Social justice in library science programs: A content analysis approach

Abstract

In an increasingly globalized world, social justice issues dominate the news. Libraries are often viewed as places where social justice ideals are upheld and promoted. This paper uses a content analysis methodology of 10 North American library and information science program websites to discover how social justice education is marketed to potential students through an examination of open access course descriptions, mission statements, and core learning objectives where available. Findings indicate that social justice is embedded in library and information science programs, but there are limited opportunities for prospective students to seek out these courses due to a lack of open access course descriptions and mission statements and shortage of integration in required courses. If library and information science educators want to attract future librarians with strong social justice agendas, then the promotional materials will need to be more explicit in regards to how these programs can aid students in building a social justice mindset.

Keywords

Content analysis education libraries LIS education social justice

Context

The world is an inequitable place for a growing population and in a globalized world, social justice issues seemingly dominate the news. Conversations about social justice frequently include references to John Rawls’ (1971) work on distributive justice, yet Kim (2013: 1) suggests that “the term ‘social justice’ is a subjective term that carries with it a variety of connotations, depending on who defines it and to what social context it corresponds.” Social justice refers to treating all people regardless of race, age, wealth, or gender equitably. Relational justice advocates for moving beyond the idea that goods should be distributed equally, referred to as distributive justice, to how relations between people can foster equity. Gewirtz (1998) suggests that the concept of relational justice is under-theorized in education and argues for more educational research on the theory.

Libraries are places where social justice ideals are upheld and promoted. The American Library Association’s (ALA) Core Values of Librarianship are: “access, confidentiality/privacy, democracy, diversity, education and lifelong learning, intellectual freedom, preservation, the public good, professionalism, service, social responsibility, and sustainability” (ALA, 2019: para. 1). Many of these values reflect relational justice. Social justice in libraries refers to diversity issues, access to information, professional ethics, and community development, among others. To encourage socially minded librarians, it must be integrated into the curriculum of library and information science (LIS) programs.

An essential question regarding social justice and librarianship is: how are North American LIS programs training future librarians regarding social justice issues? If future librarians were to examine programs based on how well they speak to social justice issues, do LIS schools attract potential candidates based on open access promotional material? This paper uses a content analysis methodology of 10 North American LIS program websites to discover how social justice education is marketed to potential students through an examination of open access course descriptions, mission statements, and core learning objectives where available. The social justice literature in libraries will be examined, followed by a discussion on the methodology, and conclude with findings and a discussion, including recommendations for LIS educators.

Literature review

Social justice literature is varied and differs depending on the discipline. In LIS literature, social justice topics can range from neo-liberalism and the economics of information for the common good to systemic racism in hiring practices and classification schemes. In order to choose what aspects of social justice to explore for the purpose of this paper, a brief scan of the literature and a preliminary exploration of LIS programs’ websites was conducted.

Rioux (2010) used metatheory to examine social justice in LIS and noted that while librarians have worked to uphold social justice values, the field does not articulate these values well in research. As a consequence, social justice theories are not well-developed in LIS curricula. Rioux proposes using metatheories to focus social justice research in librarianship and identifies the typologies of justice-as-desert, egalitarianism/equity, utilitarianism, distributive justice, and justice as fairness as frameworks to apply to LIS social justice research. The typologies, “suggest that social justice emphasizes equality, fairness, the common good, and humanism” (Rioux, 2010: 12).

The aspects of social justice examined in this paper relate to professional ethics, access to information, public services and community building, diversity, and social justice in LIS education. When examining social justice in LIS research there exist various types of publications, ranging from theoretical papers to action research. Mathiesen (2015) examined social justice theories and provided a framework for justice in LIS which she refers to as informational justice. She argues that despite being responsible for the neutral distribution of information, librarians must uphold social justice ideals.

Although prior knowledge and employment prospects feature heavily in decisions to enter the profession (Ard et al., 2006; Cherry et al., 2011), additional factors determine why people choose librarianship. The desire to build community and work with the public can also influence a librarian’s decision to enter the profession (Bello, 1996; Dali and Caidi, 2016; Ho et al., 2018; Moniarou-Papaconstantinou et al., 2015).

