CIERA'S INFO 287 BLOG

While reading the 2021 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report on Teaching & Learning, the mandate for Open Education Resources, or OER, caught my attention as a cutting edge library (esp. academic) development to implement unrestricted access to free resources, with the potential to improve equity and increase knowledge sharing across disciplines (Educause, 2021, p25-26). I have been loosely familiar with the concept OER, having previously had a housemate who was an OER librarian at a community college, but my research for this module truly cemented an excitement for the possibilities OER offer to move beyond commodified knowledge and copywriter/publisher gatekeeping. The concept of ‘open’ education resonates with me as a value we should be working towards in academic libraries; we should be disentangling public institutions from profit seeking corporations. I realize this is nearly impossible with the monopoly-like stronghold of journals like Elsevier and textbook publishers like McGraw Hill and the limitations of open licensing/copyright, BUT I think it is worthy to work towards as librarians and students.

What is OER?
According to David Wiley, PhD and Creative Commons Education Fellow, Open Educational Resources describe:

“copyrightable work (traditionally excluding software that is either (1) in the public domain or (2) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:

1. 1. Retain: make, own, and control a copy of the resource (e.g., download and keep your own copy)
   2. Revise: edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource (e.g., translate into another language)
   3. Remix: combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new (e.g., make a mashup)
   4. Reuse: use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly (e.g., on a website, in a presentation, in a class)
   5. Redistribute: share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others (e.g., post a copy online or give one to a friend)

OER relate to digital works and online licensing access. Creative Commons is the most popular ‘open’ access licensing for OER collections, but there are other methods as well (to be honest, I was pretty overwhelmed reading over some of the legal jargon about licensing, but I am very curious to decipher the laws outside of this short blog context!). With the permission of free use and 5R activities in perpetuity, OER have powerful potential to increase access to tools and information globally, decrease fees and debt for students, support greater inclusion for people with disabilities, and improve digital teaching and learning curricula (UNESCO, 2022). Universities, like College of the Canyons in Southern California, have created OER databases for students to access textbooks free of cost, while other websites make OER collections accessible to anyone. Open Textbook Library and OER Commons are two digital libraries that pull from OER collections. What makes these digital libraries different from a typical public library the 5Rs; patrons own and can remix, reuse, revise and redistribute the items they procure (with proper attribution)! I see these sites as essential resources to work alongside public libraries in a common mission to serve a diversity of patron needs.

OER and SJSU…

In my personal experience as a student during my undergraduate degree, I was overwhelmed by the cost of textbooks and reading materials and never realized that there was a movement like OER. I grew up using free and accessible education tools like Khan Academy and Quora to supplement my learning, but was unfortunately still saddled with thousands of dollars worth of textbook and reader costs in my undergraduate years. Now as a graduate student, I have avoided spending money on textbooks where I can. I receive 5+ emails per month from the SJSU Campus Bookstore encouraging me to buy “discounted” digital tools, equipment, or books that are still very expensive. SJSU itself estimates that students spend upwards of $2,000+ on textbooks during a single academic year (the average in 2021-22 was $1,948); there does not seem to be a systematic effort to publicize free solutions (SJSU MLK, Jr. Library). Is this because the university is creating a profit off of the textbooks? Or a lack of resources to build and publicize a comprehensive OER database?

In my research for this blog, I was surprised to see that there is an Affordable Learning Solutions webpage and an OER LibGuide on San Jose State University’s MLK, Jr. Library website. It is nice to see that this page exists, but unfortunately there appear to be very few free options for textbooks, from my research on the iSchool page. I wish there was an iSchool student group in support of OER for all! Anyone interested in joining?

