Jess Cobb PG Cert

While James Orr’s video for The Telegraph (2022) saddened and frustrated me, watching it, alongside recently reading a recent exploration of the setbacks to British progressive views in The Guardian (Hinsliff, 2025) helped me to formulate some thoughts on the risks associated with ignoring and engaging with views that oppose my own. To use the analogy of the fire triangle, ignoring, or deplatforming, individuals with opinions that one disagrees with removes the fuel of a place to air their convictions but also provides them with evidence of being rejected by the mainstream which adds to the ignition source. Meanwhile, engaging in debate and dialogue in an attempt to disprove their position, adds oxygen to the fire and increases the visibility of opinions, especially ones held by a very small group of people, and also agitates and distracts from other issues. 

My main issues with the Orr video, shown in figure 1, reflect the content covered in the unit and distill my learning from various resources. Wong et al (2021) and Banerjee (2024) informed my thoughts on the choice of interview subjects. Session resources and discussions on UAL dashboards and data shaped my thoughts on the use of data. The excellent Malcolm (2021) article, exploring free speech which broke a confusing and contradictory concept down to show how generalising misrepresents real events and data can be misleading, influenced my feelings around the interpretation of the work of Advance HE and the impact it is having on students and courses.

Fig 1. Teams chat message from PG Cert online cohort session (2025)

One thing I have encountered throughout this unit is that I often focus on the way ideas are evidenced and the research, or lack thereof, undertaken. I think it feels safer to critique the methods used than the opinions in case others in the room disagree. When developing a staff feedback session recently a colleague and I were very conscious that our team may hold opposing opinions about something quite personal and potentially emotional, so we employed the facilitation practice of “seek to understand rather than persuade” (Liberating Structures, no date). This is also something that we recently built into a session for students working across courses as we felt it was important to highlight the fact that sharing information does not always mean endorsing it and that research can uncover oppositional views. 

CSM students on a course I support recently curated an exhibition of material from ACAA archive held at Chelsea. When asked what they would do with the archive were they to have full permission to dismantle or update it, they said they would dismantle it. I asked a wider question around accountability for past decisions and talked about work done by fellow librarians to make a UAL Libraries position statement explaining why offensive and outdated work is retained. I posed to the students that, by removing things people find offensive, we might potentially be erasing evidence of these offensive views and firstly, letting them avoid criticism in the future, and, secondly, not documenting the changes in viewpoints. The students had an incredible response that, to paraphrase their excellent summary: all they can do right now is try, it might be deemed inadequate by future students but it’s the best they can do right now and hopefully it will be a step on the way to progress. 

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Bibliography

Banerjee, P. (2024) ‘ Connecting the dots: a systematic review of explanatory factors linking contextual indicators, institutional culture and degree awarding gaps’, Higher Education Evaluation and Development, 18, 1, pp. 31-52. 

Hinsliff, G. (2025) ‘How does woke start winning again?’, The Guardian, 10 June. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/jun/10/how-does-woke-start-winning-again (Accessed: 12/06/2025). 

Liberating Structures (no date) Conversation Cafe. Available at: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/17-conversation-cafe (Accessed: 3 April 2025). 

Malcolm, F. (2021) ‘Silencing and freedom of speech in UK higher education’, British Educational Research Journal, 47 (3), pp. 520-538. 

The Telegraph (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke, 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU (Accessed:  

Wong, B. et al (2021) ‘Is race still relevant? Student perceptions and experiences of racism in higher education’, Cambridge Journal of Education, 51 (3), pp. 359-375. 

Image list

Figure 1. Cobb, J. (2025) Teams chat message from PG Cert online cohort session [screenshot] Teams chat, 11 June (Accessed 25 June 2025).

Creating a self-paced online guided source exploration resource

I propose developing an online self-paced guided resource that supports students in exploring starting points of interest and inspiration to begin their research journey. My initial idea is that this resource would exist on Miro to allow for different communication styles and to help develop community asynchronously through sharing practice and queries for peer support alongside my involvement. (Leewis and Ross, 2022). The guided element would be provided through accessible video content that informs self-paced activities that can be completed sequentially in one session or over multiple, short sessions. I could run drop-in sessions online and in person for students to ask questions and receive additional support. 

The flexible, asynchronous nature and online location reflect my consideration of disability and caring responsibilities as well as supporting diverse individual preference for when students choose to engage with the content. Students can take as long as they like to complete the activities as well as pause and rewatch videos if necessary. 

As I see students infrequently and the research process is specific to each individual undertaking it, it can be hard to time library research support to fit effectively within timetabling and student experience. Therefore, this resource would allow students to engage in supported research activities at a time of their choosing rather than at a time decided by my availability or course timetabling. 

I have developed similar content on Miro to use during live taught sessions, but this resource would require the creation of accessible videos and determining if a Miro board is an appropriate option to allow students to take ownership of an area that they can return to. This resource would require regular checking to respond to queries and ensure it is the supportive, constructive environment I intend it to be. Capacity, workload and scale of the project need to be considered so I could trial it with one of the MA courses I support.

