contribution	tothe	volume.	Narrative	Expansions:	Interpreting	Decolonisation	in	Academic	Libraries.	Jess	Crilly	and	Regina	Everitt(eds).	Facet	Publishing.	2022.A	new	and	timely	collection,	Narrative	Expansions:	Interpreting	Decolonisation	inAcademic	Libraries	shifts	the	emphasis	of	decolonising	the	university	to	a	hands-onview	of	the	variety	of	creative	initiatives	undertaken	by	academic	libraries	to	open	theirdoors	to	underrepresented	voices.	Jess	Crilly	and	Regina	Everitt,	both	librarymanagers	in	the	UK	with	experience	overseeing	larger	research	libraries	as	well	asarchives,	edit	and	introduce	the	fifteen	essays	by	librarians	and	archivists	from	aroundthe	globe.Early	in	the	book,	in	a	conversation	on	decolonisation	and	activism	that	the	editorshave	with	the	National	Union	of	Students’s	Vice	President,	Hillary	Gyebi-Ababio,	shementions	the	library’s	role	on	campus.	As	Gyebi-Ababio	explains,	‘dismantling	theacademic	canon	and	expanding	and	transforming	the	library	as	we	know	it	is	a	part	ofthe	decolonisation	process	that	can	produce	immediate	change	and	engage	people	forlonger-term	change.	The	library	is	a	place	of	discovery,	of	investigation.’This	role	of	the	library	as	a	place	of	discovery	and	an	active	force	for	positive	changefor	students	and	university	staff	is	clearly	demonstrated	throughout	the	essays	inNarrative	Expansions.	This	book	should	be	a	first	port	of	call	for	academic	librarians	and	faculty	across	universitydepartments	who	seek	to	support	their	institution’s	wider	efforts	at	embedding	anti-racism	within	the	curriculum,	aswell	for	those	working	to	achieve	more	diversity	and	inclusion	in	the	scholarly	material	provided	for	their	academiccommunity.	Contributors	to	Narrative	Expansions	come	from	a	wide	geographic	and	institutional	cross-section	ofacademic	environments,	yet	all	share	a	common	purpose:	to	work	with	others	across	their	universities	to	examine	acolonial	and	mainly	Eurocentric	past	and	forge	solutions	unique	to	their	institutions.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries edited by Jess Crilly and Regina Everitt Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-05-13Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2022/05/13/book-review-narrative-expansions-interpreting-decolonisation-in-academic-libraries-edited-by-jess-crilly-and-regina-everitt/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/Image	Credit:	Pixabay	CCONarrative	Expansions	is	divided	into	two	quite	distinct	sections.	In	the	first,	‘Contexts	and	Experiences’,		contributingauthors	give	the	reader	a	grounding	in	the	current	political	environment	at	their	respective	universities	and	wherethe	library	fits	into	the	larger	academic	research	context.	The	second	section	of	the	book,	‘In	Practice’,encompasses	many	more	chapters.	Here,	the	contributing	authors	take	a	practical	approach	and	explain	theirefforts	to	apply	the	theory	locally.	This	second	section	has	much	to	offer	for	those	seeking	ideas	for	their	own	initialefforts.In	the	case	of	21st-century	academic	libraries	and	archives,	this	means	an	examination	of	what	has	been	andcurrently	is	available	to	library	users:	namely,	books	and	journals	as	well	as	archival	materials	on	both	physical	andnow	digital	shelves.	In	their	descriptions	of	what	is	presently	on	offer	at	academic	libraries,	many	of	the	contributingauthors	discuss	the	Indigenous	voices	that	have	been	missing	from	libraries	and	their	plans	to	rectify	those	gaps.In	pinpointing	whose	voices	are	missing	and	unique	approaches	to	expanding	and	enriching	scholarly	offerings	byrespecting	and	encouraging	those	missing	voices,	this	collection	is	rather	unique	in	the	context	of	library	literature.Marilyn	Clark,	Director	of	Library	Services	at	Goldsmiths,	University	of	London,	describes	the	work	that	library	staffundertook	with	students	and	faculty	‘to	identify	the	excluded	voices	and	lived	experiences,	and	to	highlight	GlobalSouth	scholars	missing	from	curriculum	reading	lists’.	This	project,	the	Liberatemydegree	book	collection,	was	oneway	of	addressing	a	serious	lack	of	collection	diversity.	It	was	a	collective	approach	that	contributed	to	a	change	inthe	direction	of	what	Goldsmiths	Library	purchased	and	many	of	the	books	found	their	way	onto	curriculum	readinglists	soon	after	being	acquired.Narrative	Expansions	is	not	limited	to	an	examination	of	the	whiteness	of	scholarly	research	collections.	Severalessays	examine	increasing	student	diversity	at	their	universities	and	point	out	the	serious	need	to	improve	diversityand	career	progression	within	the	library	and	archival	profession.	Crilly	and	Everitt	clearly	explain	the	larger	aim	ofthe	volume	in	their	introduction:	‘The	work	of	decolonising	the	library	is	about	understanding	how	the	past	hasinformed	the	present,	but	must	also	be	about	envisaging	a	better	future,	even	if	how	to	achieve	it	isn’t	always	clear’(28).What	is	most	valuable	about	reading	the	essays	is	that	they	enable	readers	to	gain	an	understanding	of	how	eachinstitution	took	its	own	approach,	generally	a	step	forward;	yet	the	authors	explain	that	their	work	is	part	of	acontinuous	process,	not	yet	finished,	but	useful	for	wider	discussion	and	local	sharing	of	ideas.	