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Abstract
Law librarians are leaders and changemakers, even if our contributions are sometimes quieter and less visible than those of other law-school faculty and administrators. We are also experts in presenting information in an easy-to-understand way. Making information accessible is so fundamental to our profession that “save the time of the reader” is one of Ranganathan’s laws. This article is about how one group of (mostly) law librarians created a practical resource for law professors on how to re-think the standard US first-year law school curriculum to be more inclusive of elements of diversity, social justice, inclusion, and equity. Drawing on the experiences of the editors, this article will show how law librarians can be, and are, important partners within the law school community for DEI work.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Margaret Paccione, Eugene T. Dyszlewski, Jonas Crofter, Suzy Harrington-Steppen, Raquel Gabriel, Genevieve B. Tung, Anna Russell, Louis Rosen, Stefanie Pearlman, Diana Hassel, Colleen Brown, and Monica Teixeira de Sousa.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 While it may be bad form to start an article by considering stereotypes, that is indeed where this one will begin.
2 Katy Shaw, Buns on the Run: Changing the Stereotype of the Female Librarian, The Silverfish (Oct. 2003), http://students.washington.edu/aliss/silverfish/archive/Oct2003/shaw.htm.
3 The Digital Edge, The Wizardry of Law Librarians (Sept. 26, 2018, 5:54 PM), https://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/digital-edge/2018/09/the-wizardry-of-law-librarians/.
4 Michael Milad, Female Leadership: Overcoming Stereotypes About Choosing The Best Leader, Forbes (Jan. 26, 2021), www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/01/26/female-leadership-overcoming-stereotypes-about-choosing-the-best-leader/?sh=48bc46d01ccb.
5 Barbara Fister, Retrenched: Layoffs at St. Cloud State and the Invisibility of Library Labor. Inside Higher Ed (Sept. 18, 2019), www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/retrenched.
6 Lars Christiansen, Mindy Stombler & Lyn Thaxton, A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations from a Sociological Perspective, 30 J. Academic Librarianship 116 (2004).
7 See Larry R. Oberg, Mary Kay Schleiter & Michael Van Houten, Faculty Perceptions of Librarians at Albion College: Status, Role, Contribution and Contacts. College & Research Libraries, 215–30 (1989); Gaby Divay, Ada M. Ducas & Nicole Michaud-Oystryk, Faculty Perceptions of Librarians at the University of Manitoba, College & Research Libraries, 27–35 (1987).
8 G. Edward White, Law Librarians, 11 Green Bag 2d 81, 96 (2007), www.greenbag.org/v11n1/v11n1_white.pdf.
9 Barbara L. Mackoff, Define Leader: The Definition and Development of Law Librarians as Leaders, 101 Law Libr. J. 471 (2009).
10 Id.
11 Id. at 474.
12 Fritz Swanson, Whither the Law Librarian?, The Law Quadrangle (2011), www.law.umich.edu/quadrangle/spring2011/specialfeatures/Pages/WhithertheLawLibrarian.aspx.
13 Beyond the competencies, guidelines, framework, and standards discussed in this part, readers may also be interested in WebJunction, Competency Index for the Library Field (2004), www.webjunction.org/content/dam/WebJunction/Documents/webJunction/Competency%20Index%20for%20Library%20Field.pdf.
14 See Infra Section III for a description of these competencies within the context of DEIB work in legal education.
15 Paul J. McLaughlin, Advocating for the Law Librarian Profession, in Introduction to Law Librarianship, (Zanada Joyner & Cas Laskowski eds., 2021) (ebook), https://pressbooks.pub/lawlibrarianship/chapter/advocating-for-the-law-librarian-profession/ (citations omitted).
16 American Library Association, ALA’s Core Competences of Librarianship (2009), www.ala.org/educationcareers/sites/ala.org.educationcareers/files/content/careers/corecomp/corecompetences/finalcorecompstat09.pdf.
17 American Association of Law Libraries, AALL Guidelines for Graduate Programs in Law Librarianship (1988), www.aallnet.org/bok_profleadership/aall-guidelines-for-graduate-programs-in-law-librarianship/.
18 Association of College and Research Libraries, Standards for Libraries in Higher Education (2018), www.ala.org/acrl/standards/standardslibraries.
19 These standards were recently rescinded by the ACRL Board of Directors in June 2022 upon the approval of the joint ALA/ARL Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity: A Framework.
20 Association of College and Research Libraries, Diversity Standards: Cultural Competency for Academic Libraries (2012), www.ala.org/acrl/standards/diversity.
21 American Libraries Association, Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity: A Framework (2022), www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/diversity/ALA%20ARL%20Cultural%20Proficiencies%20for%20Racial%20Equity%20Framework.pdf.
22 Id.
23 Special Libraries Association, Competencies for Information Professionals (2016), www.sla.org/about-sla/competencies/.
24 Clara M. Chu et al., IFLA Guidelines for Professional Library and Information Science (LIS) Education Programmes (2022), https://repository.ifla.org/bitstream/123456789/1987/2/LIS%20Guidelines%202022.pdf.
25 Id. at 6.
26 Id. at 7–8.
27 Id. at 7.
28 There are other references to DEIB skills in these guidelines. For example, see FKA7: Information Needs and User Services, in Chu et al., supra note 25, at 9.
29 Mitchell Hamline School of Law Faculty, Resolution (Feb 17, 2021), /www.aals.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mitchell-Hamline_antiracist-law-school-resolution.pdf.
30 University of Utah S .J. Quinney College of Law, Diversity and Antiracism Plan (Jan. 17, 2021), https://law.utah.edu/news/college-of-law-unveils-new-diversity-and-antiracism-plan/.
