This presentation traces how capitalism and neoliberal policy have shaped the library marketplace from the Carnegie era to today’s platform-dominated e‑resource ecosystem. By examining philanthropic foundations, corporate consolidation, the serials crisis, rentier business models, and platform capitalism, it reveals how market forces influence library autonomy, access, pricing, and infrastructure. Participants will gain historical context and practical strategies for navigating an increasingly commercialized information landscape.
At UNI, our latest Information Literacy Program includes a renewed focus on credit teaching, allowing librarians more time to refine their individual pedagogies and engage students in deeper critical thought. The presenters will each showcase a specific assignment from one of their credit courses that encourages critical thinking: a discussion that engages with equity, power, and ethics in knowledge creation and access, and AI Labs that encourage critical understanding of artificial intelligence.
The Student Employee Supervisors at Wartburg’s Vogel Library are always experimenting with new training methods. It is important for us to train our student teams to be self-disciplined thinkers who will approach patron interactions with the highest level of quality and integrity. In this session we will talk about the evolution of our training methods and key takeaways.
