Wokers of the world, unite

As of this writing, I have not worked as a librarian in any paid capacity for just over two years. This was after working as one almost continuously for 14 years. It would seem that I am out of the loop. Suddenly, it has occurred to some of my more progressive peers that librarianship is "oppressive." As this screen grab from Twitter shows, a special interest group is forming to develop a practice for anti-oppressive librarianship. Presumably, library schools will pick up on this trend, and incorporate such concerns into their curriculum.

That librarianship could be oppressive in any way, shape or form is news to me.
Then again, what would I know? I only worked as one almost continuously for 14 years. As well as a consistent customer focus, my work was strongly informed by a desire to help to empower people through education and lifelong learning, technology skills, literacy in all its forms, research and critical thinking skills. I was also consistently neutral. Was I inadvertently an oppressor? Who was I oppressing? I fail to see that.

Guilt by association?

Some of my peers at Simmons College in Boston in the United States have published an "Anti-Oppression Library Guide." This guide is intended to inform, and provoke instruction about power structures that need to be challenged and changed to remove this oppression. A cursory reading of this guide is quite informative. I almost feel guilty by association. By virtue of my being a heterosexual, Caucasian Christian, I am automatically an oppressor.

I learned new terminology I never heard before. For example, Sanism is prejudice against neurodivergent people. Until today, I had no idea that neurodivergency was even a thing. Other phobias, such as Islamophobia, or Queerphobia, are now termed as Islamomisia or Queermisia, respectively.

The authors of this guide have deemed that using the "phobia" suffix is potentially offensive to people suffering from genuine phobias, such as claustrophobia. What will happen if, in a few years' time, the "misia" suffix is also deemed to be offensive? Will theorists need to devise a new suffix?

Whether or not this guide is addressing real or perceived problems is beside the point. I have political views, but I have never used my profession as a platform to impose them upon others. The last time I checked, the key principles of librarianship are to encourage library users to develop critical thinking skills, foster literacy in all its forms, and promote lifelong learning. This does not extend to dictating to them how they should think or behave.

It is concerning to think that some of the ideas in this guide won't stay as abstract notions forever. In years to come, when the current generation of college and university students become business and political leaders, they will become government policy.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/05/college-librarians-argue-christians-who-say-god-bless-are-islamophobic.html