I am a Master's student in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama. I have created this Social Justice ePortfolio (SJ-eP) as part of my work for CIS 668 (Social Justice and Inclusion Advocacy) course during fall 2023. In my SJ-ep I propose social justice actions based on analysis of existing communication and information responses to the Immigrant population in the Clifton Public Library located in Clifton, NJ.
I also propose and implement very select responsive strategies and actions plan (as relevant) to further community needs, expectations, and representation in the specific setting and workforce environment of the communication agency or information organization to identify future directions of progressive growth and professional practice. The SJ-eP provides a glimpse of social justice actions proposed and/ or taken through application of select systematic methods. It documents this process upon reflection of the limited experience to gather insights that can get operationalized in greater depth during future initiatives.
Who am I? My Role and Interest
I have worked in public libraries for 16 years, I received my Bachelors degree in Justice Studies with a minor in Criminal Justice. I have always carried that with me in my journey with public libraries. Libraries today look very different than they did in the past. Social Justice places a bigger role in libraries, I would say a vital role. "Libraries have long served vital roles in ensuring access and equity in their communities. Long-standing library activities such as job-seeking assistance, literacy courses, children’s story time, and computer classes are, in fact, social service activities designed to promote social inclusion and social equity" (Jaegar, 2). In my city we have seen an uptick in people coming from other countries and the library has been there first stop. With this project I hope to bring more awareness to this population and help in any way that I can.
Sources
Jaeger, P. T., Shilton, K., & Koepfler, J. (2016). The Rise of Social Justice as a Guiding Principle in Library and Information Science Research. The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 86(1), 1–9. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26561645
*ALL TEXT IN BLUE ARE HYPERLINKS