Biblioteconomia critica e decolonizzazione delle collezioni

Abstract

Critical librarianship places librarianship in an active position in society. Critical librarians strive to reduce library practices that might reinforce, consciously or unconsciously, systems of oppression in society. One aspect is decolonization. This means avoiding practices that can reinforce a colonial approach, that is discrimination according to race, ethnicity, gender, and removing all barriers towards an equitable access to information. The article firstly defines the concept of decolonization, from the writings of Aimé Césaire, then it applies it to libraries, recalling the work of UNESCO in the 70’s to solve “the book hunger” in the Global South and getting to UN Agenda 2030. Data about the contemporary book market are included as examples of issues in collection development.