Prelims

Half Title Page

TOWARD NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

Series Page

ADVANCES IN LIBRARIANSHIP

Advances in Librarianship Editor

• Bharat Mehra, The University of Alabama, Series Editor

Advances in Librarianship Editorial Board

• Denise E. Agosto, Drexel University

• Wade Bishop, University of Tennessee Knoxville

• John Buschman, Seton Hall University

• Michelle Caswell, University of California Los Angeles

• Ursula Gorham, University of Maryland

• Sandra Hughes-Hassell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• R. David Lankes, University of South Carolina

• Don Latham, Florida State University

• Jerome Offord, Lincoln University of Missouri

• Ricardo L. Punzalan, University of Maryland

• Brian Wentz, Shippensburg University

• Lynn Westbrook, University of Texas

Title Page

ADVANCES IN LIBRARIANSHIP - VOLUME 51

TOWARD NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE: THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE 2018 WEST VIRGINIA TEACHERS' STRIKE

BY

SCOTT SIKES

Emory & Henry College, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Copyright © 2023 Scott Sikes.

Published under exclusive license by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80382-380-5 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-379-9 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-381-2 (Epub)

ISSN: 0065-2830 (Series)

Contents

Series Editor's Introduction

I am delighted to take this opportunity and introduce myself as the new Series Editor of Advances in Librarianship since January 2021. In this capacity, I plan to extend the series' impact via integrating a critical perspective that spotlights social justice and inclusive praxis from the shadows to become an emerging canon at the very core of who we are and what we value as legit in Library and Information Science (LIS) scholarship and practice. This strategic vision requires destabilizing of entrenched hegemonies within our privileged ranks and external communities to alleviate intersecting political, economic, social, and cultural anxieties, and power imbalances we witness today. As we move toward the quarter-century mark, we also need to effectively document such paradigmatic shifts in LIS, serving as a foundation of inspiration upon which, together in our multiple identities and diversities, we can proudly contribute to the building of a meaningful society toward a brighter future for our children to inherit.

New stimulating models reimagining (or extending) the roles for cultural memory institutions (e.g., libraries, museums, archives, schools, etc.) and the field of information are much required to develop symbolic and real infrastructures for moving us forward. We also need to better tell our stories of information activism and community mobilization in the face of overwhelming challenges to human existence, from forces of neoliberal corporatization, political ransacking, media irresponsibility, climate change, environmental degradation, pandemic dis/misinformation, etc. What do the contemporary threats of human extinction and cultural decay mean for LIS professionals, be it scholars, researchers, educators, practitioners, students, and others embedded in a variety of information settings? Not only does it require actions in the “doing” of resistance via information to decenter dysfunctional powerbrokers and their oppressions and entitled privileges. However, disseminating a forward-thinking agenda and narrative beyond our internally focused bastardized institutional bastions is equally important, as we adopt an active stance to promote fairness, justice, equity/equality, change agency, empowerment, community building, and community development.

Advances in Librarianship holds a special place in the hands, hearts, and minds of readers as a key platform to support creative ideas and practices that change and better articulate the vital contributions of libraries and the impact of information on diverse multicultural communities in a global network information society. Moving forward, my aim for the series is to engage our diverse professional communities in critical discourse that enable real transformations to occur. It is important to propel progress in shifting entrenched positionalities in LIS, while making visible content related to the “margins.” Decentering canons and practices toward equity of representation, inclusivity, and progressive change will naturally occur. Intersecting social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals in recent times demand an urgent response from the LIS professions in this regard.

I am truly honored and privileged to build on the legacy of Paul T. Jaeger, who served as Series Editor of Advances in Librarianship since 2013. His research helped to mobilize LIS in addressing concerns surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion more substantially beyond past lip service, also shaping the focus of the book series. I plan to operationalize new directions for single- or multi-authored book-length explorations and edited collections by shifting focus on understudied spaces, invisible populations from the margins, and knowledge domains that have been under-researched or under-published in what we consider as high impactful venues in LIS and beyond. Examples might involve a reflective journey that established, or newly emerging LIS scholars, researchers, practitioners, and students critically reflect, assess, evaluate, and propose solutions or actions to change entrenched practices and systemic imbalanced inequities in different library and information-related settings. It might also involve decolonizing LIS publication industries in their biased Euro/Anglo-centricities with inclusion of content from geographical diversities around the world.

I am reaching out to our multiple audiences for their support toward these goals in spreading the word for proposals to new volumes in the series. Let us find our “collective voice” in the LIS professions to make us all uncomfortable as we continue to “push the buttons,” thereby, becoming stronger in our quest to further social justice and develop our humanity, human dignity, respect, and potential to the fullest.

Bharat Mehra

EBSCO Endowed Chair in Social Justice and Professor

School of Library and Information Studies

University of Alabama

About the Author

Scott Sikes received his Ph.D. in Communication and Information from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He is the Director of the Appalachian Center for Civic Life at Emory & Henry College in southwestern Virginia and is an Assistant Professor and the Chair of the Interdisciplinary Program in Civic Innovation.

Acknowledgments

This work would not have been possible without the assistance and support of multiple people. At the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Suzie Allard, Carolyn Hank, and Tamar Shirinian were invaluable teachers and guides as I conducted the research that led to this book.

As a mentor and colleague, Bharat Mehra has shaped my understanding of the field of library and information science, has served as a model for work that is focused on issues of social justice, and has helped me become a stronger scholar and writer.

I can claim no better friend than Tal Stanley who, over the course of an ongoing conversation that has lasted many years now, has helped me in innumerable ways clarify my thinking and my writing.

I am utterly grateful for the love and support of my spouse, Felicia Lowman-Sikes, who helps me find the right direction by asking hard questions and by listening with patience and affection as I puzzle my way through the vexing issues in my mind. She and our daughter, Madeline, are my biggest sources of strength and encouragement.

Most importantly, I am thankful to every West Virginia teacher who took the time to talk with me for this project. They were willing and enthusiastic contributors, never hesitating to share or to answer my questions. The heart of this story belongs to them.