Where It’s At

Social Justice in the Canadian MLIS Landscape

Abstract

Did you learn about social justice in your Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program? With libraries facing issues such as a boom in book challenges, controversial event bookings, decolonization, increasing securitization and policing in libraries, budget cuts, data surveillance, serving as shelters, helping with overdose prevention, and more, questions around social justice issues are unavoidable in libraries these days. Are students learning what they need to know to work in the complex arena of libraries?

In this article, I examine program and course information using content analysis methods to answer questions about whether, where, what, and to what extent students are learning about social justice in the 8 ALA-accredited Canadian MLIS programs. What kinds of social justice topics are taught in MLIS courses? Are there courses explicitly focused on topics of social justice? What other courses look at these kinds of issues? Are these topics being addressed widely across the curricula? Are students required to engage with these topics?  My work then considers relevant literature to discuss the importance of social justice in MLIS education, as it is essential to prepare students to think critically about and take action on social justice issues in their future library work.