On-Demand Transgender People in Libraries Webinar Series (Part Two): Understanding and Fighting Anti-Trans Misinformation

This is the second webinar in a two-part series about transgender people in libraries. Register for the full series at its registration page.

As the transgender population increases in size and visibility, a resulting backlash has gripped America--and libraries are in the crossfire. Misinformation campaigns targeting transgender people are being leveraged as part of a concerted effort to censor books, displays, and programs; reduce free access for patrons of all ages; harass or threaten library and information science (LIS) workers; and interfere with or even shut down the operations of libraries across the country. Thus, LIS workers have a major stake in understanding and combatting anti-trans misinformation when they encounter it; but, due to these campaigns' widespread nature, it can be difficult for the average person to discern between what is fact, what's fiction, and what's opinion. Learn how and why anti-trans misinformation is created and spread, how you can distinguish between reliable and unreliable information, and why LIS workers have a uniquely important part to play in speaking out against anti-trans misinformation in what prior attendees have called "the most powerful session I have attended in a while" and "the first authentic information I've gotten on this civil rights issue."

Learning Outcomes: 

• Define the concepts of cultural narratives and frameworks, and explain how misinformation campaigns leverage them to spread misinformation more effectively;
• List common American cultural narratives and frameworks about transgender people;
• Identify the animating goals of anti-trans misinformation at the root of today's misinformation campaigns;
• Distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of information about transgender people, lives, and experiences; and
• Take action to call out and speak up against anti-trans misinformation where it intersects with the professional LIS values of access, literacy, inclusivity, and equity

Who Should Attend: Administrators and managers seeking guidance in responding to anti-trans/anti-LGBTQ+ challenges to books, programs, and/or staffing decisions in their libraries; library workers at all levels seeking to better understand and fight back against anti-trans/anti-LGBTQ+ misinformation.

Presenter:

Heath Umbreit (they/them), MLIS, is the Adult Services Librarian at Morrill Memorial Library in Massachusetts. At Drexel University, they earned their Master’s in Library & Information Sciences, conferred in 2014. Their career as a librarian spans over a decade; they started as a part-time Circulation Assistant at their local public library in 2011 before working as a temp assistant at MIT Libraries (2014-2016), and then as the Information Services Librarian at Sharon Public Library (2016-2021). Mis- and disinformation has been a professional and personal interest of theirs for several years; their study of the phenomenon focuses on a critical examination of popular narratives about disinformation, the concept of epistemic supremacy, and the ways in which information and disinformation intersect with systemic power differentials in American society. As a nonbinary trans person, Heath intentionally brings a unique perspective to the field of professional librarianship and centers the values of equity, access, and social justice in their work.

Tech Requirements