Monthly Archives: March 2021

CPDWL Podcast Project Season 2, Episode 6: Jonathan Hernández with Sara Ulloa

Colleagues, we are excited to announce the our final episode of the CPDWL Podcast Project (Season 2) where we feature library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.

To see the episode, see here: https://anchor.fm/ifla-cpdwl/episodes/S2E6-Jonathan-Hernndez-with-Sara-Ulloa-In-Spanishen-Espaol-eo3apu

Transcript and translation are below. Transcribed/Translated by Juanita de Sumar.

Our guest is Dr. Jonathan Hernández. Jonathan Hernández is an associated researcher at the Library and Information Institute (IIBI) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) where he is also a library professor. His research interest focuses on information diversity, misinformation, and digital forgotten.  He is a former President of the Professional Library Association of Mexico (CNB) and currently, he is a member of the IFLA Governing Board.

Jonathan Hernández se desempeña como investigador asociado en el Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliotecológicas y de la Información de la UNAM en donde trabaja temas como infodiversidad, acceso a la información y desinformación, forma parte del Seminario “Información y Sociedad” del mismo instituto y es profesor del Posgrado en Bibliotecología y Estudios de la Información. Ha sido presidente del Colegio Nacional de Bibliotecarios, A.C. y actualmente forma parte de la Junta de Gobierno de la Federación Internacional de Bibliotecas y Asociaciones Bibliotecarias (IFLA).

This conversation was conducted in Spanish by Sara Ulloa, a school librarian from Peru and also a CPDWL Section member.


Transcript / Transcripción

Sara [00:00:02] Hola, bienvenidas y bienvenidos al podcast de la sección de Desarrollo Profesional Continuo y Aprendizaje en el Lugar de Trabajo de la IFLA, la Federación Internacional de Asociaciones de Bibliotecarios y Bibliotecas.

En este espacio conversamos con profesionales de la carrera de bibliotecología e información para conocer sobre su desarrollo profesional. En esta oportunidad contamos con la presencia de Jonathan Hernández, desde México, un joven y muy aspirante bibliotecólogo, con un claro liderazgo. 

Conocí a Jonathan cuando lo escuché en una conferencia que dio acá en Perú en la Universidad Católica, pues le gusta participar en numerosas conferencias abogando por el acceso a la información, la inclusión de las bibliotecas en la Agenda 2030 y la gobernanza de internet.

Estudió en la UNAM, la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, donde se encuentra muy activo, por ejemplo, es investigador asociado del Instituto de Bibliotecas e Información y miembro del seminario “Información y Sociedad”, donde se estudian temas como desinformación, censura, privacidad y olvido digital. 

Sara [00:01:15] Jonathan Bienvenido.

Jonathan [00:01:18] Muchísimas gracias, Sara, es realmente un placer estar aquí compartiendo contigo y especialmente para la IFLA, sobre todos estos temas que vamos a tratar.

Sara [00:01:29] Ok, para empezar, me gustaría que volvamos un poco a tus inicios, a cuando estabas decidiendo qué estudiar. ¿Qué fue aquello que te impulsó a estudiar Bibliotecología? ¿Hubo alguna influencia?

Jonathan [00:01:43] Pues mira, realmente es muy interesante esta pregunta, porque normalmente cuando entramos a la carrera siempre nos preguntan eso. Porque como sabrás, Bibliotecología no es precisamente la carrera más popular, sobre todo cuando estás a punto de aspirar a una carrera universitaria. Entonces, los que ya tienen un conocimiento de lo que es la carrera es porque de alguna forma tienen algún amigo o algún familiar cercano que la estudió y la recomendó, o que de alguna forma su desarrollo ha estado fuertemente vinculado con la biblioteca. Entonces, en mi caso tuve dos familiares que sí estudiaron, digamos, la carrera. Uno de ellos se dedicó a otra cosa, pero yo sí me puse a ver, digamos, el plan de estudios. Dije, pues vamos a ver qué me ofrece la carrera. Y me gustó. Realmente me gustó en ese momento y pues bueno, además indirectamente mi vida siempre ha estado de alguna forma marcada por las bibliotecas y la verdad es que jamás pensé estar dedicado al cien por ciento a esto. Pero eso fue lo que me impulsó. Sí, fue una curiosidad por saber de qué se trataba y me encantó.

Sara [00:02:54] ¿Y qué es lo que más te gustó de la profesión?

Jonathan [00:02:58] Pues me gustó muchísimo las posibilidades que puedes tener; es decir, la variedad de enfoques que tiene nuestra carrera, nuestra disciplina. Uno cuando entra, como entra yo creo a la mayoría de todas las carreras, pues hay una incertidumbre. En qué voy a trabajar; realmente solamente me voy a acotar a este tema; si sólo es catalogar, si sólo es servicios; si sólo es usuarios. Pero cada área tiene unas posibilidades impresionantes. O sea, la propia organización de la información hoy se ve maximizada con los datos, con los grandes volúmenes de información que estamos produciendo, etcétera. Entonces, a mí es lo que más me entusiasma, es decir, todas estas variedades de enfoques que tiene nuestra disciplina y sobre todo la comunidad. La comunidad que se forma, que se genera, que comparte.

Sara [00:03:49] ¿Y cuál ha sido tu experiencia de trabajo en el campo bibliotecario, ya ejerciéndolo?

Jonathan [00:03:56]  Bueno, yo afortunadamente, lo digo porque Bibliotecología al ser una carrera, digamos, donde hay poco número de alumnos estudiando, en el campo laboral, es en cierta forma amplio. Entonces, normalmente, al menos aquí en mi país, a partir de la mitad de la carrera, ya poco a poco te puedes ir insertando en el mercado laboral. Entonces yo empecé, digamos, catalogando en cuestiones de catalogaciones de bibliotecas digitales, lo cual me ayudó muchísimo. Es un campo realmente muy apasionante y en el que además aprendes mucho porque es toda una cuestión de estructura semántica, de relaciones, etcétera. Posteriormente, cuando la vida me llevó por la educación bibliotecaria, yo comencé a trabajar en el posgrado en bibliotecología y estudios de la información de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UNAM. Y pues bueno, aproveché también para estudiar justamente la maestría y el doctorado. Y luego me dediqué ya plenamente a la investigación. Pero en el transcurso, digamos, hice varios proyectos con bibliotecas; por ahí también con asociaciones entonces, y con otros enfoques también.

Sara [00:05:08] Ya que lo mencionas, sí, realmente tienes una amplia experiencia, ya eres doctor en la carrera. Pero entremos al tema de tu participación en los gremios

[00:05:22] Para ser tan joven tienes una gran participación tanto en los gremios de tu país como del extranjero. En México, por ejemplo, fuiste el presidente del Colegio Nacional de Bibliotecarios. ¿Cuál fue el reto más grande que tuviste que enfrentar?

Jonathan [00:05:38] Muchas gracias, Sara. Si, efectivamente, por ejemplo, en el caso del Colegio yo participé desde que terminé la carrera. Como sabrás, en el Colegio para ser socio tienes que ser titulado, entonces yo comencé precisamente luego luego terminé la carrera y me titulé, a afiliarme, a ir a sus congresos, etcétera. Tener una participación con AMBC. AMBAC data de mi participación cuando yo estaba en la carrera. Tienen un foro de estudiantes que me parece algo muy valioso, sobre todo porque te van introduciendo allí a los jóvenes en el campo gremial. En cuanto al reto, pues yo creo que en general las asociaciones enfrentan retos comunes y retos muy importantes: la membresía, posicionar al gremio, y visibilizar. Entonces yo creo que esos fueron los retos más grandes durante la gestión en la que afortunadamente tuve el honor de estar al frente, pues tuve que enfrentarme. Y también por otra parte, es demostrar que las personas jóvenes podemos estar a la altura de los retos. Espero haberlo estado junto con mi consejo directivo. La gran mayoría éramos jóvenes también afortunadamente tuvimos personas con experiencia que yo creo que esa es la clave. Es decir, relacionarnos y colaborar gente joven con gente que ya tiene experiencia. porque tenemos mucho que aprender. Entonces, para mí esos fueron los retos más grandes: la membresía, posicionar al gremio y demostrar precisamente que los jóvenes si podemos mantener y estar a la altura.

Sara [ [00:07:04] Si sabes, eso me sorprende. Justo lo comentaba con algunos colegas sobre que la participación en los gremios de los jóvenes. Casi no se da, al menos no en mi país. donde yo veo que no se da. Y como que uno espera terminar la carrera y que pasen muchos años más. Y también, no es fácil, porque si no te has titulado, pues aquí también en Perú no puedes ser parte del Colegio. ¿No?

Jonathan Claro.

Sara Y algunos, de hecho yo soy yo una de ellas y no puedo formar parte del Colegio porque estoy todavía haciendo mi tesis. Entonces, por eso me parece bien interesante que nos compartes tu experiencia.

[00:07:45] Y en cuanto al participación en gremio internacional, pues eres miembro de la IFLA y participas en su comité, en el comité de Libre Acceso a la información y libertad de expresión, ¿verdad?

Jonathan [00:07:59] Así es, claro.

