In Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction, Maria Accardi discusses the importance of feminist pedagogy, the ways that it can be applied to library instruction, and the lasting positive impact it has on students. Attempting to define feminist pedagogy, Accardi writes, “Feminist pedagogy is broadly concerned with social justice and sees education as a site for social change and transformation, exposing and ending oppression against women and all other kinds of marginalization: racism, xenophobia, classism, ableism, and so on.”3 When implemented, the library is transformed into a place where these difficult conversations can take place. By touching on these kinds of topics in the classroom, students are able to reflect individually as well as collaboratively, creating a communal environment where they can actively engage with topics and begin to think critically.4 Fostering a community of this kind means that students not only begin to feel comfortable speaking about their own experiences and thoughts but begin to become aware of what is going on around them. In “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” Audre Lorde extensively discusses the importance of community and argues, “community must not mean a shedding of our difference, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.”5 By having the opportunity to talk about and listen to different experiences, students gain different perspectives about the topics discussed. They are better prepared to not only analyze their position within academia and society but that of others who do not share the same experiences as them. Often feeling invisible within higher education as they may not immediately relate to their peers, especially if they belong to a marginalized population, a communal environment presents students with the opportunity to make themselves visible to those in the classroom.
Practicing feminist pedagogy in the library classroom is argued to be easier said than done by some as challenges can arise. Accardi notes, “these challenges include students not recognizing feminist teaching as actual teaching, because the teacher does not assert ultimate authority.”6 While this might be true, librarians practicing feminist pedagogy must remember that students are accustomed to the banking method of learning. Accardi adds, “ banking methods of teaching and learning involve teaching strategies such as lectures, where learners passively take in knowledge and regurgitate it without processing it or contributing their own knowledge or perspective.”7 Students failing to engage with a library instruction session based on feminist pedagogy can be expected to react disapprovingly as they have been accustomed to taking in information and not necessarily engaging with it. Being in a classroom where students find themselves having to think on their own and drawing on personal experiences can be unusual at first but in the end, is a transformative and rewarding experience for students as they begin to realize that they already possess valuable knowledge and experiences.
Practicing feminist pedagogy in the library classroom ultimately means that students are participating in the production of knowledge.8 To do so, librarians must flip the classroom and create an environment where questions are posed and collaboration is taking place through engaging activities that encourage students to work together, voice their ideas, and even demonstrate learned hands on skills to the class. This can be done so at various parts of a library instruction session by asking which boolean operators generated the most results, for example, or asking what alternative keywords were brainstormed to enter into a database. This does not mean that librarians must remove all of their original instruction content or create entirely new content. Instead, librarians should be rethinking the ways that they can make their instruction sessions more interactive and participatory by shaping what they already have and building on it. This way, students are more engaged and can begin to see themselves as capable researchers with the capacity to analyze and create information.
Library instruction, provided with a feminist pedagogical approach, is capable of transforming the lives of students. Believed to be most impactful early on in higher education, Ladenson argues, “working with first-year students is especially critical, as such students need to develop their skills early on in order to have success during their college years and beyond.”9 By providing library instruction with a feminist pedagogical approach, students are not only encouraged to think critically but to examine their position in academia and society. Providing library instruction to first year students in this way exposes them early on to not only structural inequality, oppression, and marginalization, but makes them personally engage with the experiences of other students. This helps humanize research, making it approachable, less intimidating, and a tool for self expression and social change. This is both empowering and reassuring to students as they are able navigate higher education knowing that their unique experiences matter and that they have the tools to create a society where they are no longer invisible.
1 Maria Accardi, Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction (Sacramento: Library Juice Press, 2013), 26.
2 “about/join the discussion,” critlib, accessed February 13, 2020, http://critlib.org/about/.
3 Accardi, Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction, 28.
4 Sharon Ladenson, “Paradigm Shift: Utilizing Critical Feminist Pedagogy in Library Instruction,” in Critical
Library Instruction: Theories and Methods (Duluth: Library Juice Press, 2009), 107.
5 Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” in Sister Outsider: Essays and
Speeches by Audre Lorde (Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press, 1984), 112.
6 Accardi, Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction, 31.
7 Accardi, Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction, 32.
8 Ladenson, “Paradigm Shift,” 106.
9 Ladenson, “Paradigm Shift,” 108.
Accardi, Maria. Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction. Sacramento: Library Juice Press, 2013.
“about/join the discussion.” critlib. Accessed February 13, 2020. http://critlib.org/about/.
Ladenson, Sharon. “Paradigm Shift: Utilizing Critical Feminist Pedagogy in Library Instruction.” In Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods, 105-112. Duluth: Library Juice Press, 2009.
Lorde, Audre. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” In Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde, 110-113. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press, 1984.
