A Genealogy of Refusal : Walking away from crisis and scarcity narrativesMain MenuCrisis narratives frame our responseBartleby at the WallHow can fiction and popular culture inform the way we promulgate or refuse crisis & scarcity narratives in librarianship?Proud Descendants who "Prefer not to"Some recent gems from Bartleby's lineageA Kinship Diagram of Workplace RefusalSatire is richComedic instances of workplace refusal are especially powerfulDark side of parodyMore SatireWhen Expectations Cross the lineWhy don't librarians "Just say No"?Do we prefer to suffer in silence because its a vocation and not "just a job"Feminized LabourSaying Yes all the TimeSuperhero LibrariansIt’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a librarian!I am not your heroMurderbot: the alternate patron saint for librariansThe invocation of crisis narratives is relentlessNo individual solution to our problemsDebunking myths that hold us back to enable collective ways of moving forwardWhat refusal can we take up?A Cosmic GiftManifest NOBecoming fluent in hearing and saying NoAsset FramingBibliographyWorks cited, featured, mentioned and consulted for Genealogy of Refusal projectGlossary of Key ConceptsMultiple PathsA compendium of paths through the Genealogy of Refusal content: a choose-your-own-adventure approach to this companion piece.Genealogy of Refusal TimelineWe welcome contributionsLearn how to contribute to this projectAbout the AuthorsNatalie K Meyers4b3948ab8901940da5f2eb884c2cc86b3dc6ac22Anna Michelle Martinez-Montavon1459b2fc55591cd9b08a290af468d31b5dfe46a3Mikala Narlockdb843c923469f0dadab98d57ee053b00c88a64b1Kim Stathersb8f352d1ce6eb714d5242702eaa05362c8eae357Multimedia project for the The Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship Special Issue on Refusing Crisis Narratives
Never Enough
12021-01-09T18:49:06-08:00Natalie K Meyers4b3948ab8901940da5f2eb884c2cc86b3dc6ac22339481There's a domino effect when it comes to constructed scarcity that's hard to stop - Nowhere is it more evident than in barriers and pitfalls for addiction recovery. No evidenced based recovery, opiod use in public library bathroom, solution? rules, signs not abundance.plain2021-01-09T18:49:07-08:00Natalie K Meyers4b3948ab8901940da5f2eb884c2cc86b3dc6ac22
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12020-12-15T15:08:18-08:00When Expectations Cross the line29plain2021-04-16T13:44:37-07:00Library professionals can be so inculcated in the service side of their role that when someone says "Jump" they just start jumping, they don't even stop to ask "how high?" The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how slippery the slope can get when expectations cross the line. But the tensions librarians navigate have a long history told through stories of sacrifice, heroism, rescue and savior behavior that downplay the insidious domino effect of constructed scarcity and how it shapes expectations related to librarianship.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, librarians across college campus advocated for closing the libraries, recognizing that libraries have been growing online presences for more than two decades (Flaherty 2020). Despite the fact that the risk to library employees was great due to how frequently they interact with patrons, how long patrons tend to remain in one space, and the necessity of handling and cleaning used services and materials, many libraries remained open. In some situations, even when the physical library building was closed to the public, individuals were expected to show up for their position, with minimal safety measures in place, to provide access to library materials (Moynihan 2020). But this was already underway before the pandemic. In public libraries, library employees often serve as social workers, daycare providers, and even paramedics. Librarians training in and administering NARCAN/Naloxone during the opioid epidemic exemplify the librarian as hero, her place in the savior /caretaker role and how she can't turn away from saving lives if she is part of the community, if her job is to care for the community.
But at two doses a library we're staring the constructed scarcity in the face again - the librarian wouldn't be the one with the keys to the cabinet with two doses of naloxone if there were enough for the recovery community and the recovering to have their own.
She wouldn't have to be the savior if the drugs weren't locked up. Do we keep the fire extinguishers behind the reference desk? Librarians are thrust into the role of savior in the opioid overdose wars because of constructed scarcity. A good Samaritan ethos can't manifest itself in an under-resourced community that is itself battling an overwhelming constructed scarcity the one that challenges availability of evidence based recovery and treatment options for the addicted. Scarcity is our fallback position but there's a domino effect every time we go there in the face of need