College of the Canyons. (N.d.). OER and zero textbook cost.  https://www.canyons.edu/academics/onlineeducation/ztc/

EDUCAUSE. (N.d). Open educational resources (OER). https://library.educause.edu/topics/teaching-and-learning/open-educational-resources-oer

EDUCAUSE. (2021). 2021 EDUCAUSE horizon report: teaching and learning edition. https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2021/4/2021hrteachinglearning.pdf?la=en&hash=C9DEC12398593F297CC634409DFF4B8C5A60B36E#page25

OER Commons. (n.d.). https://oercommons.org/

Open Textbook Library. (N.d). https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/books

SJSU Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. (N.d). Affordable Learning Solutions. https://libguides.sjsu.edu/c.php?g=230269&p=1528016

UNESCO. (2022). The 2019 UNESCO recommendations on open education resources (OER). https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000383205.locale=en

Wiley, D. (N.d.). Defining the “open” in open content and open educational resources. Open content. [Blog]. https://opencontent.org/definition

I chose to focus on international hyperlinked library environments, and I was left thinking about both physical and digital environments that capture, preserve, and materialize the intangibility, quantitative impacts of libraries as safe, nurturing learning places. This blog shares two very different examples in Denmark and Palestine where I see communities coming together digitally and in person to cultivate caring library environments.

Since Israel’s siege on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli bombs and missiles have destroyed 13 public libraries, 60% of educational infrastructure, and killed countless library and university workers, educators, and students (OHCR, 2024). In addition to the genocide inflicted on the people of Gaza, Israel is also undertaking what academics and human rights officials call “Scholasticide,” an intentional and systematic effort to destroy a people’s education system (OHCHR, 2024). The public information systems in Gaza have been completely razed, and with them precious archives, books, and public histories. As author Laila Houssein Moustafa states, related to the destruction of libraries in Gaza being more than just about the destruction of books: “Libraries are cultural repositories. They hold collective memory, preserve cultural heritage, showcase societal development and afford individuals the opportunity for learning and growth” (Moustafa, 2023). Libraries also historically played a significant role as public safe havens, like hospitals, from Israeli drones and missiles.

Amazingly, there are organizations and people internationally who are continuing the life of libraries through digital platforms and through protest. Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP) is an international network of librarians, archivists, and information workers who are in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and work with partners in Palestine to ensure access to and safe keep library and information resources. In the current genocide/scholastacide taking place in Gaza, LAP has published reports on the state of destruction of libraries, universities, and cultural institutions, and grieved the tragic deaths of workers, students, educators, and patrons (LAB, 2024). They are also taking actions and an international reading campaign called “One Book, Many Communities” that seeks to introduce people to Palestinian literature, history, and fight for liberation (LAP). LAP is one of many examples of how we can connect digitally and act internationally around the horrific loss of life and libraries in Palestine. Those who are conducting this activism and stewardship are showing radical care for the memory of destroyed libraries and for the rich cultural and digital information base that Gazans and Palestinians continue to celebrate despite efforts of erasure.

In the module readings about international library environments, I was struck by the Impact Compass guide as an exciting, multi-purpose tool and methodology. I appreciate its effort to materially understand cultural production and impact in libraries through the 4 dimensions of haven (emotional impact), perspective (intellectual impact), creativity (creative impact) and community (social impact) (Seismonaut and Roskilde Central Library, 2021). Each of these dimensions allows librarians or researchers to investigate these less tangible impacts of a library environment and programs outside of metrics of attendance. It seems like conducting an evaluation or extended conversation using the Impact Compass can articulate the inherent value of libraries for users and break the narrative that libraries are just storage for books. I think that this value is only proved stronger by the context of Gaza’s libraries.

References

Librarians and archivists with Palestine. https://librarianswithpalestine.org

Librarians and archivists with Palestine. (2024, February). Israeli damage to archives, libraries, and museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024: a preliminary report from librarians and archivists with Palestine. https://librarianswithpalestine.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LAP-Gaza-Report-2024.pdf

Moustafa, L. H.. (2023, December 12). Opinion: When libraries like Gaza’s are destroyed, what’s lost is far more than books. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-12/gaza-library-bombing

OHCHR. (2024,18 April). UN experts deeply concerned over ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza [Press release]. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/un-experts-deeply-concerned-over-scholasticide-gaza#:~:text=At%20least%2060%20per%20cent,have%20no%20access%20to%20education.

Seismonaut and Roskilde Central Library. (2021). A guide to the Impact Compass. The impact of libraries in Denmark: a haven in our community. https://www.roskildebib.dk/sites/roskilde.ddbcms.dk/files/files/news/en_brugsguide_06.05.21_0.pdf

The readings for this week’s Hyperlinked Community’s module reminded me that librarians don’t need to be experts on all content or resources we offer, but rather we need to be experts in drawing out the needs and interests of our customers and finding answers, details, and opportunities together. In reflection, I think that a hyperlinked library emphasizes networks of connections across library institutions and communities, internet, organizations; it allows each stakeholder to bring expertise and contribute to dynamic opportunities. In Asking the Right Questions, Aaron Schmidt reminds us of librarian’s responsibility to interpret customers’ interests into library services, not expect customers to reinvent libraries themselves (2016). I loved his example questions to pose to patrons instead of a generic request for feedback: 

* What did you do this weekend?

