Social justice librarianship timeline
Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion have been addressed in many ways by people-centred approaches to librarianship that aim to transform lives and create social justice.
This timeline has been created by CILIP’s Community, Diversity and Equality Group and The Network as a way of capturing and recording some key points in the development of community-focused librarianship over the last 50 years or so.
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1972
Librarians for Social Change
From 1972-1986, a group of library workers produced a regular newsletter – looking, for example, at class, sexism, children’s rights – and a selection is available online.
https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/radicalpress/category/title-librarians-for-social-change/
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1994
Information for Social Change
From 1994-2001, the ISC collective produced regular journals and also organised seminars and conferences, sometimes in association with other progressive organisations such as LINK and the Black Radical and Third World Book Fair. The journals are available – there is a list of contents at:
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1997
Article by Philip Wark
Article by Philip Wark (Chair of Community Initiative Award Judging Panel, 1997), outlining the role of the Award which was administered by CSG (the forerunner of CDEG) and which became the CILIP Libraries Change Lives Award.
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2000
“Open to All?” vol 1
Open to All? reports the findings of an 18 month research project, “Public Library Policy and Social Exclusion”.
Volume 1 provides an overview of the study and its main conclusions and recommendations.
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2000
“Open to All? Vol 2
Open to All? reports the findings of an 18 month research project, “Public Library Policy and Social Exclusion”.
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2000
“Open to All” Volume 3
Open to All? reports the findings of an 18 month research project, “Public Library Policy and Social Exclusion”.
Volume 3 includes the 16 Working Papers written by the project team.
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2001
Social and racial exclusion handbook for libraries, archives, museums, and galleries
In 2001, Shiraz Durrani produced the second edition of the Social and racial exclusion handbook for libraries, archives, museums, and galleries, which provides a ‘snapshot’ of work being developed at the time.
https://seapn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Social-racial-exclusion-handbook-2ed-2-Aug-01.pdf
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2002
Library Association
Report of the Policy Advisory Group on Social Exclusion
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2009
Library services for older people
Margaret Sloan and John Vincent. Library services for older people – good practice guide. The Network.
Timeline 2009 – Library services – good practice guide ~1336795
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2024
“‘If there’s nowhere else to go, this is where they come’: how Britain’s libraries provide much more than books”
Guardian “Long Read” article from June 2024, which outlines some of the huge range of provision that public libraries make:
“The average public library is not only a provider of the latest Anne Enright or Julia Donaldson: it is now an informal citizens advice bureau, a business development centre, a community centre and a mental health provider. It is an unofficial Sure Start centre, a homelessness shelter, a literacy and foreign language-learning centre, a calm space where tutors can help struggling kids, an asylum support provider, a citizenship and driving theory test centre, and a place to sit still all day and stare at the wall, if that is what you need to do, without anyone expecting you to buy anything.”