- 29 views
- 16 downloads
How does our advocacy garden grow? Analyzing advocacy initiatives by Canadian library associations
-
- Author(s) / Creator(s)
-
Advocacy initiatives by library associations seek to enact change by influencing governments and other stakeholder organizations for the benefit of libraries, their clients, and the profession of librarianship. This session will describe an exploratory study to see what seeds of advocacy and change have been sown by Canadian library associations, with a view to growing effective strategies for the future. The importance of advocacy work is underscored by the library field's ethical code (CFLA, 2019/IFLA 2012). Library advocacy literature to date has focused on practical guidance for librarians that can be used at the grassroots level (Million and Bossaler, 2020). In the Canadian context, there are few empirical studies and the field mostly relies on the literature of thought leaders (Cleyle, 2020; Bourne-Tyson, 2017). The research team looked at three organizations at the national level representing libraries and organizations of various types: the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, the Canadian Urban Libraries Council and the Canadian Federation of Library Associations. Data was collected from a variety of sources, including association documentation records of federal government consultations, and lobbying activities. A thematic analysis was conducted using open coding and visual theme mapping, and the results analyzed using Schein’s organizational behaviour lens. The results provide a cohesive view of the topics, directions and mechanisms of the advocacy efforts of these associations since 2016, as well as an initial assessment of gaps in themes and advocacy practices. This study will form the foundation of a further investigation to explore the impact of library association advocacy and to identify successful patterns and strategies for advocacy initiatives in the future.
-
- Date created
- 2023-06-02
-
- Type of Item
- Conference/Workshop Presentation