Sara [00:08:01] ¿Y ahora? Ahora hace poco has sido elegido miembro de su Junta, de la Junta Directiva de la IFLA. Cuéntanos un poco sobre ello, en qué consiste y cuáles son tus expectativas respecto a estar en ese cargo

Jonathan [00:08:18] Claro. Mira, ha sido una experiencia muy enriquecedora. Bueno, me gustaría contar de que mi primera participación en la IFLA fue hace aproximadamente diez años. Si por ahí del 2010, fue un concurso, la IFLA hace una selección de la mejor ponencia de estudiantes y pues bueno, quedamos en un lugar. Me apoyó mi universidad y me fui. En ese momento el Congreso fue en Gotemburgo, me parece, si, y a partir de ahí pude ver la dimensión de la IFLA, todo lo que hace, la colaboración con otras personas, el gremio internacional y justo yo me presenté en la sesión del FAIFE o [feif], como lo queramos [pronunciar]. A partir de ese momento no he dejado de estar activo en la IFLA y en el caso del FAIFE, pues me gustó muchísimo la forma en la que se defendía, la forma en la que se abordaban las cuestiones de libertad de expresión y acceso a la información, desde una perspectiva bibliotecaria. Entonces ahora se están haciendo cosas muy interesantes en este comité. Se han lanzado digamos estatutos, se han lanzado directrices sobre cuestiones que afectan todas estas libertades y cuestiones que pueden ser amenazas. Entonces tuvimos un webinar sobre privacidad muy interesante y hemos estado colaborando también con otras secciones, como por ejemplo, para discutir y combatir las fake news, etcétera.

Jonathan [00:09:41] Y entonces, ahora en lo de la junta directiva. Pues bueno, también me gustaría comentarte de manera muy breve que yo participé en una convocatoria que tuvo la IFLA sobre el Programa de Líderes, de líderes de la IFLA; programa que ha sido muy interesante, que nos seleccionaron a aproximadamente ocho. No recuerdo exactamente bien el número, pero fuimos grandes amigos, somos grandes colegas, también amigos de distintas partes del mundo, precisamente como una forma de entrenamiento para que nosotros a su vez podamos inspirar, podamos liderar y podamos colaborar con nuestros colegas, con nuestros amigos aquí en nuestros países. Este programa de liderazgo me dio la oportunidad de conocer, digamos, las entrañas de la IFLA, y después, de relacionarme, de poder contribuir y de poder también asistir a varios eventos en representación de la IFLA. Fue una experiencia maravillosa y por supuesto me enamoré más de la IFLA y me dio pie para poder lanzarme para la Junta de Gobierno de la IFLA y ya en la Junta de Gobierno lo que hacemos es de alguna forma la dirección por la que va la IFLA, es decir, aprobar algunas cuestiones, proponer determinados asuntos y velar también por la cuestión financiera, la sustentabilidad de nuestra Federación. Y particularmente ahorita estamos de lleno en unas reformas para la nueva gobernanza de la IFLA, que está muy interesante. Es un cambio muy, muy importante, porque la IFLA tiene ya muchísimos años, ha estado cambiando también estructuras por determinados tiempos, pero ahora, ahora se viene un cambio importante porque es que han hecho varias adecuaciones para hacer una federación más inclusiva y en eso es lo que hemos estado trabajando todo este año.

Sara [00:11:32] Ya. Y a nivel de participación, como tu ves esta región ¿como ves la participación desde Latinoamérica en estos comités? Ahora que estás en esta junta directiva.

Jonathan [00:11:57] Y yo creo que hay muchas oportunidades. Es decir, tendríamos que ver también las necesidades de cada país. Es decir, ahora yo lo que he visto durante estos últimos años es precisamente una participación más activa de Latinoamérica. Por supuesto, necesitamos más, queremos más y sobre todo de los jóvenes. Entonces, Latinoamérica ha tenido una trayectoria con IFLA muy importante. Hay países que han tenido, digamos, grandes oportunidades y que por su tamaño o por la situación bibliotecaria, por todas sus instituciones bibliotecarias, han tenido una mayor incidencia. Por ahí tenemos Brasil, México, Argentina, etcétera, pero ahora se están involucrando más países y esto es gracias precisamente a la tecnología, gracias a los mecanismos que ha hecho la IFLA de Inclusión, gracias a que tenemos también, poco a poco vamos por ahí, personas de Latinoamérica involucrándonos en comités.

[00:12:53] Un claro ejemplo eres tú, Sara, en este comité y varios también que estamos en otros comités que no son necesariamente el comité de LAC y que así la gente también nos voltea a ver y nosotros también proponemos. Y me gustaría detenerme un poco también en esta cuestión de la situación gremial en Latinoamérica de los jóvenes. Muchas veces los movimientos gremiales no son atractivos precisamente para jóvenes por muchas cosas: no se ven reflejados, a veces son las mismas prácticas desde hace décadas, no hay programas para nuevos profesionales. Entonces eso también es una situación que detiene y creo que es necesario también refrescar todos estos movimientos. Pero también es importante que los jóvenes vayan y participen entonces, porque uno también luego se vuelve muy cómodo. Empezar a decir que bueno, la asociación no me toma en cuenta, la asociación es esto, siempre es lo mismo. Pero si yo no voy y si yo no propongo, pues va a seguir siendo así por muchos, muchos años. Yo creo que hay muchas ganas, pero hay que también ver las características de las asociaciones de LAC, porque la mayor parte de ellas es trabajo voluntario. Y eso pues también limita también la capacidad de acción de las asociaciones. 

Sara [00:14:04] Sí, ciertamente. Este… Ahora quiero ahondar un poquito en tu desarrollo profesional, Según la guía de competencias en el campo de la bibliotecología, cada profesional es el principal responsable de perseguir el aprendizaje continuo, que mejore constantemente su conocimiento y destrezas. ¿Cómo es que tú mantienes tu desarrollo profesional? ¿Cómo alimentas tus conocimientos y destrezas?

Jonathan [00:14:33] Mira, yo creo que es una pregunta muy, muy interesante porque, yo coincido con varios profesores que tuve, de hecho, esto lo aprendí de una de ellas, que el bibliotecario, la bibliotecaria, tiene que estar constantemente actualizado, es decir, una profesora me acuerdo que nos decía que sería muy vergonzoso que un bibliotecario no esté al día, ¿no?

[00:14:52] Independientemente de la sección, del departamento, del área de servicios de donde esté, tiene que estar actualizado de lo que pasa en su entorno y en el mundo. Entonces, al final de cuentas trabajamos con información. Entonces, una nueva manera de mantener el estudio profesional, además de estar actualizado con las noticias, etcétera, es ir y asistir a seminarios, a talleres, meterse, en donde podamos tener tiempo. Y eso también va a alimentar nuestros conocimientos, las destrezas que podamos tener. El aprendizaje, el autoaprendizaje es fundamental y sobre todo en esta época de pandemia en la que tenemos todos los seminarios a un clic. Nada más es cuestión de encontrar un poco de tiempo. Pero yo estoy de acuerdo con la guía de competencias a la que tú te refieres. Cada profesional al final de cuentas va a ser el responsable de tener, de proseguir el aprendizaje continuo y esto sería, digamos, la forma de mantener el desarrollo profesional; estar actualizado en Twitter, en Facebook, ver las noticias, ver de mí área, de mi interés, que es lo que están hablando aquí en Latinoamérica, en Estados Unidos, en Europa, en Asia, en otros países, en otras regiones del mundo. Porque también es importante tener una visión más amplia de lo que sucede en el resto del mundo, no quedarnos solamente con la visión de una sola región.

Sara [00:16:15] Y teniendo en cuenta que este cambio constante de las necesidades de las sociedades, el cambio tecnológico, el crecimiento del conocimiento profesional, exigen que como bibliotecarios pues ampliemos nuestros conocimientos y utilicemos nuestras habilidades de manera continua.

[00:16:33] ¿Cuáles crees tú que son aquellas habilidades importantes que se necesitan en el campo de la bibliotecología hoy en día? Si me puedes mencionar, digamos tres.

Jonathan [00:16:45] Tres! Híjole!   Mira, se me ocurren varias, pero podríamos, digamos resumirlas, en una habilidad de comprensión. Es decir, es una habilidad bastante básica. No me refiero a comprensión lectora, sino de tratar de discernir todo aquello que es una capacidad crítica. A eso me quiero referir. Una capacidad crítica de todo lo que uno lee, de todo lo que consume uno, es una capacidad crítica. Me parece una habilidad importante para el campo bibliotecológico hoy en día. También una actitud colaborativa. Yo creo que eso es fundamental, sin colaboración básicamente nos quedamos aislados y no crecemos. Y yo creo que la responsabilidad ética puede ser una habilidad importante también para todo lo que hacemos, siempre tener esta cuestión ética en todo lo que hacemos, en todo lo que desarrollamos, en nuestro actuar, en nuestros desarrollos de investigaciones, en nuestro trato con las demás personas.

Sara [00:17:47] Entonces, comprensión, colaboración y ética profesional.

Jonathan [00:17:52] Que creo que la primera sería actitud crítica, capacidad crítica. Ajá.

