The Legacy of Lady Bountiful: White Women in the Library

Abstract

White supremacy and patriarchy have acted upon and through the white female body, which has implications for library and information science (LIS), a white-and female-dominated field. Insisting that we investigate librarianship through a lens that does not consider gender alone, this paper draws on whiteness, critical race, and feminist theories to explore the formation and persistence of a particular mode of whiteness in LIS. Calling on the "Lady Bountiful" archetype, the paper interrogates the ways in which patriarchy, white supremacy, and notions of ideal femininity have worked together to craft a subject fit to perform the work of colonialism in its variegated and feminized forms. By exploring how the white woman was deemed an appropriate agent for the racial, missionary, and "civilizing" projects of early libraries, one can better locate her legacy in contemporary pedagogies, practices, and representations. The paper concludes with suggestions for addressing this undertheorized yet prevalent archetype in both LIS scholarship and teaching.

Representative Library Collections as a Response to the Institutional Oppression of LGBTQ Youth of Color

“…Some increase in diverse publishing has occurred in the time between Larrick's publication and the present, but progress has often been slow, sporadic, or influenced by social and political tides around racial diversity (Harris, 2003;Lo, 2014Lo, , 2015Sims, 1982). Discussions of representation do not always address the long histories of library services to youth and the ways in which they perpetuate existing social structures or histories of institutional racism in the library (Cai, 2002;Schlesselman-Tarango, 2016). However, these histories not only impact the lives of youth, they also shape whether, how, and in what ways library services perpetuate, challenge, or interrupt existing social inequalities; whether or not libraries reinstitute racism and homophobia through assumptions of moral uplift and exclusion; and how librarians can work against easy solutions to complex problems while still engaging in day-to-day activities with youth (Mehra, 2015;Montague, 2015;Schlesselman-Tarango, 2016).…”

A Holistic Approach for Inclusive Librarianship: Decentering Whiteness in Our Profession

“…Today, however, it is clear that the information professions are now in the midst of a conversation about whiteness, although not everyone is participating, and many remain unaware that the conversation is happening. From 2006 to 2016, Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) lists nine articles on whiteness in the information professions, and from 2014 to 2016 alone, six articles (Blackburn 2015;Brook, Ellenwood, and Lazzaro 2015;Galvan 2015;Hathcock 2015;Ramirez 2015;Schlesselman-Tarango 2016). The database may lack in some key writings-for example, Todd Honma's (2005) influential article is not included-and for that matter neither is Espinal's.…”

The Reach of a Long-Arm Stapler: Calling in Microaggressions in the LIS Field through Zine Work

“…Starting with a seminal article by Todd Honma (2005), more recent literature has thematically shifted to nuanced discussions of diversity, such as social justice in libraries (Cooke, Sweeney, and Noble 2016;Morales, Knowles, and Bourg 2014;Roberts and Noble 2016); microaggressions (Alabi 2015a(Alabi , 2015bOrozco 2016); identity and stereotypes (Gonzalez-Smith, Swanson, and Tanaka 2014; Pho and Masland 2014); and lived experiences of librarians of color (Cooke 2014;Hankins and Juárez 2015). Librarians are also increasingly turning to critical whiteness studies in efforts to unpack the construction and moral implications of pervasive whiteness in the profession as a whole and libraries as institutions (Brook, Ellenwood, and Lazzaro 2015;Galvan 2015;Hathcock 2015;Ramirez 2015;Schlesselman-Tarango 2016).…”