You are cordially invited to join us for the Proposal Defense of Katya Yefimova, to be held on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, via Zoom from 11:00 am -12:30 pm. 

Title: Exploring the public library as a site of civic engagement for immigrant and refugee communities

Abstract:

The purpose of my research is to advance knowledge about the role public libraries play in the civic life of immigrant and refugee communities. This topic lies at the intersection of two core public library values – serving everyone in the community and serving as a civic institution. In King County, where 1 in 4 people are foreign-born, libraries must meet the needs of increasingly diverse neighborhoods. Local libraries address those needs by stocking multilingual materials and teaching English classes. Yet core library programs, including civic ones, often fail to attract immigrant and refugee participants. Research shows that opportunities and skills for civic engagement are critical for people of immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Nevertheless, we know little about how these communities participate in civic initiatives at the library. Using a feminist lens, I will develop a participatory approach to co-creating library programs with diverse communities. I aim to inform both theory and practice through two main contributions: (1) enhance our empirical and conceptual understanding of the role public libraries play in the civic life of immigrant and refugee communities; (2) explore how libraries can engage diverse communities in novel ways.

Supervisory committee:

Ricardo Gomez, iSchool, Co-chair
Negin Dahya, University of Toronto, Co-chair 
Michelle Martin, iSchool, member 
Jose Antonio Lucero, Jackson School, GSR