Ludi	Price,	in	heressay	on	efforts	to	decolonise	the	School	of	Oriental	and	African	Studies	(SOAS)	Library,	explains	what	this	meansfor	her	institution	and	I	think	for	many	others:	‘decolonisation	is	a	dynamic	process,	and	as	the	group	navigates,	andcritically	reflects	upon,	its	practice,	these	goals	may	be	subject	to	modification.	None	of	us	claims	to	be	expert	inwhat	it	means	to	decolonise;	but	we	are	dedicated	to	learning	what	it	means	through	an	ongoing	journey,	bothwithin	and	without	our	home	institution’	(282).LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries edited by Jess Crilly and Regina Everitt Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-05-13Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2022/05/13/book-review-narrative-expansions-interpreting-decolonisation-in-academic-libraries-edited-by-jess-crilly-and-regina-everitt/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/Narrative	Expansions	takes	the	reader	into	many	areas	of	the	library,	including	cataloguing,	classification	andautomation,	to	consider	how	and	why	there	may	be	underrepresented	voices.		Several	essays,	including	thecontribution	from	Clark	on	Goldsmiths	Library,	briefly	explore	the	idea	that	commercially	purchased	libraryautomation	systems	as	well	as	traditional	library	classification	schemes	have	racial	biases	built	into	them.	Otherauthors	within	the	library	field	have	recently	explored	the	biases	of	automated	library	systems:	for	example,	Maskedby	Trust	by	Matthew	Reidsma,	and	perhaps	the	better	known	recent	work	Algorithms	of	Oppression	by	SafiyaUmoja	Noble,	who	mentions	ArtStor,	a	library	resource	for	searching	millions	of	digital	images.	Noble	refers	in	herbook	to	searching	for	‘black	history’	in	ArtStor	and	finding	the	results	returned	were	European	and	white	Americanartists		(Algorithms	of	Oppression,	146).	In	Kevin	Wilson’s	illuminating	essay	on	decolonising	the	collection	at	LSE,he	refers	to	the	firing	of	Google	researcher,	Timnit	Gebru,	in	December	2020,	‘for	co-authoring	a	paper	on	theethics	of	artificial	intelligence	and	whether	it	reinforces	gender	bias	and	offensive	language’	(303).While	the	essays	in	Narrative	Expansions	take	on	traditional	aspects	of	the	library,	with	cataloguing	and	collectiondevelopment	quite	thoroughly	covered,	there	are	some	areas	that	a	future	volume	might	explore.	Several	authorsrefer	to	the	control	that	larger	publishers	exert	over	who	is	published,	and	how	this	can	diminish	and	marginalisevoices	that	should	be	heard.	Wilson	mentions	that	the	majority	of	university	library	budgets	is	now	going	to	thelargest	publishers,	who	are	monopolistic	in	practice	(289).What	is	left	unsaid	in	the	various	essays	is	that	libraries	can	take	an	activist	approach	to	reach	out	directly	topublishers.	Also	unmentioned	in	the	book	is	how	much	money	is	now	spent	with	these	same	monopolisticpublishers,	buying	access	to	electronic	research	tools	for	a	multiplicity	of	academic	purposes.	Many	of	theseelectronic	tools	lack	a	way	to	search	for	diverse	voices.	My	colleagues	at	Snell	Library	at	Northeastern	University	inBoston,	MA,	designed	an	assignment	for	students	to	research	and	profile	engineers	with	diverse	backgrounds	sothat	students	could	‘see	themselves’	in	STEM	fields.	They	discovered	challenges	across	the	biographical	databasesto	which	we	subscribe:	minimal	representation,	limited	usability	and	very	few	profiles	of	BIPOC	and	womenengineers.	As	a	library	group,	we	reached	out	to	many	of	the	larger	publishers	of	the	research	tools	and	hadseveral	constructive	dialogues	with	editors,	as	we	suggested	ways	to	improve	findability	in	the	tools	that	wesubscribe	to.Narrative	Expansions,	with	its	international	perspective	that	includes	authors	from	Africa,	the	US	and	IndigenousMétis	librarians	from	Canada	among	others,	is	a	brilliant	effort	to	unite	the	thinking	behind	the	movements	todecolonise	the	curriculum.	It	illustrates	the	dynamic	and	continuous	efforts	that	academic	libraries	and	archives	areundertaking	worldwide	to	interpret	decolonisation	for	their	own	situations	and	contexts.Note:	This	review	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	and	not	the	position	of	the	LSE	Review	of	Books	blog,	or	of	theLondon	School	of	Economics	and	Political	Science.	LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries edited by Jess Crilly and Regina Everitt Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-05-13Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2022/05/13/book-review-narrative-expansions-interpreting-decolonisation-in-academic-libraries-edited-by-jess-crilly-and-regina-everitt/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/

Book review: Narrative expansions: interpreting decolonisation in academic libraries edited by Jess Crilly and Regina Everitt

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Book review: Narrative expansions: interpreting decolonisation in academic libraries edited by Jess Crilly and Regina Everitt

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