Sara [00:17:58] Ok, muy bien. Sí. Bueno, mencionaste que eres investigador. ¿Cuáles son los temas que más te interesan Investigar ahora? ¿que estás investigando o cuál es tu aspiración como investigador?

Jonathan [00:18:12] Mira, desde 2017 aproximadamente, comenzamos en el Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliotecológicas y de la Información a tratar el tema de las noticias falsas, de la desinformación y bueno, de todos estos nombres que se han venido acumulando para el fenómeno de la desinformación.

[00:18:30] Entonces, ese es el tema que por ahora me está interesando, porque en estos momentos y en este año por la pandemia, pues bueno, el tema fue, es más trascendental y sobre todo está impactando distintas áreas. Entonces por ahora, digamos, este es el tema central de mi investigación, aunque naturalmente yo también estoy en cuestiones relacionadas con la infodiversidad, el cual es un tema que me apasiona muchísimo, lo he venido trabajando ya desde varios años. La infodiversidad como aquella diversidad informativa que tenemos en el mundo, la variedad de los soportes, de los registros, etcétera y cómo nosotros como bibliotecólogos podemos estudiarlos; cómo van evolucionando la información, la diversidad informativa, etcétera. Y también por ahí, que me apasiona mucho, el olvido digital. ¿Cómo es que se van los procesos de descomposición de la información digital? Pues cada vez van creciendo, ¿como es que los sistemas y nosotros como personas vamos olvidando cuestiones digitales? Entonces esos son, digamos, los temas que me interesa investigar, qué están relacionados, muy, muy relacionado con las bibliotecas y la bibliotecología.

Sara [00:19:43] Sabes que es la primera vez que lo escucho… contigo aprendo estas palabras. Recuerdo que en la conferencia cuando te escuche hablaste de estos términos infode… ¿Como dijiste? infodemia,

Jonathan infobesidad me parece… infoxicación.

 Sara infoxicación. si

Sara [00:20:03] Yo no había escuchado ese término y ahora hablas de olvido digital [risas]

Jonathan Si, este es un tema realmente muy, muy interesante porque producimos tanta información y ahora podríamos discutir esto del olvido digital por horas, porque todo ahora lo que hacemos pues está en nuestros aparatos, ya no imprimimos nuestras fotos, tan solo con nuestras fotos. ¿no? ¿Entonces qué hacemos? ¿Cómo las organizamos? ¿Cómo la recuperamos? Es un tema realmente apasionante.

Sara [00:20:30] Qué curioso, ¿no? Porque hablas de cómo recuperar la información, pero utilizamos otros términos, ¿no? el olvido digital. [risas].  

Jonathan Así es.

Sara [00:20:44] Y ¿Qué libro o qué lectura compartirías con nosotros, para nuestro aprendizaje continuo en la carrera?  

Jonathan [00:20:55]  Bueno, sin duda tenemos muchísimas lecturas muy muy interesantes para nuestro aprendizaje. Pero sí me gustaría hablar en esta pregunta, digamos a manera de memoria porque tuvimos una triste noticia hace poco que falleció uno de los grandes pilares de nuestra área aquí en México, del doctor Adolfo Rodríguez Gallardo.

[00:21:17] Y tiene una obra impresionante. Tiene un libro muy importante que se llama Formación Humanística del bibliotecólogo: hacia su recuperación. Se puede encontrar en el repositorio del IIBI y además estoy seguro de que varios ya lo han leído. Pero yo creo que es importante retomar también estos valores humanísticos del bibliotecólogo, que en algunos casos se han difuminado, y además los traigo a colación precisamente por la trayectoria del doctor Rodríguez Gallardo que, pues bueno, yo creo que es importante recordarlo a través de todo lo que nos ha dejado.

Sara [00:21:55] ¿Tienes un mentor, Jonathan?

Jonathan [00:21:58] Híjole, pues mira, a lo largo de mi carrera he tenido personas que me han apoyado muchísimo y que sin duda mi desarrollo profesional no hubiera sido el mismo. A lo mejor, mentor como ahora o sea que esté a mi lado, pues bueno no, ya se difuminan digamos esas barreras. Pero yo por ejemplo te puedo mencionar varias personas con las que comencé a trabajar. El doctor Roberto Garduño, un gran amigo o colega que fue el que digamos, me inició, digamos, porque yo empecé a trabajar con él. Y por supuesto, tendría que mencionar también a la doctora Estela Morales, quien ha sido mi tutora de maestría y de doctorado, una gran amiga y colega de la que he aprendido muchísimo.

Sara [00:22:39] ¿Y alguna persona de la carrera que te inspire, que te lleve a la reflexión?

Jonathan [00:22:48] Claro. Si Y aquí volveré a la anterior pregunta, a la de la lectura.  Y digo, a manera de memoria, e in memoriam también, voy a mencionar al doctor Rodríguez Gallardo. Sin duda el doctor Rodríguez me inspira. Lamentablemente, ahora que se nos ha ido, pues ha sido una persona, realmente que durante todos sus años promovió varias cosas. Promovió la IFLA, por ejemplo. Estuvo hace muchísimos años al frente del Comité de IFLA LAC, estuvo en la Junta de Gobierno. Tengo entendido que fue el primer latinoamericano en la Junta de Gobierno. Entonces, vamos, ha sido una persona que inspira, además de todos los cambios que hizo aquí para visibilizar a los profesionales de la bibliotecología en México y particularmente en la universidad, para que tuviéramos un status, para el que hoy él forjó, digamos, los caminos, para el instituto en el que estoy trabajando actualmente. Entonces, sin duda es una persona que inspira.

Sara [00:23:49] Sí, ya veo. Voy a buscar su libro,

Sara [00:23:52] Bueno, para terminar, voy a proceder a hacerte algunas preguntas rápidas y me respondes lo primero que se te venga a la cabeza. No tienes que pensar mucho, simplemente algo corto. Ya entonces, Jonatan, ¿qué te quita el sueño?

Jonathan [00:24:09] Híjole! el calor.

Sara [00:24:14] Si fueras el personaje de un libro, ¿cuál te gustaría ser?

Jonathan [00:24:19] Probablemente Mark Alem, de El Palacio de los Sueños, que es de un oficinista donde le llegaban los sueños de toda su comunidad y los organizaba, los clasificaba y encontraba secretos. Es una novela bastante interesante.

[00:24:36] Sí, Y te digo, no trata del área como tal, pero pues bueno, imagínate bibliotecario organizando, clasificando sueños ¿no? de la gente que llega. No es una cosa, es un viaje impresionante.

Sara [00:24:50] Si me da curiosidad. ¿La palabra que más usas?

Jonathan. Digamos profesionalmente ahorita se me ocurren desinformación, creo que ya he utilizado muchísimo. [risas]. 

Sara Ok, iba a decir híjole. has dicho híjole varias veces

Jonathan.  Ya, ahorita híjole si como buen mexicano [risas]. 

Sara.  Jonathan, ¿que has aprendido en esta cuarentena? 

Jonathan [00:25:16] Digamos a estar quieto o sentado en las sillas, lo frágil que pueden ser las sillas, si es que estamos   a cada rato sentados en el Zoom, etcétera. [00:25:27] Entonces, he aprendido a estar quieto.

Sara [00:25:31] ok una frase que te inspira.

Jonathan [00:25:36] Acabo de escuchar una frase en una de estas reuniones que hemos tenido en la IFLA, de que la estructura va de la mano con la estrategia. Entonces justo antier la escuché y hoy te la traigo en la mente muy fresca.

Sara [00:25:55] A ver. Un buen consejo profesional que te han dado.

Jonathan [00:25:59] Híjole!  volví a decir híjole! Bueno, me han dado, realmente he tenido la fortuna de que me han dado bastantes consejos. Uno de los que más recuerdo ha sido el que me comentaron hace algún tiempo.

[00:26:10] Me dijeron que si te cierran una puerta, que no importa. Da la vuelta y entras por la de atrás y vas a salir por la de adelante.

Sara [00:26:23] [risas] OK Jonathan, muchas gracias por estar aquí. Esto ha sido todo.

Jonathan [00:26:27] Muchísimas gracias, Sara, y los felicito realmente por esta serie de podcast y les mandó un gran saludo.

Sara [00:26:34] Este fue el podcast de CPDWL Hasta la próxima.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Translation into English / Podcast CPDWL in Spanish

Guest: Jonathan Hernández (Mexico)

Host: Sara Ulloa (Peru)

Transcript

Sara [00:00:02] Hello, welcome to the Podcast Project of the IFLA’s Section for Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning (CPDWL)   

This is a project where we talk with library and information sciences professionals, to learn about their professional development. In this episode our guest is Jonathan Hernández, from Mexico, a young, aspiring librarian, with a strong leadership. 

I met Jonathan when I attended his conference at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He likes to participate in conferences where he advocates for access to information, inclusion of libraries in the UN 2030 Agenda, and internet governance.

He attended UNAM, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he is currently very active as associate researcher at the Institute of Libraries and Information, and member of the “Information and Society” seminar where topics such as misinformation, censorship, privacy and digital forgetting are discussed.

Sara [00:01:15] Welcome Jonathan!

Jonathan [00:01:18] Thank you very much Sara, it is a real pleasure to be here, sharing with you, and specially for IFLA, all those topics we will be talking about.   