* What is a hobby you wish you had more time for?

* Where do you like to travel? (Schmidt, 2016)

These questions really get to the heart of it for me. Libraries should respond to the context of our community and their needs/interests and librarians are responsible for providing channels of information about that context. Jean Fairbairn’s post “How a Modern Library Keeps Mothers Healthy in Rural Ghana” was such a powerful example of this. Maternal mortality issues are the contextual pressing issues, and the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (PLIP) in Ghana responded to this need for information by providing text alerts, videos, and supportive health reminders. The librarians themselves didn’t have to be experts in maternal health, but they were able to bring together community experts, tech experts, and mothers/prospective mothers to create a new information network (Fairbairn, 2013). 

I’m realizing that understanding community contexts – social, emotional, political, and economic – through the eyes of our users (and our own!) experience is one of the most important mandates a librarian has. And we can’t do this alone! We need to call to action community members & partners, organizers, organizations, and service providers to create this. 

The app and public history project, Urban Archive, is a fun example of an information network of libraries, museums, and family archives, that invites members of the public to engage with local history and contribute questions and personal ephemera. Urban Archive is a private company that provides a free, curated app program where libraries can make public their archives.

Archival content on Ebbets Field from Urban Archive NYC

I found my old address in NYC and found a rich list of digital media, interviews, and ephemera from NYPL and the NY Historical Society about Ebbets Field, Brooklyn Dogers’ Stadium, which was located there before my apartment complex. This discovery enriches my contextual experience of NYC and responds to my interest in public history!

 

References

Fairbairn, J. (2013). How a modern library keeps mothers healthy in Rural Ghana. Eifl. https://www.eifl.net/blogs/how-modern-library-keeps-mothers-healthy-rural-ghana

Schmidt, A. (2016, May 1). Asking the right questions. Library Journal, 141(8), 22. https://link-gale-com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/apps/doc/A450998802/AONE?u=csusj&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=b7dabb9d

Ebbets Field. Urban Archive. https://www.urbanarchive.org/sites/T71wqt68Cd6

I enjoyed the opportunity in this course to learn about participatory libraries and service, both in theory and action! Matthews, Metko, and Tomlin’s article, “Empowerment, Experimentation, Engagement: Embracing Partnership Models in Libraries,” brought to light a point about participatory relationships that is key to my interest in public librarianship. They asked, “What relationship do we want learners to have with their library? One that is grounded in dynamic, interdependent partnerships” (Matthews, etal., 2018). The term interdependence resonates with the goal of hyperlinked libraries and the framework that librarians should approach change and participation in a Library 2.0 model that pushes beyond a checkbox for public comments (Casey, 2011). We depend on one another to learn, grow, and connect, and we are all better for building an interconnected community of information seekers, digitally and in-person. In a hyperlinked library model, I see librarians as part of this interdependence; we have as much to learn from our customers as they do from us – there is no hierarchy of expertise! Michael Stephens speaks to this theme powerfully in The Heart of Librarianship in his insistence that true participation of customers “requires engaged participants who feel welcome, comfortable, and valued,” or, as Serhan Ada states, a guest becomes a host (Stephens, 2016, p.81). I am very pulled to this question of how library customers can become library experts, library hosts, or library leaders. How can participatory libraries and services ignite ownership and curiosity among all library users?

I investigated this concept further, guided by the themes of interdependence and library users as hosts, and delved into readings about popular education and critical information services. 

Popular education is commonly implemented in South American movements led by marginalized peoples, Paulo Freire being the most well known scholar (What is popular education?). I also found that the method is commonly implemented in Scandinavia. These approaches politicize learning and teaching by acknowledging that they are always mediated by power dynamics between class, race, and other identities (Tewell, 2016). Popular education as a method breaks down the distinction or hierarchy between learner and teacher so that all participants hold equal expertise based on their situated knowledge of a given topic, which rings similar to Matthew, etal’s statement of interdependence and Ada’s statement to transform customers to hosts (What is popular education?). However, popular education tends to be implemented outside of educational institutions, commonly utilized by community organizers, social justice groups or self-organized study groups/DIY spaces. 

