ACL 201 — Lib, Archives, & Literacies
Focusing on the nature of libraries and archives as sites of justice, empowerment, resistance, and agency for diverse communities, this interdisciplinary course examines the special role that libraries and archives, as community organizations, play in both building individuals' literacy practices and expanding communities' access to literacy. In both historical and contemporaneous contexts, students will critically examine the ways in which diverse communities build libraries and archives and establish them as educational, communal, and cultural sites. Students engage with topics including, but not limited to, the role of the public library and archive as publicly funded literacy space, the diverse range of libraries and archives, the practices of resource selection and censorship, the role of the library in times of disaster, the role that space and design play in supporting literacy practices, and questions about how libraries and archives evolve to support the ever-expanding literacy needs of the communities they serve. Students will visit and observe libraries and archives in the New York City region.