DLIS Symposium 7: From the Classroom to the Community: Social Justice in Library & Information Science

April 18, 2015 – Professors, students, and field professionals gathered on a warm Saturday afternoon at the St. John’s University Queens Campus for an enlightening series of presentations on the issue of social justice in librarianship. A blend of professional talks and student presentations, Symposium 7 offered attendees a wide array of viewpoints on issues facing information professionals today, including digital representation of cultural heritage objects, library services to the incarcerated, the benefits of professional organizations to students and recent graduates, and revolutionizing library service to communities. Professional speakers included author and DLIS alumnae Marybeth Zeman and Michael Edison of the Smithsonian Institution, Open Knowledge Foundation, Council on Library and Information Resources.

DLIS Spring Symposium 2015 Photo Gallery

View images of the day’s event below:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Symposium 7: Event Themes in Presentations

The theme prevalent in the day’s professional talks was social justice. In each presentation, both Marybeth Zeman and Michael Edison spoke about the dire need for professionals to serve communities, particularly the underserved and misrepresented. From the traditionalist approach to library services in prisons to the future of technological services, each presenter was adamantly persistent that those in the audience provide the best library and information services possible, in light of circumstance.

To the Community & Beyond: DLIS Fall Symposium 2014

The 6^th DLIS Symposium, Fall 2014 emphasizing service to the community, met the expectations and beyond of event organizers and attendees. Maintaining the theme of community, the event was organized in such a way that all attendees had an opportunity to listen and learn from each of the day’s presenters. A day for communal appreciation of the lifelong commitment to learning, those in attendance were treated to guest panels, guest speakers and a student-led ignite session as well as continental breakfast and lunch buffets.

View below candid shots of the day’s events:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

To the Community & Beyond: New Media & Evolving Services in Libraries

Guest presenters at this fall’s DLIS Symposium made a point to broaden the scope of community, highlighting the usefulness, resourcefulness and inherent value of community members to all libraries. The first panel discussion of public librarians focused on connecting communities through training collaboration and service. Speaking first in turns and then together as a group, these librarians could not emphasize enough the means with which the library is a foundation of civic engagement within the community.

To the Community & Beyond: Connecting the National Public

From a Pacific Northwest public library to a New England collegiate archive center, useful knowledge and information is collected, preserved and used to promote scholarly communications and facilitate learning. The interconnectedness of the world today allows these seemingly different information institutions to share information resources through the Digital Public Library of America (DP.LA).

Fall Symposium guest speaker Kathryn Shaughnessy, Associate Professor of St. John’s University Libraries, introduced attendees to the notion of “public in the broadest sense” with an informative session on how every librarian can use and contribute to the DP.LA project.

To the Community & Beyond: The Community is the Collection

Keynote Speaker, R. David Lankes

Librarianship and the overall field of library and information science are in a current state of transition. The development of the role of the ‘new librarian’ is highly dependent on our recognition of the dynamic changes in the field in relation to the collections we maintain to provide service to the community.   The evolution of the collection in the last fifty years is dramatically different from that of the classical library. Today, we must alter not only our collections but also our mindset about the professional services libraries and librarians offer to maintain the high level of professionalism expected of us.

Spring Symposium 2014: Keynote Address

Guest speaker Ann Thorton opened the 2014 Spring Symposium with her address, “Engaged Librarianship.” Thorton’s speech, inspired by an August 2013 report ‘New Roles for New Times’ addressed the ways in which the New York Public Library system is adopting the best practices to become involved with and help meet the information needs of New York City Library Patrons.

Spring Symposium 2014: Connecting Research to Practice

Moderator Dr. Kevin Rioux introduced the two guest speakers for this information session: Associate Professor and Outreach librarians at St. John’s University, Caroline Fuchs and Adjunct Reference Librarian at Adelphi University, Robert Weiss to speak with the audience about connecting research to practice.

Caroline Fuchs, with the aid of DLIS student Lisa Brigandi, presented a lesson from the field: Library Services for Student Veterans. Currently, St. John’s University is recognized as a Yellow Ribbon School, or a school with ample programs, support and facilities for student veterans. Fuchs described student vets as an isolated group of students that do not always adjust well to a university atmosphere.

Spring Symposium 2014: Digital Humanities

Dr. Christine Angel briefly introduced her students that have been working with the Academic Service Learning component of this degree program since its inception a few years ago. She explains that these projects have the potential to become full-time paid positions for these students upon graduation from this program.

A panel of four DLIS students sat before an audience to speak about their involvement with current academic service learning projects.