Assessing fatphobia in public library programming: Is wellness size-inclusive?

Shelton, Amanda; Chabot, Roger; Hill, Heather; Bossaller, Jenny

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130757 Copy

Description

Title

Assessing fatphobia in public library programming: Is wellness size-inclusive?

Author(s)

• Shelton, Amanda
• Chabot, Roger
• Hill, Heather
• Bossaller, Jenny

Issue Date

2024-10-16

Keyword(s)

• public libraries
• social justice
• community engagement
• specific populations
• critical librarianship
• fatphobia
• sizeism
• public health
• library programming

Abstract

This content analysis of wellness-related library programs and programming materials seeks to discover the perception of larger bodies within library health programming. Fatphobia or sizeism is prevalent in the wellness industry and within healthcare. Libraries are trusted resources for health information. Informed by the fields of fat studies, we approached health programming in libraries by asking if larger people would feel welcome and able to attend. We examined twenty libraries’ programs over the past year as well as library conference programs and programming materials from several websites. There was little evidence of explicit sizeism, but some resources reproduced sizeist stereotypes and language. This presentation takes a fat pedagogy approach to focus on methods for ensuring access to all and expanding current definitions of inclusivity so that people with larger bodies recognize that libraries are welcoming spaces.

Publisher

Association for Library and Information Science Education

Series/Report Name or Number

Proceedings of the ALISE Annual Conference, 2024

Type of Resource

text

Genre of Resource

• Conference Paper
• Presentation

Language

eng

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130757

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21900/j.alise.2024.1627

Copyright and License Information

• Copyright 2024 Amanda Shelton, Roger Chabot, Heather Hill, Jenny Bossaller
• This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

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