From their inception, special collections and archives have memorialized the lives of people in power, serving as a tool to preserve the status quo and perpetuate systemic oppression.
From Interrogation to Integration: Centering Social Justice in Special Collections, Archives, and Preservation collects case studies, research projects, lesson plans, stories, practical strategies, color illustrations, and accessible, low-cost solutions from authors who have grappled directly with the legacy of harm present in their own institutions. The volume is organized into five themes:
- Research
- Description
- Preservation and Access
- Outreach
- Instruction
Centering social justice in our daily practice and tasks is a form of resistance against external pressures.
From Interrogation to Integration contributes to ongoing efforts to create a more inclusive, diverse, just, and equitable profession while acknowledging both the scale and complexity of that work.
Kim Hoffman is the digital curation and preservation librarian at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY. In this role, she is responsible for developing and implementing practices to support the long-term preservation and authenticity of the library’s digital collections. Previously, she served as the preservation librarian at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she was a past co-chair of the Libraries’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She received her MS in library and information science and her MA in museum studies from Syracuse University, where she also earned a certificate of advanced studies in cultural heritage preservation. Her research interests include centering diversity, equity, and inclusion in library preservation work. She holds volunteer positions in the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), the National Heritage Responders (NHR), and the American Library Association (ALA).
Rachel Makarowski is the special collections librarian at Miami University in Oxford, OH. In her position, she is responsible for many of the functions for special collections, including instruction, outreach, reference, cataloging, curation, and collection management. She graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with an MLS, specializing in rare book and manuscript librarianship, and worked in numerous positions at the Lilly Library. She previously worked at the Rare Book School during her time as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. Her research interests focus on teaching with primary sources, labor organization, and social justice efforts in the field of special collections and archives. She has actively volunteered in a number of professional organizations, including the Rare Book and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Collective.