Critical Journeys: How 14 Librarians Came to Embrace Critical Practice ed. by Robert Schroeder (review)

Critical Journeys: How 14 Librarians Came to Embrace Critical Practice is a collection of fourteen asynchronous interviews facilitated by Robert Schroeder, a reference and instruction librarian at Portland State University. Schroeder talks with public librarians and academic librarians working in instruction, reference, archives, and administration, among other areas. The interviewer and interviewees share their reflections on the relationship between critical theory and critical pedagogies with regard to library and information science (LIS), as well as practically oriented theorizations and applications for various types of libraries and librarians. In Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011), Michael Hames-García and Ernesto Javier Martínez argue that dialogic essays allow conversations to be cultivated, which then bloom into future scholarship and new areas of study. Similarly, these dialogic interviews discuss potential scholarship opportunities in critical library practices and pedagogies, as well as investigate unexplored pathways.

There are many common themes present throughout the interviews. One question that Schroeder asks many of the librarians is how they would hypothetically use a financial grant to connect LIS communities with critical theory and praxis. The responses emphasize the need to create and develop groups of librarian-scholars with common interests. Examples include a pedagogical mountaintop retreat that focuses on French critical theorist Michel Foucault (Emily Drabinski) and a critical immersion program (Maria T. Accardi), similar to the current Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Immersion Program in teaching and information literacy. The interviews reflect on how to incorporate critical theory, praxis, and pedagogy into library work. As librarians, we rarely give thought to or dream about what we would ideally want regarding professional development opportunities.

The interviewees share their first encounters with critical theory and discuss whether it should be included in LIS courses. Several report that they first encountered critical theorists, such as the Brazilian Paulo Freire and the American feminist bell hooks (the pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins), as undergraduates or in graduate-level courses outside of LIS. Ideas for the insertion of critical theory into LIS courses include using it to bridge conversations (James Elmborg); to unpack, analyze, and explain professional and institutional actions (John Buschman); or to achieve a theoretically informed praxis (Heidi Jacobs). An appendix at the end of each interview gives the interviewee’s personal reflections concerning the discussion, along with a list of recommended readings that inspired and motivated each critical journey.

The stories, adventures, and projects shared in these interviews provide less-experienced librarians with a conceptual road map for personal and career development and directions. The reader learns about important organizations such as the Progressive Librarians Guild, Social Responsibilities Round Table, Librarians’ Research Institute, Information Ethics Roundtable, Library Juice Academy, and Information for Social Change. Two particular archival projects are highlighted. Julie Herrada describes her work collecting for and managing the Joseph A. Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Alana Kumbier shares her experience working with the Queer Zine Archive Project and with Wellesley College students making their own zines.

Each chapter in Critical Journeys is unique and provides the reader with thoughtful insights, personal experiences, and ideas for incorporating critical practices across a wide variety of work environments and institutional settings. It is an excellent collection for librarians with little previous knowledge of critical theory as well as for library administrators who want to foster critical practices in their own institutions.