Intersecting Identities

To address LIS' insufficient progress in racial equity, a number of LIS scholars and publications have deemed it necessary for LIS to be disrupted and reimagined through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and with the overarching goal of "a commitment to social justice and to the elimination of racial oppression and all forms of oppression" (Leung & L³pez-McKnight, 2021, pg. 18). Building on existing scholarship to address significant gaps examining social justice and faith-based library work, this volume adds to the editors' own research exploring DEIA in Catholic and other faith-based higher education institutions. Survey results revealed a few important findings we believe worthy of exploration in a book:

• A call for library workers at faith-based higher education institutions to have a space to share their experiences and perspectives
• Incongruity between faith-based higher education institutions which largely point to implicit religious teaching and values rather than explicitly addressing their perpetuation of racial or gender/sexual-based prejudice, discrimination, and inequalities
• The rarity of actionable decolonization efforts, especially in faith-based institutions with a history of Black and Indigenous oppression.

This volume, underpinning the study of social justice in faith-based academic libraries, invites LIS scholars, practitioners, and organizations to critically examine how white supremacy continues to infect LIS and what we can do to address and eradicate racial oppression and other inequalities in LIS settings. Chapters include contributions of original research, narrative accounts, practitioner-developed curricula, and creative works on initiatives, practices, challenges, and successes in LIS environments and campuses.