Professional ethics

Ethics guide professional librarians, impacting daily decisions. This is evidenced by the ALA’s Code of Ethics (2008) which outlines values and responsibilities of professional librarians. Gorman (2000) identified eight themes in librarianship referred to as enduring values: stewardship, service, intellectual freedom, rationalism, literacy and learning, equity of access to recorded knowledge and information, privacy, and democracy. Foster and McMenemy (2012), examined libraries’ ethical codes for evidence of Gorman’s enduring values and found that service, privacy, and equity of access were evident in ethical codes worldwide, yet codes varied depending on the country and culture. They concluded that there is a slight degree of consensus around shared values, but cultural norms directly impact the duties and values of professional librarians.

Access to information

Lack of access to information is a concern librarians encounter. Roadblocks limiting the gathering of information can result in societal inequalities. Johnson et al. (2018) state that in 2018 there were over 30,000 peer-reviewed English-language journals operating, publishing more than three million articles. In addition to being prolific, scholarly communication is a major economic force. Nicholson (2015) discusses how libraries are forced to commoditize information due to shrinking budgets and the pressure to follow standard performance indicators.

In addition to the scholarly implications of a lack of access to information, societal implications are problematic. According to the World Bank (2016: 11), information “enables citizens to access public services, strengthens government capability, and serves as a platform for citizens to tackle collective action problems.” Information access also ensures that people can overcome poverty and optimize work or educational opportunities.

Discussing age-related digital inequalities, Antonio and Tuffley (2015: 3) write, “as governments migrate public-sector services exclusively to the online domain, not having access to or lacking the digital literacy skills to use electronic services will in all likelihood precipitate an age-related inequality.” Although their paper focuses on the impact of the age-related digital divide on democratic participation, it can apply to any type of digital divide, from the gender divide to a geographic and socio-economic divide.

Marcella and Chowdhury (2018) used a focus group to explore the idea of information poverty. They found that information poverty can be broken into three categories: lack of information, lack of ability to utilize information, and lack of capacity for information creation. They surmised that the LIS field is well-situated to tackle these issues as a way of achieving social equity.

Public services and community building

In addition to providing access to information, libraries offer core services including information literacy instruction and public access to libraries which can aid job seekers, provide parents with free activities for children, and help new immigrants with settlement services. McCahill et al. (2018) examined the public response to spending cuts in the UK. One of the primary themes they discovered was an improved sense of social and mental wellbeing from public library use. Battista et al. (2015) discussed the challenges and opportunities with using the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education (2016) through a social justice context. They noted that the framework insufficiently addresses social justice concerns.

Diversity

The ALA states that diversity is a core value of librarianship (ALA, 2019), yet there are ongoing issues with diversity in librarianship. The ALA maintains that, “The Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services uses a social justice framework to ensure the inclusion of diverse perspectives within our profession and association to best position ALA as a trusted, leading advocate for equitable access to library services for all” (ALA, n.d.: para. 1). Despite the call for diversity, librarianship is a homogeneous profession with a significant representation of white females (Hussey, 2009; Kim and Sin, 2008; Revitt et al., 2019). Morales et al. (2014: 440) discuss social justice and diversity in libraries and state, “libraries can and should play a key role in promoting social justice” and that this work can be improved by creating a more diverse workforce.

Mathuews (2016) argues that diversity and human rights imperatives in academic libraries are too simplistic to attain a measure of true social justice. She examines challenges in higher education such as funding and changing student demographics. She suggests that libraries can collaborate with other areas on campus to develop tools that move beyond mere diversity initiatives to encompassing broader social justice ideals.

Social justice in LIS education

Kumasi and Manlove (2015) examined the core courses descriptions in 36 ALA accredited institutions, seeking evidence of ALA’s core competences (ALA, 2009). They surveyed LIS faculty asking them to reflect on how they teach diversity and social justice. They offered three recommendations for LIS educators: to examine ideas of privilege and power, to develop curriculum through a marginalized group lens, and to advocate for inclusion and multicultural curriculum reform in LIS education.

Mehra (2004) identified service learning as an opportunity to teach social justice through community building. He used a content analysis of the top 10 LIS schools in the United States to find areas where service learning could be incorporated into the curriculum and surveyed faculty members to discover their service-learning initiatives. He found that faculty were making efforts to include a service-learning component into course design, yet the website examination showed many areas where service-learning opportunities could be improved.