Sara [00:01:29] Good. I would like to start by talking a little bit about your beginnings, when you were pondering what to study. What is it that made you choose Librarianship? Was there something that influenced your decision?

Jonathan [00:01:43] Well, your question is very interesting. Normally when we are choosing a career, we are often asked that question. As you know Librarianship is not exactly the most popular career when you are looking for a way to get into university. So, there are those who already know something about it, either through a friend or a close relative who studied it and recommended it, or because they grew up with a strong connection with libraries. In my case, I have two relatives who studied librarianship. One of them is doing something else, but I looked at the curriculum and told myself, “let’s see what it is that this career offers me.” And I liked it. In fact, I liked it on the spot, and besides, indirectly, my life has always been somehow marked by libraries and, truth be said, I never thought I would be dedicating myself to it a hundred percent. But that is what drove me. I was curious to know what was that all about, and I loved it.

Sara [00:02:54] So, what is it that you liked best of the profession? 

Jonathan [00:02:58] What I really liked were the possibilities that you can have, that is, the variety of approaches that our career, our discipline, has. When you begin, and I think it happens with all careers, there is some uncertainty. What kind of work will I have?  Will I really be doing only one set of tasks? Maybe just in cataloguing; or only in services; or only users. But each area offers impressive possibilities. See, just organization of knowledge is now maximized with data, the large amount of information we produce, etc. So, what thrills me more is all these possible targets of our discipline, and above all, the community, the community that it generates, builds up, and shares.

Sara [00:03:49] And what has been your work experience as librarian, in the library field?

Jonathan [00:03:56] Well. We are fortunate. I say this because librarianship is a career where there are not big numbers of students, so the labour market is in a way quite broad.  Then usually, at least here in my country, when you are about halfway in your career, you can start inserting yourself into the labour market little by little. Therefore, I started cataloguing, with tasks related to digital libraries, and that helped me a lot. This is really a fascinating field where you can learn a lot, because it is a matter of semantic structure, relationships, etc. Later, when life took me on the path of library education, I started working towards a higher degree in librarianship and information studies in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the UNAM. So, then I decided to study for a Master and a Doctorate. After that I went full time into research. But, along the way, I worked on several projects with libraries and associations, and a few other things.

 Sara [00:05:08] Now that you mention it, you really have a wide experience, and you have a doctorate in librarianship. Now I would like to touch on your participation with defence associations.

[00:05:22] For a young person, you have a large participation with those groups, both in your country and abroad. For example, in Mexico, you were president of the Colegio Nacional de Bibliotecarios. What was the biggest challenge you had to deal with?

Jonathan [00:05:38] Thank you Sara. In effect I participated from the time I finished my studies, for example in the case of the Colegio. As you probably know, to be a member of the Colegio you need to have the degree so, as soon as I finished my studies and obtained my degree, I joined and started going to their congresses and others. I had a participation in AMBAC when I was still studying. They have a students’ forum which I consider very valuable, particularly because they start introducing young people to the professional associations’ world.  As for the challenges, I believe all associations have the same, very important, challenges: membership, positioning the association and visibility. Therefore, I think those were the greatest challenges I had to face during the administration I had the honour to preside. And, also, to demonstrate that young people can be up to facing those challenges. And I hope that I and my board proved we were up to it. Most of us were young, but fortunately we also had people with experience, and I think there you find the key. I want to say, to connect and cooperate young people with those who have experience, because we have a lot to learn. So, for me, these were the greatest challenges: membership, positioning the association and showing that young people can conduct and be up to the task.

Sara [ [00:07:04] Well, you know, that surprises me. I was just discussing with some colleagues about the lack of participation in the associations of the young colleagues; it almost doesn’t happen, at least not in my country. It seems that we wait to finish our studies and then let many more years go by. Besides, it is not easy, because if you have not finished your degree, it is the same in Peru, you cannot be part of the Colegio, right?

Jonathan True.

Sara I am one of them, and I cannot be a member of the Colegio because I am still writing my thesis. This is why I find it interesting that you share your experience with us.

[00:07:45] And regarding the participation at the international level, well, you are a member of IFLA and part of the Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) Advisory Committee, right?

Jonathan [00:07:59] Yes, I am.

Sara [00:08:01] And now? You have recently been elected member of their Board, IFLA’s Governing Board. Tell us a bit about it, what is it all about and what are your expectations related to that position. 

Jonathan [00:08:18] Sure. Look, it has been a very rewarding experience. I would like to tell you that my first participation in IFLA happened about ten years ago. Yes, around 2010 there was a competition, IFLA selected the best of papers presented by students, and we were selected. I had the support of my university and went [to the Congress]. That year it was in Gothenburg, yes, and I could see the dimension of IFLA, everything that it does, the cooperation among people, the international membership. And I attended the FAIFE section. Ever since, I have been very active in IFLA, and with FAIFE, because I really liked their way of defending and approaching the topics related to freedom of expression and access to information, from the librarianship point of view. There are many interesting things happening in this Committee. They have produced regulations, guidelines on questions affecting all these liberties and things that can constitute threats. We also had a very interesting webinar on privacy, and have collaborated also with other sections, to, for example, discuss and fight fake news, etc.

Jonathan [00:09:41] That’s it and with regard to the Governing Board. I would also like to comment briefly that I applied to the IFLA call for its International Leaders Programme. This programme was quite interesting, there were about eight of us selected, I don’t remember the exact number, but we became very good friend and colleagues, friends from different parts of the world; just a form of training to make it possible for us to be able to inspire, become leaders and be able to collaborate with our colleagues and our friends here in our countries. This leadership programme provided me with the opportunity to get to know the insides of IFLA, and later to establish relationships, be able to contribute and also, be able to attend several events representing IFLA. It was a wonderful experience, and of course made me feel more in love with IFLA, and that was the step that prompted me to be a candidate to the Governing Board. Now, as a member of the board, what we do is show the way to where IFLA goes; that is, approve some issues, propose subjects, and take care of the financial situation, the sustainability of our Federation. And particularly now we are immersed in some reforms for a new governance of IFLA, which is quite interesting. This is an extremely important change, because IFLA has existed for quite a number of years, it has been changing structures at certain times, but now, now this very important change is coming because some amendments have been proposed to make it a more inclusive federation, and this is what we have been working on all this year.

Sara [00:11:32] Great. Regarding participation, now that you are in the Governing Board, how do you see this region’s participation? How do you see the participation of Latin America in the committees? 

Jonathan [00:11:57] I believe there are many opportunities. We also need to see the needs of each country. What I have seen during the recent years, is that there is a more active participation of Latin America. Of course, we need more, we want more, specially more of the young members. Latin America has had an important trajectory within IFLA. Some countries have had, let’s say, great opportunities, they have had more influence because of their size, or their libraries situation, or their librarianship institutions. Thus, we have Brazil, Mexico Argentina, etc., but now more countries are getting involved, and this is because of technology, the inclusion mechanisms created by IFLA, and thanks to the fact that, bit by bit, Latin Americans are participating in committees.

[00:12:53] You are a clear example, Sara, being in this committee, and some others that are in other committees, not necessarily the Latin America committee. So, people turn back to watch us, and we also propose issues. And I would like to stop here to deal with the situation of youth involvement in defence associations in Latin America. Very often the associations or unions movements are not attractive for the young for many reasons: they don’t see themselves represented, they are involved in the same practices from decades ago, there are no programs for new professionals, so this is a situation that stops them, and I think it is necessary to refresh these movements. But it is also important that young professionals be present and get involved, otherwise they become lazy. Just to say, oh but the association doesn’t think of me, the association is that, or the other, it is always the same. But if I don’t go and don’t get involved, then, it is going to continue being the same for many, many years. I think there is willingness, but we must look at the characteristics of the LAC association, because most of them function with volunteer work. And that also limits the ability of the associations to operate.

Sara [00:14:04] Yes, that’s true. Now I would like to dig a little bit on your professional development. According to the CPD guidelines for librarians, each professional is the main responsible for his or her continuous learning in order to constantly improve their knowledge and abilities. How do you keep up with your professional development? How do you nurture your knowledge and abilities?

Jonathan [00:14:33] Well, I think this is a fantastic question because I agree with some of my teachers; in fact, I learned this from one of them: a librarian needs to be permanently up to date, because, as my teacher told us, it would be very shameful for librarians if they were not up to date, right?

[00:14:52] Regardless of the section, the department, or the service where they are, they need to be up to date with what is happening around them and in the world. After all, we work with information. Therefore, a way of keeping up with our professional studies, other than being aware of the news, etc., is to attend seminars, workshops, and other, when we can spare the time. That is also going to nurture our knowledge and the abilities we may have. Learning, self-learning is fundamental, and particularly during this period of pandemic when we have all the seminars one click away. It is just a matter of finding a bit of time. And I agree with the guidelines to which you made reference. Each professional has, after all, the responsibility to engage in continuous learning, and I would say, this is the way to keep up with your professional development. Keep up with Twitter, Facebook, watch the news; check my interest area, what is being said in Latin America, in the United States, in Europe, in Asia, in other countries, other regions of the world. Because it is also important to have a larger vision of what is going on in the rest of the world, and not keep only the vision of one region.