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References

Leewis, L. and Ross, S. L. (2022) ‘Home sweet home: achieving belonging and engagement in online learning spaces’, Spark, 5 (1), pp. 71-81. 

Considering faith in the context of intersectionality highlighted several ideas that I connected to my context as a librarian.  

Kwame Anthony Appiah’s (TED, 2014) comments on European travellers viewing religions they encountered through the lens of Christianity and comparing these new (to them) religions from the perspective of their similarity or difference to Christianity, immediately connected to the idea of information classification in libraries. Information is compared in order to organise it with the intention of making it locatable, however, it is incredibly difficult to condense knowledge to a single, categorisable, meaning (Keogh, 2017). Information is subjected to multiple hierarchies; internal (aka what is the single most important topic of a text for the readers who will encounter it in that library) and external aka how does that single topic fit within the system of that specific library) which is highly contextual and subjective.  

Jawad (2022) and Rekis (2023) highlighting the way that neutrality disadvantages individuals – with the intersection of faith and other factors compounding this disadvantage – alongside Appiah’s (TED, 2014) suggestion that secularity is often perceived as a superior intellectual position, also reminded me of the position of the academic library within the university.  

The risks associated with the perception of libraries are neutral spaces and the questions around the possibility of libraries being neutral spaces have been, and continue to be, discussed (American Libraries, 2018; Anderson, 2022; Cooke et al, 2022; Crow, 2023; Eckert, 2016; Gibson et al., 2017; Kurtz, 2022; RA for All, 2022). The hierarchies at play in knowledge organisation are more explicit than they once were (Keogh, 2017; Knight, 2021; Smith and Appleton, 2023; Woodcock, 2022) especially regarding the Dewey Decimal System (Gattullo Marrocolla, 2019; Joseph, 2021; O’Hara, 2021). However, I suspect more could, and should, be done to make overtly clear the lack of neutrality that is often needed to classify information. I also feel it is important that it is acknowledged that this lack of neutrality is not always due to negative or biased motivations.  

Simran Jeet Singh’s (Trinity University, 2016) comments on engaging with difference in discussions to encourage constructive rather than destructive outcomes, reminded me of staff sessions I recently co-designed and co-delivered that consciously employed ‘conversation agreements’ including one adopted from facilitation practice of “seek to understand rather than persuade” (Liberating Structures, no date). This is an approach I intend to incorporate more explicitly into sessions with students, beyond my current approach of encouraging participation by providing multiple modes of communication in activities and reminding students that often there are ‘no right answers’ when it comes to information seeking behaviours. 

With these thoughts in mind, I would be interested to find out if students have considered this, what their instinctive thoughts are on the idea of the library as a non-neutral space and explore how library sessions could better communicate this concept and frame information seeking within the contexts of: intersectionality, the requirements of classification, hierarchies of knowledge, and the difficulty and the issues when attempting, and assuming, neutrality in institutions. 

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Bibliography

American Libraries (2018) Are Libraries Neutral? Highlights from the Midwinter President’s Program. Available at: https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/06/01/are-libraries-neutral/ . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Anderson, R. (2022) ‘Libraries and the Contested Terrain of “Neutrality”’, The Scholarly Kitchen blog, 3 March. Available at: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2022/03/03/libraries-and-the-contested-terrain-of-neutrality/ . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Crow, R. A. (2023). Libraries are not neutral: A pocket sized guide to libraries and their colonial legacy. Poster session presented at LILAC 2023, Cambridge, United Kingdom. 

Cooke, N. A. et al. (2022) Once More for Those in the Back: Libraries  
Are Not Neutral. Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/89576-once-more-for-those-in-the-back-libraries-are-not-neutral.html . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Eckert, C. (2016) Libraries Are Not Neutral. Available at: https://www.slj.com/story/libraries-are-not-neutral-opinion . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Gattullo Marrocolla, E. (2019) The Trouble with Dewey. Available at: https://www.slj.com/story/The-Trouble-with-Dewey-libraries. Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Gibson, A. N. et al. (2017) ‘Libraries on the frontlines: neutrality and social justice’, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 36(8), pp. 751-766. 

Jawad, H. (2022) ‘Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women’, LSE Religion and Global Society blog, 22 September. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/. Accessed 13 May 2025. 