Cooke et al. (2016) used a case study at one LIS institution to examine the development of social justice courses and the formation of an extracurricular reading group in response to a call for attention to the racial climate of the school. They argued that by developing students’ critical reflection skills on the role of privilege and information technologies in society, librarians can work towards “training the next generation of critically minded, socially responsible, and culturally competent information professionals” (Cooke et al., 2016: 121).

By examining the literature on the topics of social justice through LIS education, diversity, public services and community building, access to information, and professional ethics, the values and issues that drive the profession are evidenced. Next, the methodology will be examined to see how library schools are recruiting and preparing future librarians for the social justice implications of the profession.

Methodology

Content analysis

The literature demonstrates that social justice issues are significant to librarianship. This paper examines the question of how LIS programs are preparing future librarians for the social justice implications of the profession, including access to information, diversity, public services, and professional ethics. Specifically, this content analysis will examine whether the curriculum addresses social justice issues, how does the issue feature in core courses, and how is social justice represented in library school curriculum? Content analysis is a mixed method approach that interprets and codes textual data to make inferences about a question and to note themes in the data (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005). Content analysis is considered a widely used methodology in LIS due to its adaptive nature (White and Marsh, 2006). This methodology was chosen due to its applicability to analyzing communication (Maier, 2018) and LIS websites are a key form of communication between prospective students and recruiting schools.

In addition to being suitable for LIS research, this methodology has also been applied broadly to examine LIS education. Chu (2006) examined almost 3000 LIS courses to create a map of LIS curricula in the United States. Singh and Mehra (2012) used a website analysis of 25 LIS schools in the United States to evaluate information technology curriculum. Bronstein (2015) examined job listings using content analysis to develop a typology of skills and competencies required of LIS professionals to inform LIS educators and hiring managers.

Although content analysis is a popular methodology for examining communication, there are some disadvantages to the use of this to examine LIS websites. The researcher was limited to the open access information available, so some websites contained more information than others, yet as marketing tools, prospective students are also limited to the published materials. Another disadvantage is that websites are living documents, which change frequently, so this method presents us with a representation from a fixed time, which is likely to change. Despite the limitations, this method produced a snapshot of how social justice is taught to prospective students at a time when social justice issues are pervasive in the media.

Data collection

To create a sample, 10 ALA accredited schools were chosen based on location to represent a wide sample of North American library education. The schools were chosen based on the directory of ALA-accredited programs to represent geographic areas across the United States and Canada and vetted to ensure that the websites contained required and elective courses. All of the schools were public institutions. While not a comprehensive listing of all LIS programs, these schools were chosen based on geography, in an effort to examine how social justice issues are taught across North America. These schools are not known for pursuing a social justice agenda, and all identifying information has been removed from the analysis. Sections of the websites for five schools from Canada and five schools from the United States were analyzed.

Keywords were identified by examining some of the themes in key literature on social justice in the LIS field (Cooke et al., 2016; Gewirtz, 1998; Kumasi and Manlove, 2015). The keywords were: society, diversity, community, citizenship, ethics, and access were chosen based on the relationship to the social justice ideals of ethics and human rights issues. The websites of the LIS programs were also examined to reveal information about the existence of social justice imperatives through mission and value statements and program objectives, where possible. The data collected included open access course descriptions for the schools. Three of the ten course descriptions were for the Spring/Summer 2019 terms with the remaining seven schools listing the total aggregated courses for the program.

Data analysis

This content analysis uses a summative approach, as the aim of this study is to describe social justice instruction in LIS education and it examines the data from a word count usage level to an analysis of how the words are used. Summative analysis allows for immersion into the data and gives the researcher flexibility in identifying themes (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005). The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Courses were counted, and word use was tracked and recorded. Core courses were differentiated from electives and mentions of the pre-identified keywords were noted. A document was created with course descriptions and titles that were related to social justice. The data was coded qualitatively to try and infer how social justice instruction is framed within LIS programs, with a focus on course titles as evidence of curricular weight. Limitations on data collection include the availability and detail of course descriptions, availability of mission and value statements, and access to current course offerings. The qualitative data were coded manually to observe themes and ensure consistency.