Sara [00:16:15] And, considering that this constant change in the needs of societies, the technological change, the growth of professional knowledge, demand that us, as librarians, widen our knowledge and use our capabilities constantly, [00:16:33] Which do you think are those capabilities needed in the librarianship field nowadays? If you could mention, say three. 

Jonathan [00:16:45] Three! Oh golly! Well. I can think of several, but we could summarize them in an ability to comprehend. This is a very basic capability. I am not referring to reading comprehension but to trying to differentiate everything. that is a critical capability, that is what I want to say.  Critical capability towards everything we read, what we consume. Critical capability seems to me an important ability in today’s librarianship. We also need a collaborative attitude. I think this is fundamental, without collaboration we will be basically isolated, and we will not grow.  And I think that we should also have ethical responsibility, as it can be an important ability for everything we do, always act with ethics in what we do, what we develop, how we behave, in our research work, in our behaviour with other people.

Sara [00:17:47] Good, Understanding, collaboration and professional ethics.  

Jonathan [00:17:52] For the first one, I would rather say critical attitude, critical capacity, yes.

Sara [00:17:58] Very well. Now, you mentioned that you are a researcher. Which are the topics that interest you most nowadays? What are you researching about, or what is it that you want to achieve as a researcher?

Jonathan [00:18:12] Well, approximately in 2017 we, at the Research Institute on Librarianship and Information (IIBI), started to deal with the topic of fake news, misinformation and, you know, all those names that are being used to deal with the issue of misinformation.

[00:18:30] So, this is the topic that interests me most, because now, in this year of the pandemic, the topic has momentum and is having an impact on many areas. So, this is now the core topic of my research, although I continue dealing with issues related to infodiversity, which is a topic of great interest to me and that I have been working for several years. Infodiversity, as in the variety of information we have in the world, the variety of carriers, of records, etc., and how we, librarians, can study them; how information and its diversity evolve, and so on. Another thing that I love is digital forgetting. How does the decomposition of digital information happen? This is something that keeps growing; How is it that systems and persons go about forgetting digital issues? So, these are the topics that I am interested in, as subjects of my research, and which are very much related to libraries and librarianship.

Sara [00:19:43] You know, this is the first time I hear about this… I learn all these new words when I talk to you. I remember the presentation I attended, where I head you use some of these words: info something. What is it that you said? infodemia?

 Jonathan  I think I used infobesidad  or infoxicación. (both translate as information overload. T.N)

Sara infoxicación, yes

Sara [00:20:03] I had never heard that word. And now you talk about digital forgetting [laughs]

Jonathan  Yes, this is a really interesting topic, because we produce a lot of information, so now we can spend hours discussing digital forgetting. Everything we do now stays in our electronic devices, we no longer print our photos, just talking about photos, what do we do? How do we organize them? How do we retrieve them? This is a very exciting topic.

Sara [00:20:30] This is strange because you talk about how to retrieve information, but you use other words, right? digital forgetting.  [laughs].  

Jonathan True.

Sara [00:20:44] Now. What book or reading would you share with us, for our continuing professional learning?

Jonathan [00:20:55] Well, there are certainly very many readings, highly interesting, to further our learning. But I would like to answer this question, let’s say, with a sort of memorial, because we learned recently of the passing of one of the great pillars of our profession here in Mexico, Doctor Adolfo Rodríguez Gallardo.

 [00:21:17] His works are very impressive. He wrote a very important book entitled Formación Humanística del bibliotecólogo: hacia su recuperación. [Humanistic background of the librarian: towards its recovery]. It can be found in the IIBI repository, and I am almost sure that many have already read it. But I also believe that it is important to go back to these humanistic values of librarians, which in many cases have become blurred, and that I mention here precisely because of Doctor Rodríguez Gallardo’s trajectory, because I think it is important to remember him through the works he has left us.

Sara [00:21:55] Do you have a mentor, Jonathan?

Jonathan [00:21:58] Oh golly! Well, all along my career I have had people who have helped me a lot, without whom my professional development would not have been the same. Maybe, mentor, as we understand it today, as somebody who is by my side, really not. Those barriers are somehow blurred. But I can mention, for example, several people from the time I started working. Doctor Roberto Garduño, a good friend and colleague who, you could say, started my training as I started working with him. And, of course, I surely must mention Doctor Estela Morales, who was my advisor for the master and the doctorate; a very good friend and colleague from whom I have learned so much.

Sara [00:22:39] And was there a person in your career that inspires you? Who makes you think back? 

Jonathan [00:22:48] Yes, of course. And I will go back here to the earlier question about readings. As remembrance and also, in memoriam, I will mention Doctor Rodriguez Gallardo. It is obvious that Doctor Rodriguez inspires me. It is unfortunate that he is now gone, because he was a person who promoted many issues through the years. He promoted IFLA, for example. Many years ago. he was an officer in IFLA-LAC, and in the Governing Board. I understand he was the first Latin American to serve in the Governing Board. Well, he was an inspiring person. He also introduced many changes here to improve the visibility of library professionals in Mexico, particularly in the University; he opened the way to allow us to gain status here in the institute where I currently work. For sure he inspires people.

Sara [00:23:49] I see, yes. I will look for his book.   

[00:23:52] Now, for the final part, I will ask you some quick questions and you will answer with the first thing that comes to mind. Don’t think much and give me just a short answer. So, Jonathan, what keeps you awake?

 Jonathan [00:24:09] oh golly! The heat

Sara [00:24:14] If you were a character in a book, who would you like to be? 

Jonathan [00:24:19] Probably Mark Alem, in The Palace of Dreams. He is a clerk in an office where all the dreams of the community are deposited, and he organized them, classified them, and found their secrets; it is quite an interesting novel.

[00:24:36] Yes, I tell you, it is not about our area as such, but imagine that you are a librarian organizing and classifying the dreams of the people. It is not a thing; it is an impressive voyage. 

Sara [00:24:50] Well, I am intrigued. Which is the word you use most?

Jonathan. If it is professional, right now I would say misinformation. I think I have used it a lot. [laughs]. 

Sara Well, I was going to say híjole! [oh golly!] You said it several times.  

Jonathan.  Right, híjole! yes, like a true Mexican [laughs]. 

Sara.  Jonathan, what have you learned during this quarantine?

Jonathan [00:25:16] I would say, I have learned to be still when sitting on a chair. Chairs can be really fragile, and we are constantly sitting for Zoom, etc. So, I have learned to be still.

Sara [00:25:31] OK. A phrase that inspires you.

Jonathan [00:25:36] I just heard a phrase in one of the IFLA meetings we have had, that says that structure goes hand in hand with strategy. I just heard it two days ago and today it is very fresh in my mind.

Sara [00:25:55] Let’s see. A good professional advice that you received.

Jonathan [00:25:59] Oh golly!  I said it again, [híjole!] Well, I have been fortunate to have received a lot of good advice. One that I remember most often is one that I received a while ago.

[00:26:10] They told me that, if they close a door on you, it does not matter. You turn around and enter through the back door, and you will exit by the front door.

Sara [00:26:23] [laughs] OK Jonathan, thank you very much for being here. This has been all. 

Jonathan [00:26:27] Thank you very much, Sara, and congratulate your Section for this series of podcast and send them my best greetings.

Sara [00:26:34] This was a CPDWL podcast. Until next time.

Information for Coachees

Check out the new content on the Coaching project webpage https://www.ifla.org/node/93744

Vera Keown from the Management & Marketing Section, the project partner of CPDWL since 2018, created useful information for coachees to prepare their first coaching session with us or in a different environment. To showcase the international community the original English information is already translated in all official IFLA languages and into Swedish. More translations to come.

These Coachee information and preparation will help LIS professionals for the second round of online coaching during this year’s WLIC 2021 in the second half of August.

Timing and booking will be announce later this Spring.

And still the Coaching Initiative is looking for Coaches.

If you are interested in being a coach, send your expression of interest to:

Carmen Lei carmen@ift.edu.mo or
Barbara Schleihagen schleihagen@bibliotheksverband.de

And if you haven’t visit the webpage so far check out the webinars and coaching resources https://www.ifla.org/cpdwl/projects

 

Attend Bilingual Virtual Conference focused on Civic Engagement March 25-26, 2021

I am very excited to announce a free bilingual Spanish/English conference – Seguimos Creando Enlaces 2021: Civic Engagement in Action – which will be taking place online over two days from March 25th-March 26th 2021 from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm US-Pacific Time each day.

This mini-conference is part of the Library 2.0 Worldwide Virtual Conference series, which was started in 2011 and was founded based on many of the principles of civic engagement. Civic engagement is all about making a difference in the civic life of our communities and about promoting the quality of life in a community. Civic engagement activities range from voting to volunteering as well as other activities that benefit society. Libraries are an essential part of helping communities thrive and libraries have a key role to play in engaging with individuals and groups to help them participate actively in civic activities.

This mini-conference differs from the typical Library 2.0 Worldwide Virtual Conference in several ways.

