Microaggressions as a Barrier to Effective Collaboration Between Teaching Faculty and Academic Librarians: An Analysis of the Results of a U.S. and Canadian Survey

Facilitating effective collaboration with teaching faculty (TF) for the purposes of student success and performance is often a priority for academic librarians (AL). The topic of effective partnerships between these two groups has received a great deal of scholarly attention within the field of library and information science (LIS). However, in practice, harmonious working relationships can be difficult to establish and maintain. This is in part due to the lack of understanding of the role and status of AL by TF. The existing divide between these parties has led to discourse and dismissive actions on the part of TF that may be perceived by some AL as microaggressive. While some work has been done on microaggressions in higher education, little quantitative data exists on status-based microaggressions by TF towards AL and its effect on collaboration in the context of information literacy (IL). In early 2016, the researchers surveyed U.S. and Canadian AL in order to collect data on perceived status-based microaggressive experiences. Analysis of the data indicates that status-based microaggressions, although not ubiquitous, do exist. Moreover, the data indicates that some librarians may experience more frequent instances of status-based microaggressions based on self-reported demographic characteristics.