Friendly, radical, ambivalent: Fat librarians and professional identity

Abstract

This session explores the ways in which fatness informs the professional identities of librarians who do public-facing work based on interviews with an intentionally diverse sample of thirty-one fat librarians from a range of institution types in the United States. While some findings from this study have been reported in other venues, this is the first in-depth exploration of the extent to which fatness affects how these interviewees think about and perform their professional identities. We discuss how fatness influences librarians’ entry to and promotion within the field, as well as how our bodies may complicate or enhance relationships with library users and communities. A particular focus of this discussion is the intersectional complexities of identity formation and performance for fat librarians who embody multiple marginalized identities.

Beyond sharing study results, this session aims to center the voices and experiences of fat people working in libraries so that we may see ourselves represented in library scholarship, examine the extent to which the profession engages in hegemonic anti-fatness, and advocate for more inclusive libraries.

View recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wd5ShWO6umI?si=oCp4kGtE2FkEFTtP