  • It is the first completely bilingual Library 2.0 conference ever offered since the conference series was founded. All sessions will be offered in both Spanish and English.
  • The sessions are spread over two days instead of just one day; this is to accommodate the additional time it takes to translate content.
  • This conference was a true collaboration of multiple organizations all working closely together to ensure that great content would be included and available in both English and Spanish. Library 2.0 Worldwide Conference Series is partnering with the Seguimos Creando Enlaces (Creating Connections) bilingual conference to bring it online; the conference is presented by the San José State University School of Information, Library 2.0 Worldwide Virtual Conference Series, Southern California Library Cooperative in partnership with the SERRA Library Cooperative, and the California State Library.

Registration is free, and attendees will have the option to view live presentations in English and Spanish. Sessions will be recorded and made available after the event.

Seguimos Creando Enlaces 2021: Civic Engagement in Action

  • Who Should Attend: Librarians, library staff members and library school students from around the globe
  • When: March 25 and 26, 2021
  • Time: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time each day (UTC-7)
  • Where: Online via Zoom
  • Cost: FREE!
  • Presentations and Speakers: Conference Schedule
  • REGISTER NOW! (English form)
  • REGISTER NOW! (Spanish form)

I hope you will be able to join the conference to learn about different perspectives related to civic engagement, meet colleagues from the US, Mexico and across the globe, and engage in interactive discussions through the virtual conference.

Open Access and libraries: Lessons from COVID-19 and our path towards the future

This is the second of three blog posts based on webinars presented by CPDWL

Libraries as we knew them were forever changed by COVID-19. The pandemic brought up an opportunity to re-envision libraries to provide services in a way that reflects specific needs from communities deeply affected by it. This global situation also taught us to prioritize and shone a light on inequalities. How to start addressing all of these to create the libraries we deserve?

Recently, I coordinated and moderated an online event part of IFLA CPDWL and New Professionals webinar series with ALA entitled “Open Access and libraries: Lessons from COVID-19 and our path towards the future.” This event also highlighted advocacy efforts from IFLA which are guiding and supporting the path of libraries as we move towards the future, post-COVID-19, its aftershocks, and beyond.

Open Access and libraries: Lessons from COVID-19 and our path towards the future

This webinar presented on January 12 spoke to the challenges of accessing information brought up by the pandemic. IFLA has affirmed that comprehensive open access to scholarly literature and research documentation is vital to the understanding of our world and to the identification of solutions to global challenges and particularly the reduction of information inequality.  

IFLA has also championed the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for a long time and see that “There is an obvious link between Open Access (OA) and access to information, and therefore between open access and the SDGs. Open access is key to ensuring that society benefits from scientific knowledge, by informing further research in the area or simply the end user.”

Coalition S which is hosted by the European Science Foundation, has stated that full and immediate Open Access to research results can provide fast answers to protect lives and curb disasters. European organizations such as Open-Access-Büro Berlin are actively collaborating with libraries in Germany.

On its website, MIT libraries states that in the face of unprecedented global challenges, the need for open, equitable digital access to information has never been more critical or more compelling. Because this crisis demands an accelerated transformation of their library into a platform for the creation, discovery, use, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge that is fully open and equitably accessible. They are working on the basis that Now and always, the MIT Libraries will support, equip, and inspire each other and the MIT community to solve complex problems in the service of humankind.

Open Access carries the promise of moving knowledge from the closed doors of privileged universities to professionals and anyone interested to reporters and public policy makers (Willinsky 2006). The benefit and value of academia can extend beyond the walls of the University and fulfill our hope of benefiting the public good. The open academy / Open scholarship invites submissions from * everyone * so that we have a more informed and participatory society. Therefore it is also important that these jobs available through open access are also easy to find.

The Berkeley Library at the University of California in its toolkit: “Social Welfare Research Toolkit: Open Access” tells us that Open Access – which as we know is digital, online and free for users – is also a public good. Academics want their publications to be read by other researchers in their fields, by academics, by public policy makers. They contribute their time for free as authors, editors, peer reviewers, and the University buys the content they have given away.

Inefuku and Roth (2016) tell us that diversity in perspective, based on race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, socioeconomic status or disciplinary study, can transform academic communications – these that we also publish in Open Access.

The transformation that many are calling for in the production and consumption of these publications requires sustained commitment. We can be agents of change in all stages of academic communications, from research to consumption (2016). Then, we need to ask ourselves How can we encourage and support marginalized voices in the open access publishing conversation?

SPARC has said that Ensuring immediate, free open access to research results is vital to accelerating the global research community’s progress towards COVID-19 testing, treatments and vaccines. Therefore, SPARC fight for Open Access has intensified as policymakers, funders, university leaders—and increasingly, the general public—recognize that eliminating unnecessary barriers to scientific research is critical for societal health.

UNESCO is promoting and supporting the online availability of scholarly information to everyone, free of most licensing and copyright barriers—for the benefit of global knowledge flow, innovation and socio-economic development. 

All the actions and collaborations I have mentioned are very inspiring and support pronouncements from global bodies stating that full and immediate Open Access to research results can provide fast answers to protect lives and curb disasters. We have come a long way and still need to continue working on finding solutions to these complex matters.

Therefore, it is time to make full use of that potential for other global crises that are threatening us. Partnering with different stakeholders will strengthen libraries to provide services to communities at academic, public, school and all types of libraries deeply impacted by COVID-19. It is crucial that we continue strengthening these types of partnerships to impact change and policies to guide works in countries around the world.

I encourage everyone to continue collaborating together to bring the change we need to this area for more open access to help libraries serve communities deeply impacted by COVID19. Let’s continue building strong communities because libraries=strong communities; libraries=hope!

Webinar information:

“Open Access and libraries: Lessons from COVID-19 and our path towards the future”

January 12, 2021.

Moderator: Loida Garcia-Febo

Speakers:

Chris Bourg, Director, MIT Libraries

Stephen Wyber, IFLA Manager, Policy and Advocacy

Nick Shockey,  Director of Programs & Engagement, SPARC

Agnieszka Zofia, Open-Access-Büro Berlin, Open-Access-Referentin im Projekt open-access.network

CPDWL has presented webinars for the global library community since 2012 when I together with CPDWL and IFLA New Professionals established the “New Professionals Global Connection: Best practices, models and recommendations” webinar series. Over the years we have collaborated with other IFLA Sections to present webinars in Portuguese, Spanish, and English. See available recordings on the CPDWL YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj-wuXjzoITokcO5qr0R4xA/videos  and on the IFLA New Professionals website: https://npsig.wordpress.com/webinars-2/

Cited works:

Inefuku, Harrison W. and Roh, Charlotte, “Agents of Diversity and Social Justice: Librarians and Scholarly Communication” (2016). Digital Scholarship and Initiatives Publications. 5. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/digirep_pubs/5

Willinsky, J. (2006). The access principle : The case for open access to research and scholarship. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

TAKING A BOLD STEP TO ADDRESS THE MENACE OF MISINFORMATION: THE AFRICAN LIBRARIES INSTITUTIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS(AFLIA) DESIGN

By Chinwe V. Anunobi

AFLIA, the voice of African library sector has focused on deepening the professional competencies of African librarians and awakening them to be in the forefront of driving literacy, information equity and openness in the continent.  The organization has also been building the capabilities of librarians which will enable them to search out and implement innovative solutions that will drive development in their various communities. The pandemic period with its associated work-from-home provided a window for the very mobile professionals to participate in some of the competency’s enhancement webinars organised by AFLIA for librarians in African. One of these continuing professional development efforts which is yielding dividend for community of information users, librarians and the general public is Misinformation on COVID 19: Call to Action.

AfLIA believes that as managers of information, African librarians cannot afford to stay on the side lines and act unconcerned while fakenews about COVID19 continues to spread. This is the time for librarians to play their part by disseminating correct, reliable, relevant information that will make Africans concerned without instigating panic and bursting myths and disinformation that can help the pandemic wax strong in the continent. Hence Misinformation on COVID-19 : Call to Action was put  forward.  Consequently, AFLIA took a bold step to organize a 5day training for African librarians with a view to centrally position African Librarians to address the menace of misinformation.

During the 2020 Global Media and Literacy Week (24th – 31st October) which has the  theme – “Resisting Disinfodemic: Media and Information Literacy for everyone and, by everyoneAFLIA organised a 5day training – 2020 Media and Information Literacy Week: Call to Action which was focused on exploring the main strands of disinfodemic and provide  the opportunity for African librarians to propound ideas and pathways for dealing with it in different African communities. The short training aimed to:

  • Create awareness about the 2020 Global and Media Literacy Week;
  • Expose librarians to the realities of the 21st-century information provision environment especially infodemic, disinformation and disinfodemic; and
  • Lead African Librarians into drawing up implementable Action Plans for dealing with disinfodemic.

The training exposed the Librarians to the concepts of Media and Information Literacy, Infodemic, Misinformation, Disinformation or Weaponized Misinformation  and Disinfodemic.                                                                                                  

Media and Information Literacy (MIL)

This has been acknowledged as a means for achieving development. Realities of the 21st century make it imperative that everyone is empowered with MIL skills in order to holistically engage with information and opportunities fully offline and online safely and gainfully. The Global Media and Literacy Week was iinitiated in 2012 by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in cooperation with; GAPMIL (Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy), UNAOC (United Nations Alliance for Civilizations)MILID (MIL and Intercultural Dialogue) University Network ; the Week is an avenue for uniting the different organizations that promote Media and Information Literacy(MIL) all over the world so that everyone will join hands to uphold MIL as a veritable pathway for engendering social inclusion and intercultural dialogue.