31 Rebecca Beyer, BU Law Faculty Issue Statement in Support of Black Lives, The Record (Oct. 15, 2020), www.bu.edu/law/record/articles/2020/bu-law-faculty-issue-statement-in-support-of-black-lives/.
32 University of Illinois Chicago John Marshall Law School Faculty, UIC Law Faculty Pledge Denouncing Racism (June 22, 2020), www.aals.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UIC-John-Marshall-Law-School-Faculty-Resolutions.pdf.
33 The Faculty of Rutgers Law School, Statement (June. 21, 2020)), https://law.rutgers.edu/rutgers-law-school-faculty-resolution-black-lives-matter-and-commitment-anti-racist-principles-action.
34 Belinda Dantley & Lisa Sonia Taylor, The Bottom Line: Law Schools Need to Get Serious About the Work of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, (2021), https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=fasch_rpt.
35 Id.
36 Id.
37 Harrison W. Inefuku & Charlotte Roh, Agents of Diversity and Social Justice: Librarians and Scholarly Communication, in Open Access and the Future of Scholarly Communication: Policy and Infrastructure (Kevin L. Smith & Katherine A. Dickson eds.,) at 116.
38 critlib, about/join the discussion, http://critlib.org/about/.
39 Amelia N. Gibson et al., Libraries on the Frontlines: Neutrality and Social Justice (2017),
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=letfspubs.
40 For examples of law libraries and law librarians involved with social justice projects, see Isabella Romero Stefanoni, Books to Prisons: The Law School Library’s New Social Justice Program, Yale Daily News, https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/03/16/books-to-prisons-the-law-school-librarys-new-social-justice-program/; Diane M. Rodriguez, Putting a Spotlight on Civics Education: How Law Librarians Are Helping to Bridge the Access to Justice Gap, Human Rights Magazine, Jan. 4, 2022, www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-state-of-civic-education-in-america/putting-a-spotlight-on-civics-education/.
42 Naomi Schaefer Riley, Why Quiet-Loving Librarians Can’t Shut Up About Politics, New York Post, Dec. 11, 2016, https://nypost.com/2016/12/11/libraries-are-suddenly-a-hotbed-of-political-activism/.
43 Portland Research Group, Maine State Library, Bruce M. Lockwood & James Ritter, Maine State Library: Trusted Professionals Survey (Aug. 2016), Library Documents, Paper 101, https://digitalmaine.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1100&context=msl_docs.
44 As described in at least one article, “For individuals in an organization to embrace the concept of diversity, a level of trust needs to be established.” See Charlita Shelton, Building Trust Across Diversity, Mar. 18, 2011, https://diversityjournal.com/1461-building-trust-across-diversity/.
45 I have chosen to use the phrase "minoritized students" instead of "minority students." I intend a broad use of this term and am aware that any one phrase can be problematic, offensive, overinclusive, and underinclusive. I intend minoritized students to mean students underprivileged or underrepresented in American legal spaces due to race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, spirituality, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, abilities, age, socioeconomic status, military status, domicile, life experiences, viewpoints, and philosophy.
46 At this point in my career, I was the Head of Reference, Instruction & Engagement at the RWU Law Library. I taught research skills in a variety of classes, worked closely with student groups, worked closely with law review, worked closely with moot court, and spent a lot of time at the reference desk meeting with students.
47 I am mostly speaking about doctrinal and not experiential faculty.
48 In fairness, I was skeptical of faculty resistance. I talk about this in more detail in Nicole P. Dyszlewski, Integrating Diversity into the 1L Curriculum, One Librarian at a Time, 25 U.C. Davis Soc. Just. L. REV. 64, 67 (2021).
49 Gretchen Keer & Andrew Carlos, The Stereotype Stereotype: Our Obsession with Librarian Representation, in The Librarian Stereotype: Deconstructing Perceptions and Presentations of Information Work (Nicole Pagowsky & Miriam Rigby eds., 2014).
50 While the Federal Judiciary’s 2020 Strategic Plan includes DEIB, the 9th Circuit is the only circuit which has a dedicated DEIB officer. For more information about DEIB and the 9th Circuit, see DEI: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, www.ca9.uscourts.gov/workplace/dei/.
51 Chrissy Holman, Professor & Law Library Director Raquel Gabriel on the Importance of Legal Research and Inclusive Pedagogy(Sept. 2, 2021), www.law.cuny.edu/newsroom_post/professor-law-library-director-raquel-gabriel-on-the-importance-of-legal-research-and-inclusive-pedagogy/.
52 American Bar Association, Standard 303, 2022–2023 Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools (2022), www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar/standards/2022-2023/22-23-standard-ch3.pdf.
53 Recordings can be found at Roger Williams University School of Law, Integrating Doctrine and Diversity, https://law.rwu.edu/student-experience/diversity-and-outreach/integrating-doctrine-diversity.
54 Supra note 18.
55 Supra note 19.
56 Email from Genevieve Tung to Nicole P. Dyszlewski (Feb. 15, 2023, 09:40 AM EST) (on file with author).
57 Supra at note 25.
58 Supra at note 23.
59 Email from Suzy Harrington-Steppen to Nicole P. Dyszlewski (Feb. 16, 2023, 12:10 PM EST) (on file with author).
60 Email from Louis Rosen to Nicole P. Dyszlewski (Feb. 20, 2023, 2:59 PM EST) (on file with author).
61 Id.
62 Email from Stefanie Pearlman to Nicole P. Dyszlewski (Feb. 22, 2023, 5:17 PM CST) (on file with author).
63 Id.