Transforming knowledge, transforming libraries research project dataset

In Spring 2017, the University of California Irvine (UCI) Libraries were
awarded a 3-year Instituteof Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant in
the community anchors category for “Transforming Knowledge/Transforming
Libraries” (TKTL). Our research team (Audra EagleYun, Jimmy Zavala,
Krystal Tribbett, and Thuy Vo Dang) sought to explore how libraries can
fill the gap between calls to diversify the historical record and actually
diversifying the profession through student-led action research. The
project design for TKTL is rooted in the social justice imperatives and
theoretical frameworks of community-based archives and ethnic studies,
arguing that together these frameworks can transform the historical record
and how we learn about our history. Working with people who identify with
members of marginalized communities was central to our approach to the
TKTL research project. The themes that emerged from our research provide
key insights into the outcomes of student engagement with library,
archives, and community building, as well as affective responses
to the experience of students seeing (or not seeing) themselves
in the archives. We discovered patterns and divergences in the personal,
social, and cultural observations of community archives work by all
involved in community-centered work. The data analysis, along with the
novel approach of community-centered archives partnerships, articulates
how participatory, student-centered approaches in building
community-centered archives can transform engagement between ethnic
studies, community-based archives, and libraries.