EveryLibrary Institute Announces a Special Issue of The Political Librarian, “Weaponized Politics and Dismantled Policies: Defending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in America's Libraries and Cultural Institutions.
A new special issue of the EveryLibrary Institute’s open-access academic journal, The Political Librarian, aims to help the sector understand how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives in libraries are facing coordinated political attacks at every level of government.
This new issue, “Weaponized Politics and Dismantled Policies: Defending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in America's Libraries and Cultural Institutions” provides twenty three articles analyzing and discussing how the Trump administration’s Executive Orders targeting DEI training, programming, and leadership in federal agencies such as IMLS, NEH, and NEA represent not just a bureaucratic shift but a deliberate dismantling of long-standing commitments to access, equity, and representation, offering a wide range of perspectives and ideas.
It is critically important for library leaders to examine how these orders, along with efforts to erase marginalized histories at institutions like the Library of Congress, National Archives, and the Smithsonian, signal a pernicious trend in public policy that weaponizes neutrality and privacy to suppress identity, history, and truth. The submissions in this issue come from library professionals at all levels, including administrators, educators, researchers, policy analysts, and other stakeholders.
We are honored to have Dr. Nicole A. Cooke, the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and Professor at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina, and Dr. Aisha M. Johnson, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Outreach at the Georgia Institute of Technology Library, serve as guest editors for this issue. Their vision and collaboration with the team at EveryLibrary Institute have yielded a robust and unique issue of our academic journal.
Dr. Nicole A. Cooke reflects, “Working on this special issue has been an honor. The contributors brought honesty, courage, and deep insight to a moment when the field is under intense political pressure. They document how censorship, anti-DEI legislation, and institutional retreat shape our work, and they offer frameworks and practices that refuse silence and protect equity. Their pieces show the field with clear eyes and push us to imagine institutions that serve people with integrity and care. I am grateful for every author who trusted us with their work. I hope readers sit with these essays and use them to strengthen their own commitments to justice, truth, and community.”
“This special issue of The Political Librarian, 'Defending DEI and the Politics of Inclusion,' represents a clear commitment to curating scholarly opportunities for diverse voices prepared to confront the escalating political, legislative, and ideological challenges facing diversity, equity, and inclusion work in libraries across the LIS profession,” Dr. Aisha M. Johnson adds. “As a guest editor, I am proud to promote strategic leadership and relentless advocacy as well as illuminate how all libraries and information professionals uphold inclusive practices, protect vulnerable communities, and advance equitable access in an era of erasure and division. It is my hope that this issue is recognized by practitioners as a valuable guide and incorporated into iSchool and SLIS curricula to support the preparation of future advocates and leaders.”
Please visit “The Political Librarian”, which is hosted by Washington University Libraries on its Open Scholarship Journal platform.
Link to issue: https://journals.library.wustl.edu/pollib/issue/1983/info/
Contributors:
“Truth-telling in library land: In defense of emancipatory and justice-based frameworks in library and information science,” by Jamillah R. Gabriel and Amber Matthews
“What Could Have Been?: Surveying the Labor Impact of the 2025 Executive Orders on GLAM Workers,” by Raegan Stearns, Alphie Garcia and Jina DuVernay
“Defending DEI and the Politics of Inclusion by Engaging Them: Postcards from the Edge of Someone Else’s Dream,” by Joseph Winberry
“Goliath Lost,” by Teneka Williams
“From Archive to Action: Building a Black-Centered Information Ecology Through BGLAM,” by kYmberly Miesha Dionn Keeton
“I Have Friends Everywhere”: A Fieldguide for Community Archive Activists,’ by Joseph Sherren and Ronald Padrón
“Citation Please: Executive Orders, DEI, and the Fight for Intellectual Freedom,” by Aisha M. Johnson
“We Will Not Be Erased: A Militant Manifesto for Libraries,” by Nicole Cooke
