Inclusive Collections, Inclusive Libraries #RLUKICIL
Over the past few years, cultural heritage institutions, including research libraries from across the UK and beyond, have intensified their efforts to decolonise their collections and practices. Developing more inclusive collections, where a variety of voices are represented, is necessary to create a culture where equity, inclusivity, and diversity are the driving forces and where scholarship and learning can thrive.
However, there is a need for honest discussions about what drives decolonisation in institutions, how initiatives are delivered, the successes and failures, which can lead in identifying current gaps and needs in the sector.
Inclusive Collections, Inclusive Libraries is an RLUK programme of events that aims to foster conversation around decolonisation and inclusive practice in collecting, describing, presenting, and engaging with content in research library collections. It seeks to raise awareness about the opportunities and challenges of dealing with, contextualising, and engaging with offensive collections while also identifying and sharing examples of good practice.
Who should attend?
The Inclusive Collections, Inclusive Libraries series of events are virtual events that are free to attend and open to all. Staff from RLUK member institutions and other cultural heritage institutions nationally and internationally are particularly encouraged to attend.
▶️ Watch #RLUKICIL talks on demand
All Inclusive Collections, Inclusive Libraries talks will be recorded, and you can watch previous events on the RLUKICIL on Demand page.
Upcoming events
DECEMBER 2023
Stealing the Master’s Tools: A Skunkworks for Anti-Racist and Democratic Open Access Publishing
Tuesday 5 December 2023, 14:00 – 15:00 (GMT), 16:00 – 17:00 (SAST/EET), 15:00 – 16:00 (CET), 09:00 – 10:00 (EST), 22:00 – 23:00 (AWST/CST)
In a decolonial project to disrupt traditional paradigms of academic publishing, a collaborative initiative was forged between a group of health inequalities researchers. With the support of King’s College London, Libraries & Collections, this synergy birthed ‘Stolen Tools’, a pioneering open-access journal providing a platform for voices historically relegated to the periphery of academic discourse.
Unlike conventional publishing frameworks that primarily evaluate a manuscript’s content before acceptance, this model adopts a proactive stance by accepting authors of colour at the ideation stage. It augments their scholarly journey by pairing them with seasoned academic mentors – termed ‘critical friends’. This symbiotic relationship nurtures innovative academic research. Central to this initiative is a decolonial ethos aimed at dismantling the ivory tower’s barriers that have hindered many potential authors from contributing to the academic discourse.
This model envisions a more inclusive, anti-racist, and democratic academic publishing landscape whereby diverse narratives and epistemologies are accorded a rightful place within academic scholarship. This talk will outline their journey so far, how the journal team and King’s Libraries & Collections have worked together and their plans for a crowd sourcing solidarity sponsorship model.
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Sohail Jannesari is a Global Health Lecturer at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School. He has worked on outcomes for survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery, and as a freelance consultant on ethical, participatory and creative methods. He leads the anti-colonial Stolen Tools journal, and co-convenes the Inspiring Ethics group, and research migration, sanctuary seeking and mental health. He is an expert on qualitative methods and the Qualitative Open Mic podcast.
Ricardo Twumasi is a Lecturer in Psychosis Studies, based in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London. His research focuses on health inequalities, organisational change and equality at work. He is a member of the original founding team of Stolen Tools, a journal that he feels takes a unique intersectional and decolonised approach to open access academic knowledge production and disrupting many of the archaic traditions of academic publishing.
Clare Camp was the Collections Liaison Librarian for the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience – as well as for the faculties of Medicine, Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, and Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences – during the inception of the collaborative project on Stolen Tools at King’s College London. In this role, she engaged faculties in the development of inclusive library collections to support teaching and learning. She is currently seconded to the role of Collections Analytics Librarian, and is in the second year of the Library and Information Services Management MA at the University of Sheffield.
Ruth Murphy is the Associate Director (Education & Learning) within King’s College London, Libraries & Collections. She is responsible for ensuring that Libraries & Collections’ services develop in alignment with the education needs of the university. She leads the work of the Clinical Library Services, Collections Design & Delivery and Learning Design & Delivery Teams. She is passionate about open and inclusive education and is involved in projects to diversify King’s College London collections, develop open educational resources, and embed information literacies within the curriculum.