Joseph. C. (2021) Move Over, Melvil! Momentum Grows to Eliminate Bias and Racism in the 145-year-old Dewey Decimal System. Available at: https://www.slj.com/story/move-over-melvil-momentum-grows-to-eliminate-bias-and-racism-in-the-145-year-old-dewey-decimal-system . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Keogh, J. A. (2017) ‘Inherent Bias in Classification Systems’, John the Librarian blog, 13 December. Available at: https://johnthelibrarian.com/2017/12/13/inherent-bias-in-classification-systems/ . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Knight, K. (2021) ‘Decolonising Through Critical Librarianship – Practical Approaches to Decolonising Library Classification’, CaTaLOG, 5 August. Available at: https://www.catalog.group.cam.ac.uk/2021/08/decolonising-through-critical-librarianship-practical-approaches-to-decolonising-library-classification/ . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Kurtz, S. (2022) The Battle for the Soul of the Library [Op-Ed]. Available at: https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/battle-soul-library/docview/2633348928/se-2?accountid=10342 . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Liberating Structures (no date) Conversation Cafe. Available at: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/17-conversation-cafe (Accessed: 3 April 2025). 

O’Hara, M. (2021) ‘Bad Dewey’, Library blog, 12 May. Available at: https://sites.gold.ac.uk/library-blog/bad-dewey/#:~:text=The%20Dewey%20Decimal%20System%20has,and%20about%20straight%20white%20men. Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

RA for All (2022) ‘Libraries are NOT Neutral’, RA For All blog, 25 February. Available at: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2022/02/libraries-are-not-neutral.html . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Rekis, J. (2023) ‘Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account’, Hypatia, 38, pp. 779-800. 

Smith, T. and Appleton, L. (2023) ‘Addressing classification system bias in higher education libraries in England’. Libraries and the Academy, 23(4). pp. 819-841. 

TED (2014) Kwame Anthony Appiah: Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). 16 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY. Accessed: 13 May 2025.   

Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in Classroom. 1 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk. Accessed 13 May 2025. 

Woodcock, C. (2022) We Need to Radically Rethink the Library of Congress Classification. Available at: https://lithub.com/we-need-to-radically-rethink-the-library-of-congress-classification/ . Accessed: 18 May 2025. 

Specific examples from the resources that illustrate the intersection of disability with other identity aspects and how these intersections impact the lived experiences of the interviewees. 

Ade Adepitan’s intersecting identity as a black disabled sportsperson means he can see discrimination from multiple angles and can see the parallels between anti-racist and anti-ablist movements and experience and identity what and how movements can learn from each other 

Christine Sun Kim’s intersecting identity as a deaf artist mother means she can see how infographics are able to transcend languages and cultures, the importance and benefit of collaboration and the risks and rewards of moving beyond the deaf world, where exposure to oppression is reduced but opportunities are also limited. 

Chay Brown’s intersecting identity as a trans gay man with mental health difficulties means he is aware of the barrier that anxiety can add to “trying to read people’s intentions when the communication is not necessarily verbal” (ParaPride, 2023, 1:49-2:01). 

Recurring themes highlighted in the interviews. 

Importance of visibility:

• “it felt right that maybe this is the best way where we can shove or force our deafness or our existence or our deaf voice, and do that in their everyday lives, in their everyday space” (Art21, 2023, 11:33-11:47)  
• “Scale equals visbility, and that has the ability to shape social norms” (Art21, 2023, 12:36-12:40)
• “If you don’t see us, we have no place to be” (Art21, 2023, 12:55) 
• Examples of racist and ablist language experienced in the past and how the reduction of this might lead people to think the problems no longer exist but the systemic discrimination remains and is harder to point to and deal with (Paralympics GB, 2020).

Intersectionality as a bridge between different experiences and movements:

• Adepitan talking about seeing discrimination from multiple angles 
• Sun Kim talking about openness to collaboration 
• Brown talking about community events including everyone “if we’re not working for disabled trans people we’re not working for the trans community because we’re missing people out” (ParaPride, 2023, 8:46-8:55). 

Disability considerations in my teaching context – drawing on UAL data and my own experience. 

Lack of teaching space available means if I want to deliver sessions in the library I have to use space that is potentially not accessible – e.g. no captions, physical restrictions.

Lots of content I deliver is based around screens which is not accessible for any students with sight problems and the support available for this, e.g. alt text or recordings, might not be possible during live, in-person teaching. 

The inconsistent availability of content in other formats – ebooks, audiobooks etc – is often confusing for students who might fairly assume that everything is available in whichever format they prefer and then disengage when they realise it is not the case. As I have limited time interacting with cohorts (and planning content) I usually cannot address this in my teaching. Additionally, often the content that is available in multiple formats is more mainstream and therefore might not support diverse perspectives which can exacerbate disengagement with the resources and support available. 

Captions are required by one course I support but I interact with them infrequently which means I can forget, if this was something automatically enabled in any teaching space in the university it would remove a barrier for staff and students.

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References

Art21 (2023) Christine Sun Kim in “Friends & Strangers” – Season 11 | Art21. 1 November. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NpRaEDlLsI&t=83s (Accessed: 23 April 2025).

Paralympics GB (2020) Ade Adepitan gives amazing explanation of systemic racism. 16 October. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAsxndpgagU (Accessed: 23 April 2025).

ParaPride (2023) Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month 2023. 13 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc&t=15s (Accessed: 23 April 2025).