From Barbara Fister, “critical information literacy asks librarians to work with their patrons and communities to co-investigate the political, social, and economic dimensions of information, including its creation, access, and use. This approach to information literacy seeks to involve learners in better understanding systems of oppression while also identifying opportunities to take action upon them” (Tewell, 2016).

This approach to librarianship recognizes and interrogates the power structures underpinning information services and literacy practices to work towards a more just system that serves all people (Tewell, 2016). Libraries are not neutral institutions that deposit information into users. Patrons are producing knowledge themselves and “co-investigating” with librarians. 

Can popular education and critical information literacy be implemented in public libraries? Researcher Lisa Dahlquist is a proponent of popular education in Swedish libraries and discusses how it promotes a library’s role to support a democratic society that invites universal participation, reflection, and dialogue (p.10). She argues that popular education approaches will only support the complex identities and diversity of needs that libraries must hold and adapt to in a changing, increasingly digital world. Dahlquist shares the example of Agora, a “creative meeting place,” which includes a library, cafe, stage, media center, and more. Visitors may organize their own public classes or study groups to share in community with others; in short, the programming and educational approach invites patrons to produce knowledge together, which holds potential for popular education (About Agora). This creativity center is similar to The Mix teen space in San Francisco Public Library (O’Brien, 2019).

Rachel Hall emphasizes the need for critical information literacy in public libraries. Though letting go of the idea that libraries are politically neutral may be difficult for some, there are many benefits to shaping library programming and services based on the pressing, even controversial issues a community faces and actively recruiting the public in conversations about how to make meaningful change (Hall, 2010, p.168).  

These approaches politicize participatory librarianship and strive to ignite library programs and services towards social justice in and out of the institution. I have just brushed the surface (and run up to the word count) on these topics, and I really look forward to learning and hearing from others!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

About Agora. Agora. Retrieved 17 February 2024. https://www.linkoping.se/agora/om-agora/

Avery, H. (2017). Teacher and librarian partnerships in literacy education in the 21st century. BRILL. ch. 4, 45 -61. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sjsu/reader.action?docID=4822881&ppg=53

Casey, M. (2011). Revisiting Participatory Service in Trying Times – a TTW Guest Post by Michael Casey. Tame The Web. https://tametheweb.com/2011/10/20/revisiting-participatory-service-in-trying-times-a-ttw-guest-post-by-michael-casey/

Fister, Barbara. “Practicing freedom in the digital library.” Library Journal, 26 August 2013. Available at: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/08/future-of-libraries/practicing-freedom-in-the-digital-library-reinventing-libraries/ (retrieved 12 February 2024).

Hall, R. (2010). Public Praxis: A Vision for Critical Information Literacy in Public Libraries. Public Library Quarterly (New York, N.Y.), 29(2), 162–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616841003776383

Matthews, B., Metko, S., & Tomlin, P. (2018). Empowerment, Experimentation, Engagement: Embracing Partnership Models in Libraries. EduCause Review. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/5/empowerment-experimentation-engagement-embracing-partnership-models-in-libraries

O’Brien, C. (2019). How San Francisco’s public libraries are embracing their changing role. Shareable. https://www.shareable.net/how-san-francisco-public-libraries-are-embracing-their-changing-role/

Pihl, J., van der Kooij, K. S., & Carlsten, T. C. (Eds.). (2017). Teacher and librarian partnerships in literacy education in the 21st century (1st ed. 2017.). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-899-0

Stephens, M. T. (2016). The heart of librarianship : attentive, positive, and purposeful change. ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association.

Tewell, E. (2015). A Decade of Critical Information Literacy: A Review of the Literature. Communications in Information Literacy, 9 (1), 24-43. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2015.9.1.174

Freire Institute. Retrieved 17 February 2024.  https://freire.org/home

What is popular education? Teaching Democracy. Retrieved 16 February 2024. https://teachingdemocracyblog.wordpress.com/aboutwhat-is-popular-education/