Findings

After manually examining the data through a mixed method approach, the findings were summarized through the lens of mission and value statements, program objective statements, and course descriptions. These findings represent the publicly available materials for current and prospective students and help advertise the key areas of programmatic focus. It is important to note that the sample size is not inclusive of all LIS programs in North America.

Mission/vision statements

Mission and vision statements are essential marketing tools for many different types of organizations. Cochran et al. (2008: 28) state, “a company mission should be evaluated to ensure that it communicates clearly the desired feelings that will guide and motivate employees to action.” The mission and vision of LIS schools can be used to market to potential students and articulates how one institution differs from another. By examining the mission and vision statements available on the institutions’ websites, we can ascertain how they communicate their values.

From an examination of the 10 schools, only four mentioned the terms diversity, community, citizenship, equity, or access and offered ways that future graduates might build community and benefit society. The other six schools focused solely on the technological aspects of librarianship, career prospects of the program, or the classroom experience. The mission and value statements were not always articulated as such, and the About Us section or the homepage information was used as a substitute when a clear mission or value statement was unavailable.

Program objectives statements

Of the 10 schools examined, seven have published program objectives, outcomes, or goals. These were scanned for language about social good or impact, ethics, community, diversity, and access. Table 1 highlights the frequency of specific words in the goal areas of the websites.

Table 1.

Word counts in goals/objective pages.

Word/Term	Word Count	Websites
Ethics/Ethical	6	5 out of 7
Community/Citizenship	7	4 out of 7
Social/Society/Societal	8	6 out of 7
Diverse/Diversity	8	4 out of 7
Access/Accessibility	4	3 out of 7

Courses

Course descriptions (n=546) were examined across all of the schools for words and phrases related to social justice. Of those 546 courses, 46 were found to have elements of social justice in the course descriptions with only four being required courses, and the rest electives. The descriptions were not always readily available, and, in many cases, different pages of the websites were navigated, looking for buried descriptions.

Language used in websites

Although the keywords that were identified as relevant to social justice issues can be found in the mission statements, course descriptions, and program goals and objectives, when the context in which the words are used was examined, trends in social justice education in LIS programs become apparent. Table 2 displays the word count frequency of the keywords in course descriptions.

Table 2.

Word counts in course descriptions.

Word/Term	Word Count
Ethics/Ethical	29
Community/Citizenship	20
Social/Society/Societal	57
Diverse/Diversity	12
Access/Accessibility	37

The language used in course titles is indicative of the emphasis of certain themes in librarianship. Of the 46 courses that appear to be related to social justice issues, 21 directly relate to social justice themes. Only two contained the words social justice, with an additional one that used the term social responsibility. Diversity was mentioned in three course titles, ethics in three, and public service or community in five. Accessibility/Access appeared in seven of the titles.

In terms of how the language was used qualitatively in course descriptions, social justice was mentioned in relation to access to information, intellectual freedom, and information technology. Diversity appeared in terms of inclusion and underrepresented user groups. Community was a term that was used in a multitude of ways and included various user groups, the role libraries play in developing societal goals, the cultural makeup of communities, and relationship building. The course descriptions used ethics and ethical primarily to examine the topic through professional ethical frameworks. Accessibility appeared in courses that looked at access to information in relation to marginalized populations and scholarly communication.

Discussion and recommendations

By examining the websites of 10 LIS programs in North America for evidence of social justice education in librarianship, key themes in how social justice is included in the curriculum become apparent. In keeping with the topics noted in the review of the literature, the discussion will center on the areas of professional ethics, access to information, public services and community building, and diversity. Since LIS websites can serve as marketing tools for prospective students, the social justice aspects of the programs will be analyzed through the strength of the language used and how well they appear to inform prospective students about the programs.

Professional ethics

As Gorman (2000) noted, professional ethics and librarian values are key aspects of the profession. Professional ethics are highlighted in the website material and are covered comprehensively including ethical factors such as using professional ethics to enhance service for the public good and developing a personal ethical framework. Ethical issues such as privacy, intellectual property, and information ethics were highlighted to provide additional detail to prospective students. Overall, ethical issues as they relate to social justice imperatives were quite broad, but well-covered on the websites. Each school offered at least one course where ethics was a dominant topic. Of the six schools with mission, value, or course objectives stated, ethics was emphasized in four of those from a professional responsibility perspective.