“Halting the Digital Equity Act: Stop-Work Order on Bridge for Digital Divide,” by Kara Malenfant
“Haunted by the Past,” by Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott
“Coordinated DEI Political Attacks in President Trump’s Executive Orders through the Lens of Critical Theory: Libraries Deconstructing Dysfunctional Political Rhetoric to Further Social Justice,” by Bharat Mehra and an anonymous author
“Universities as Sites of Class Conflict,” by Nicholas Cummins
“We Already Know (Better): Private Thoughts, C/overt Harm, And A Call to Center Beneficence in Librarianship,” by Kaetrena Davis Kendrick
“In My Mother’s Compound: The Consequences of the Erasure of Igbo Women’s Trauma During the Biafran War and Its Relations to the Nullification of African-American Womanist History in the United States,” by Kimberly Chiamaka Okeke
“What is Lost in 'Restoring Truth and Sanity:" Queer Approaches to Absence, Silence, and Erasure in Archival Description,” Evan M Allgood and Travis L Wagner
“Land of the Free, Home of the Brave: Maximizing Free Speech in Brave Spaces to Support Diversity,” by Sarah Beth Nelson and John William Nelson
“Library Censorship As a Health and Safety Issue,” by Bill Crowley
“You work for the public; your thoughts are not sacred: Responding to Antelman’s false crisis in the privacy of thought,” by John Mack Freeman
“When your work becomes illegal: Navigating anti-DEI Laws in Kentucky,” by Alexandra Howard and Courtney Shareef
“Inclusive Collection Development Doesn't Stop at the Statement: Access and Reference Service at Schlesinger Library as Case Study,” by Mimosa Shah and Madeleine Murphy
“Between Compliance and Belonging: Navigating DEI in Restrictive Climates,” by Eric Z Glenn
Webinar Series- “Weaponized Politics and Dismantled Policies: Defending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in America's Libraries and Cultural Institutions.”
EveryLibrary Institute will conduct a lunch-hour lecture series with contributors to this issue of The Political Librarian on EveryLibrary Live! on Facebook and YouTube at 1 pm ET every Monday from January 12th to March 2nd (and on-demand anytime).
Contributors will join EveryLibrary Institute Executive Director John Chrastka in conversation.
Visit EveryLibrary's Facebook page for more information.
January 19: Nicole A. Cooke and Aisha M. Johnson discuss this Special Issue of The Political Librarian, “Defending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Politics of Representation,” and the impetus for the project.
January 26 - webinar 1: The Executive Orders
Evan M Allgood and Travis L Wagner discuss their article, “What Is Lost in 'Restoring Truth and Sanity': Queer Approaches to Absence, Silence, and Erasure in Archival Description.”
February 2 - webinar 2: Resisting the Orders
John Mack Freeman discusses his article “You Work for the Public; Your Thoughts Aren’t Sacred: Responding to Antelman’s False Crisis in the Privacy of Thought.”
February 9 - webinar 3: The Realities of the Orders
Sarah Beth Nelson and John William Nelson discuss their article “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave: Maximizing Free Speech in Brave Spaces to Support Diversity.”
February 16 - webinar 4: Defying the Orders
Bharat Mehra discusses his article that he and an anonymous coauthor wrote, “Coordinated DEI Political Attacks in President Trump’s Executive Orders Through the Lens of Critical Theory: Libraries Deconstructing Dysfunctional Political Rhetoric to Further Social Justice.”
February 23 - webinar 5: The Orders’ Impact on Higher Education
Teneka Williams discusses her article, “ Goliath Lost.”
March 2nd - webinar 6: Surviving the Orders
Raegan Stearns, Alphie Garcia, and Jina DuVernay discuss their article, “What Could Have Been?: Surveying the Labor Impact of the 2025 Executive Orders on GLAM Workers.”
Call For Papers - Issue 9.1, Spring 2026
We invite submissions to a Spring 2026 special issue of The Political Librarian, our journal of public policy, politics, and libraries. This issue aims to engage with the critical and rapidly evolving political crisis that threatens the ecosystem of community anchor institutions. While the threats to public libraries and public schools may be the top stories right now, all education, knowledge, memory, and cultural heritage institutions in the U.S. are facing similar threats. The Spring 2026 issue of Political Librarian seeks to bring together perspectives from all types of institutions under threat to share experiences, build common ground, and be part of the process of crafting a unified response to the laws and policies seeking to undermine the education, knowledge, memory, and cultural heritage institutions and infrastructure in the United States. Please look for a Call for Papers in January 2026.