The Radical Formations of (UCLA’s) Ethnic Studies Libraries
Discussion | Thursday, May 18, 2023 | 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST
This discussion asks ‘What is a library on a university campus?’ and more specifically, ‘What is an Ethnic Studies library’? Through the history of the university library system and Ethnic Studies libraries on UCLA’s campus in the 1960s-1980s and utilizing Critical Race Theory to being to answer why, we find a story that separates the two. A university library claims to be a system that has books for all, one that is active and respondent to student needs. While this claim of service was made all over university library outreach materials, omission of consideration for the Ethnic Studies libraries in the 1970s has resulted in a deep structural divide. With both the Ethnic Studies libraries called ‘library,’ and the University library called ‘library,’ this slippage created the impression for faculty on campus that any library was all part of the UCLA library, while resources have been and continue to be inequitable. The original Ethnic Studies Research Centers that contained the libraries were in the ‘Rainbow Room’; rainbow perhaps standing for all the ‘colors’ but also something that can disappear. With this historical context in hand, this discussion will be opened up to all participants to share experiences and ask questions.
[This discussion will not be recorded.]
Presenter: jaime ding / Presenter slides
jaime ding is a phd student taking advantage of time and space to think about the problems of perception of labor in academic libraries. She has learned from trash and cleanliness, beauty and value in things and spaces, and has worked in waste management, museum education, academic libraries, and corporate archives, always working to rethink ideas about the “public,” accessibility, and circulation of ideas. Find her on Twitter @jaime_ding.