Access to information

Professional ethics are clearly articulated on the websites with many websites using the terms in conjunction with terms related to social justice such as social good, access, or community development. Access to information is another area that has social justice implications. Information access is a key aspect of ensuring social equity and development. Examining the websites for evidence of developing professionals who are educated in information access issues, it can be ascertained that accessibility is tied to social justice and societal good. The idea of information access is often addressed in relation to how people access information in both academic and public settings and how information can be used to mitigate inequities in society.

Public services and community building

In librarianship, public services can be interpreted broadly; from working in public libraries to creating community in academic libraries. By examining the data on how social justice is perceived through LIS program websites, its presentation to prospective students through course offerings and marketing materials seems transparent. Students who are driven to public service can make educated choices based on the information available. Like ethics, the idea of community can be interpreted in many ways, but the predominant theme was on how librarians can build and serve the community. All the programs examined displayed evidence of how librarians will be instructed on their role within the communities they serve.

Diversity

Diversity is an issue that appears in the course descriptions, especially in direct relation to community building and social justice. In the course descriptions, diversity was frequently mentioned within the contexts of social inclusion, specific user groups such as youth, or from a cultural viewpoint. Despite the homogenous nature of librarianship (Hussey, 2009; Kim and Sin, 2008; Revitt et al., 2019), increasing diversity within the profession was not addressed by courses. By not offering a wider range of courses on diversity, prospective students from diverse backgrounds may not feel that librarianship is the profession for them which in turn limits the reach of socially justice minded individuals.

Social justice and LIS education: Recommendations

Despite the usage and prominence of the search terms on the websites, it is the gaps in the course offerings that hold a key to how social justice is taught in LIS programs. A key finding of this research indicates that less than 10% of available courses have embedded aspects of social justice, with approximately 4% that directly address social justice. Since only two of the courses that examine social justice issues are required, prospective students who may not be aware of social justice issues may not seek out opportunities to examine the topic in depth. The mission and value statements, program objectives, and goals also offered key insights into how social justice is embedded into the curriculum. By examining the wording used, it can be seen that access to information is emphasized in terms of how future librarians can serve the public, develop cultural initiatives, and improve equity.

From this research, a suggestion is for LIS educators work to incorporate social justice aspects into more required courses. Most of the mission and program statements do a succinct job of embedding social justice elements as a way of recruiting socially-minded professionals and due to the diverse nature of librarianship. This shows that social justice is regarded highly in LIS programs and therefore, more courses on various aspects of social justice should be included in the curriculum to ensure the development of social justice competencies in future librarians.

Conclusion

LIS educational websites are sources of information for both current and prospective students. As such, the material they publish serves as marketing aimed at recruiting future librarians. This mixed method approach used content analysis to investigate the websites of 10 North American LIS programs for evidence of how social justice is incorporated in library education. Although we can begin to make assumptions about the strengths and weaknesses of social justice education in LIS programs, we have to be cognizant of the limits in sample size and open access course descriptions. The average course description for the schools examined was two to three sentences. It is difficult to ascertain how deeply these courses teach social justice. Yet if this is looked at from a marketing perspective, course descriptions are not highlighting social justice initiatives adequately.

An area of further study may be to examine the full course descriptions of LIS programs for aspects of social justice instruction through a deep analysis of course objectives, deliverables, and course readings. Social justice is a vast topic and this paper examined a few relevant areas, but there are many areas for further research such as social justice in relation to environmental, health, or economic concerns. If LIS programs can work to include social justice in more course offerings, prospective students can better chart their path into a career that will face more social justice challenges as the world becomes increasingly complex.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Rhiannon Jones

Author biography

Rhiannon Jones is the Masters of Business Administration and Executive MBA liaison in the Business Library at the University of Calgary. She supports the needs of the professional students by delivering information and instruction in a high-service capacity. Her research interests include how relationship building can optimize student success and how adults with ADHD utilize library resources.

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