Library Collections and Socio-Cultural Reach

One of the things I have probably had the most difficult time with since moving from the city 3 years ago is the radical shrinking of my access to library holdings. Living in the city I had access to the largest public library system in Canada, and the largest academic/research library system in Canada and the third in North America (after Harvard and Yale). I also had access to another top ten on Canada research library as an alumna of York and access to many other college libraries. So it has been a bit of shock and also very upsetting to move to a place where frequently I will look for a book at either the University library or the public library and not find it in the collections.

And yes I have been taking advantage of interlibrary loan when I can, but the point of this post this week is to give folk maybe a bit of pause about how the library collections where you are, both municipally or institutionally, are doing really heavy lifting in reinforcing the morals, beliefs, and politics of where you live. 

It is not a coincidence that any of the books that I want to read, that have to do with things like feminist theory, or geo-political tensions, or queer theory, or inclusive pedagogy, are no where to be found where I live because well this is a place of silence. People don't like to talk or reflect on the existence of these things and therefore why would they stock books about these things. I have bought a ridiculous amount of books since I have moved here, only because it makes it a lot easier to access the books and ideas I want to access. I am happy to support the amazing small independent bookstore in my city. But it is also not lost on me that most of the things I want to read have to be brought in special order because this is not a place that would want to read things I like to read. For example, I have been waiting for 2 months for a Henry Giroux book.

And I have been thinking on how that impacts directly what is taught or even spoken about in a space, in a sort of ouroboros type thing. There are few books available in the library systems about progressive ideas, so we don't talk about progressive ideas, but because we don't talk about progressive ideas, then we don't have books in the collections or stocked in bookstores about these topics. I know that collections librarians have to make very difficult decisions with the small budgets they are given, and it makes sense that they would prioritize what is seen as non-controversial topics here, like romance novels, fantasy and mystery, managing your finances, dog care how tos (this is taken directly from the public library "new books" list). 

I have over time felt starved for reading here, lack of books, lack of articles, paywalls. And yes open educational resources exist, but from an accessibility point of view, I simply cannot spend more time on the weekend on a screen to read a thing, when I spend so much time already on a screen during the week. And the types of things I want to read about do not exists as OERs mostly. My mother has a good laugh every time she comes to visit because I have yet another bookcase that I have once again filled, because I don't have a choice. I have to buy the books because I simply don't have access to them through the library systems. And so though it does seem to her like I have a bit of a book buying problem, what the actual problem is that I live in a place that does not stock in their collections books that interest me as someone with my positionality, interests, research scope, and background.

Libraries are lifelines. It is not coincidental that they become the first place that folk go to as a battle ground when folk want to move ideas and legislations forward. I would be curious to hear how some of you are coping with the lack of library collections where you are. How does it impact your curriculum design and pedagogy? How does it impact your research or ability to do research (I know it has really impacted mine in the last 3 years)? How do you work around the emptiness of the shelves and databases? Let's share and see what could be done differently.