Media and information literacy skills are intersecting competencies that are necessary for searching, accessing, evaluating and verifying information as well as for safely using and creating information for offline and online platforms. The MIL suite of skills enables one to ask pertinent questions and answers about the information and/or media one wants to engage with including :

  • Who created this? Is it obvious, is it as stated or is it hidden? Can you tell if the website is authentic?
  • Why was it created? To state facts? To share news? Or an opinion? Or fiction? Speculative reporting? Advertisements and/or sponsored write-up? For malevolent reasons? Is it satire or comedy? Is it biased? What is informing your decision?
  • Are the headlines different from the body of the information? Or the headlines slightly represent what is in the body of the information? Is the media doctored in any way? Is the labeling right?
  • Who do you think the information was meant for? Is it clear? Why do you think so?
  • What makes you think the information is true? Cross-checkable statistics and links?   Authoritative information? Why do you think so?
  • Are there holes in the information, details that you feel should be there? How do you know?
  • Does it sound too good to be true? Why?
  • Is it safe to share?
  • Is it safe to share personal details on the site?

As teaching, learning and most engagements migrate to online spaces due to the COVID-19 crisis, these skills have become more important than ever to enable people function effectively as they interact with information in online spaces.                                     Media & Information Literacy (MIL) provides answers to the questions that we all ask ourselves at some point. How can we access, search, critically assess, use and contribute content wisely, both online and offline? What are our rights online and offline? What are the ethical issues surrounding the access and use of information? How can we engage with media and ICTs to promote equality, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, peace, freedom of expression and access to information?

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) brings together the three distinct dimensions of Information Literacy, Media Literacy, and ICT or Digital Literacy .  it is “a new literacy construct that helps empower people, communities and nations to participate in and contribute to global knowledge societies”                                                                                    

Even though different terminologies are used in MIL, such as digital media literacy, information literacy, visual literacy, Internet literacy or news literacy, in general, the definitions refer to “competencies that emphasize the development of enquiry-based skills and the ability to engage meaningfully with media and information channels in whatever form and technologies they are using

MIL encompasses “the full range of cognitive, emotional, and social competencies that include the use of text, tools and technologies; the skills of critical thinking and analysis; the practice of messaging composition and creativity; the ability to engage in reflection and ethical thinking; as well as active participation through teamwork and collaboration” (Hobbs, 2010). It “relates to the ability to access the media, to understand and critically evaluate different aspects of the media and media content and to create communications in a variety of contexts” It is essentially “a matter of education, of citizenship education, of the necessary ‘literacy’ that allows individuals to truly participate in society. We need strong education policies that include at its core MIL education” (Torrent, 2014), since all citizens, with no exception, “should have access to multi-literacy skills education – including media and information literacy – which is effective, up-to-date and free of charge or affordable for the most financially disadvantaged members of society.  It is a way of guiding people against misinformation.       MIL aims to enable individuals to think critically about the media and the information they consume by engaging in a process of inquiry. The aim, according to UNESCO’s definition of media and information literacy, is to allow individuals to become engaged citizens and responsible decision-makers.

Infodemic

When an excessively overwhelming amount or overabundance of information is generated online and offline about a particular concept enough to cause confusion it is termed an infodemic. The enormous amount of information online and offline on COVID-19 has great potential of creating confusion and disempowering people instead of equipping them to make the right decisions. The COVID-19 generated infodemic has led to wrong choices and hazardous use of drugs in preventing and attempting to cure the virus.

Misinformation

This applies when wrong information is unintentionally created and spread. This includes but is not limited to wrong translations, satire or parody wrongly understood as real stories/news, mislabelling of pictures and quoting wrong dates in a write up.

Disinformation                                                                                                                                 

This is the deliberate spread of false information knowingly or weaponized misinformation camouflaged as facts such as the intentional hyping of a drug as cure for COVID-19, manipulation of audio-visual content and Artificial Intelligence generated synthetic texts among others.

Disinfodemic                                                                                                                                     

A more dangerous scenario which involves steady and heavy deluge of misinformation and disinformation spread deliberately to mask/obstruct the truth, to cause harm to individuals, entities or to push out alternative fact(s) in order to uphold or support harmful agenda.   Disinfodemic especially as pertains to COVID-19 seeks to invalidate science, escalate polarization by all means and works by tapping into or appealing to:

  • what we believe in rather than scientific reasoning for example anti-vaccination campaigns;
  • our feelings instead of critical and deductive reasoning; and
  • biases/prejudices.

Four main formats employed in spreading disinfodemic are –

  1. Mixing lies, personal opinions and incomplete information in strong emotional language. factcheck.org, hoax-slayer.com, snopes.com etc are used to crosscheck texts to ascertain if true or not. However, this site is an amalgamation of different websites that check fake news (fact checkers) about COVID-19 – https://www.poynter.org/coronavirusfactsalliance/
  2. False websites and identities used to circulate seemingly true news
  3. Fraudulently manipulating media in order to plant fear, polarization and other negative agenda for example – https://tellmamauk.org/no-the-muslims-praying-in-this-video-arent-ignoring-the-coronavirus-lockdown-its-far-right-fake-news/ Many librarians who understand the importance of checking media, especially images use https://images.google.com
  4. Intentional efficiently organized campaigns meant to sow confusion and discord, spuriously collect personal data and/or get money from false claims of quack cures.

Many pathways for responses to disinfodemic have been outlined by UNESCO.

These are grouped under four groups –

  • “Monitoring, fact-checking, and investigative responses aimed at identifying, debunking, and exposing COVID-19 disinformation
  • Governance-based responses, which include law and policy, and state-based counter-disinfodemic responses
  • Curation, technological, and economic responses, which pertain to the policies and practices of institutions mediating content
  • Normative and ethical; educational; empowerment and credibility labelling responses – all of which are aimed at the audiences targeted by disinformation agents, with citizens and journalists being a particular focus.” (UNESCO, 2020).

Participants at the training were required to:

  1. Provide examples of how as an African librarian using their professional skills,  plans to support this UN resolution on infodemic, misinformation and disinformation:
  • In their  workplace;
  • Generally, in their  country; and
  • In online spaces.
  1. Prepare and present action plan to address menace of disinfodemic from which the best ten were chosen for implementation .

At the end of the training , participants were fully empowered to use social media , print and other electronic media collaboratively to address the menace of misinformation, disinformation, infodemic and disinfodemic .

CPDWL Podcast Project Season 2, Episode 5: Nyakundi James Nyambane

Colleagues, we are excited to announce the our next episode (for season 2) of the CPDWL Podcast Project where we feature library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.

See here for the podcast: https://anchor.fm/ifla-cpdwl/episodes/S2E5-Nykundi-James-Nyabane–CPDWL-Standing-Committee-Member-enkpcv

The transcript below.

Nyakundi James Nyambane is a Librarian- User services at the United States International University Africa, Library and Information Center. Based in Nairobi Kenya. He is a CPDWL member and serves currently as the Vice-Chairperson of the Nairobi branch (Kenya Library association). He is a Co-founder of the New Information professionals Caucus that unites all new information professionals in Kenya. A passionate librarian, open for collaborations within the globe.

Transcript:

Hi, this is Raymond Pun, Welcome to the IFLA CPDWL Podcast Project. In this space, we talk with library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.. Today’s guest is Nyakundi James Nyambane. Nyakundi James Nyambane is a Librarian- User services at the United States International University Africa, Library and Information Center. Based in Nairobi Kenya. He is a CPDWL member and serves currently as the Vice-Chairperson of the Nairobi branch (Kenya Library association). He is a Co-founder of the New Information professionals Caucus that unites all new information professionals in Kenya. A passionate librarian, open for collaborations within the globe.

Thank you so much for having me. I am grateful.

Yeah, we’re really excited to have you here. And we wanted to have a conversation with you about your work, your background. And if you had to describe yourself using only one word. What word would it be?

0:48

Right Ray, I say. I’ll say, I use passionate. I am a passionate librarian; I am a passionate person whatever you decide to do i do it with a lot of passion. I was torn between also using our passion and open minded but they say that passion, passionate.

1:09

Good choice of words and we know that based on your bio through are really obviously passionate for open collaboration, you have been active in the new information professionals pockets, within your country as well as within Islam. So, this is an interesting question for our audience today, what compelled you to become a librarian, how did you get started.

1:37

I, I didn’t know that I will be a librarian at one time. After I finished my form here in Kenya you choose a college or university. So, I wanted to take nothing. I applied to the nursing school, they never got back to me. So after I got that the intake was over all my other colleagues were already taken and started schooling. I went to one of my uncles, and my uncle suggested that I try a library school.  And my first reaction was, No way. I can’t be a librarian.

2:20

Um, later on, I got to visit a librarian. And we had a conversation. And he shared with me on how librarianship is transforming how librarianship is changing, and that changed my perspective because my perspective was the local libraries that we where we land. And this primary and secondary schools, they were the libraries were very not in good condition they were pathetic. So, after getting to sense those, the librarian changed my perspective, I thought, well, I can give it a shot I went to a library school. It took me four years to finish my undergraduate after finishing my before I found I finished my undergraduate, I went to do my attachment. My attachment I did it at my current institution, which is a, an academic library, and I got exposed by like the institution and I promised myself one day I’ll come back to work here. So I went back to finish school and came back after school again for internship. When I came for internship, there was an opportunity that happened up into that time. And then I got shortlisted did my interviews luckily I was selected in this institution so that’s how I got myself in librarianship. At first it was not my thing. Secondly, went to library school when it came to attachment and later did my internship at the same institution. And then I like in librarianship now I’m in.

And I’m glad that I chose librarianship. And we’re really glad that you’re in the profession with us. So that’s a really interesting journey you’ve described. And I wonder I wonder about your specialization when you went to school with did you have something in mind focused on one area, or did you want it to be a generalist. Yes At first, right, I thought I was. I was, I okay I thought I will take it libraries.

4:28

When I got through my third year, I was encouraged to do librarianship now as an option because here in Kenya. We have four options we have librarianship, we have records, we have it, and we have media. So I chose librarianship because I thought it’s an area for us here, that is growing. And I thought that the opportunities here in librarianship are better than in other areas like IT, where other specialists have already taken over so I did librarianship in my undergraduate and I specialized in library and information science.

5:11

So what does global librarianship mean to you, and has that changed, you know, since you started, and now being active in our section.

5:22

Okay. Um, global librarianship, to me, is, is the way. Currently, how librarians network, globally, and how people are librarians are working hand in hand to promote and increase, sharing and dissemination of ideas information and also how librarians are providing solutions to obstacles are surrounding our current environment. Also librarianship now is also changing adapting to different socio economic, environmental and political environment that we are in librarianship now I view it as is a solution to what our current society is facing, because librarianship is being sought after to provide specific information. So global librarianship to be seems like a collaboration whereby we can have librarians from all over the world. Working together and supporting each other in terms of disseminating and providing and supplying, or assisting users globally.

6:41

Yeah, those are really great points, and it certainly falls under influence work with trying to look at the UN, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDGs. Right. Yes. Yes. So working together, and addressing these issues that you were mentioning.

So let’s move, let’s move to the IFLA work. and how did you first get involved with IFLA?

7:07

Um, I’ve first got involved with IFLA. Okay, before I first got in involved with IFLA, I’ve always been following IFLA. Since I think 2016 2016 2017, I’ve been following how it’s conducting its activities I subscribe to lists of emails I will get updated on what I’ve realized doing so in 2018.

7:33

Late 2017 when there was a call for papers, I did an abstract for poster.

7:39

And I started looking forward to attending the 2018 one labor information conference in Kuala Lumpur. So my first time to be in a flat was in 2018, and I had a poster that I was presenting in Kuala lumper.

8:00

In 2019, again, we, I will not manage to go to events but I did, we did a post again with my colleague who went and presented a poster, in essence, so I have been involved. I started being involved in 2018 and 2019 before 2020 came and then it was cancelled. So that’s how I got myself being involved with IFLA.

8:30

So can you share with us a memorable moment you have at the WLIC perhaps in 2018, or some meeting or webinar you’ve attended recently.

8:43

Um, since I’ve been attending IFLA in 2018. I’ve always been following. What IFLA does what CPDWL is doing, and also what the new information professional caucus, and the information professional new special interest group is doing in IFLA.

9:05

That was my first time to attend to our World Conference. And I was so surprised to see so many librarians, in one place. And the opening ceremony is an event that keeps on coming to my mind whenever I think about IFLA. It was very nice. I enjoyed everything in the opening ceremony.  And in Kuala lumper.

9:33

We also visited the public library where I learned a lot about what other libraries are doing. Also, in the newcomers session at the IFLA conference, I attended the newcomers session.

9:51

It was very informative and we learned I learned a lot. It changed my perspective on  librarianship. I also attended the, the professional new, new professional new information professionals session which was on our library and fashion. And it was very memorable event that I was in. Also the exhibition center. I have never been to such a large exhibition area, and it to me. I land on every new technologies that our libraries are embracing, and also different approaches that librarianship is taking now and for the future of this field in this field.

So you mentioned that you attended the forum at the Congress, and your perspective on library librarianship change how so?

There was discussions on how they are collaborating. How librarians are doing projects, our librarians are not only in their offices. Librarians I learned that they have lifted their office, they’re going beyond their offices that when proposals for funding, those things. At first, I never had, I had not been close into those people were doing such great projects are no, I also learned that they are also new professional they are not that it’s not that they have been in the profession for so long, but some of them were new information professionals like now I can use the example of the Senegal, there was a project that was presented from Senegal with that was so inspiring on the community library that was, was developed and other different projects even from in Tanzania, some actually were also African based and then we were challenged also, me and my colleagues from Kenya. Now we thought that when we get back we will work on something also we develop our community library so that they can be better.

12:03

It was a really great experiences and moments you have shared with us. Now can you tell us what are you most excited about in the profession of this profession is?

12:20

Let’s say, let me start by I walk in an academic library. So, our users, our students, faculty and our staff.  We support teaching and learning. Here at my institution. We support Research Services. And every time we touch are alive we support we teach them on how to do research, we teach them on how to find information resources. And we find that it’s so fulfilling when you realize that you have helped someone as become a better person, a better researcher as librarians. We also support the freedom to read and think, we support, and we champion, the rights to access to, or have access to information to all of our students regardless of where they come from, regardless of their tribe regardless of their race or social background regardless of how old or young Leah, so we get excited. Once we get back the feedback from them, saying that they are so grateful that we have touched their life, we have changed their perspective on the life story. We have changed their perspective on a specific class because now we have availed the resources for them that they wanted to do for research and science so we get a. I get what we call. You say, motivation, I get that’s how I drive my motivation from.

13:54

So it sounds like there’s been a lot of activities you’re doing, and even in your current workplace, and also in Islam and I’m curious here. Is there a professional development tip, or advice that you’d like to share with others, particularly those who are new, and or would like to be involved in IFLA and I know you had mentioned earlier, going to the conference and doing presentations and meeting with people and I wonder if there anything else you’d like to add?

14:24

Yesterday, um, I’d like to say for new information professionals who are joining the profession.

14:35

I like them to, I like to advise them to join professional associations. Join your local professional association and participated, don’t just join without participating.

14:49

Keep planning, take short courses, learn from what other people are there to work, collaborate with other people. It builds someone’s network and also builds the confidence of a librarian. I will also encourage the new information professionals to write papers way if there is an opportunity they can do posters, they can collaborate with experienced writers, or experienced the librarian so that they can learn from them on how specific projects are done specific papers are done, so that they can also become experts in their future. It’s good to network. And it’s also good to collaborate with other new information profession, or other professional in this field. Certainly, those are really great advice there. Now we wanted to ask you something a little bit different here. If you didn’t work in libraries, what profession, other than librarianship would you have wanted to attempt a definitely I could be honest, I missed the nursing school opportunity.

15:55

So, it was my first choice, then my second choice was I didn’t have actually more of a second choice but my first choice was nothing so I will be honest, I will be nursing patients as our users.

16:11

Oh wow, that’s interesting.

16:17

Potentially, if you were interested in health sciences research. The work we do to connect with researchers, as well. I know a lot of librarians who are subject liaison to nursing students.

16:38

I didn’t hear you correctly. Right.

16:43

Right.

Yes, great just to confirm. Now here’s a question here. Can you tell us about a recent project presentation or program that you’re working on.

16:57

Um, thank you, Ray, um, my, what we are working on currently is our second information professional Comcast cup.

17:08

Last year, what we are currently is the second information camp. We invited you, you were one of our guests. We are going to have the second one, on fifth of March in 2021. We, we are collaborating with our National Library Association.

That’s Kenya Library Association. We are collaborating with our Kenya National Library Services, which is our national library service provider. And we also collaborating with Wikimedia Foundation Kenya to have that much event a success so we are working towards having our second information professional camp. Cocoa stamp in Kisumu. Kisumu is part of Kenya on fifth of March this year. The last time we had the information professional corpus we rallied so many librarians and now since then we have had so the impact has been higher but especially now our national association, people.

The new professionals are registered and they’re participating in our  National Library events. Previously, they were the youth and the new information professional felt that they were left out in some of these activities so we give them a platform, through the IPC to negotiate and say what they want to do, how they like to participate in our national association events are a second or second project that we are working on is we are having a bunch of conference in this December in like a week’s time, so I am also part of the team that is organizing and trying to organize, how the program will be and then see how we have our first virtual information conference. We’ve never had such in Kenya, and you know Kenya, we have a few challenges your internet here and there and also financially, the people now due to COVID are kind of struggling so we are trying to see how we are going to balance between the two, the internet and the financially and also have a productive conference. Right.

19:14

Oh, that sounds really good a lot of busy activities there. And that’s really exciting too because that just shows how collaborative, how focused, you’re doing your associations are to providing professional development learning and engagement. And with that couldn’t be thank you so much for talking to us and taking the time to share with us your thoughts and insights in the profession.

19:42

Thank you so much Ray I appreciate for having me and I’m so grateful.