Information Workshops II: Harm Reduction Practices for Information Professionals (Winter)

Section Description

This workshop focuses on harm reduction principles and practices for information professionals. Students will discuss multiple definitions of human centred “harm”, its inevitability in the information professions and harm reduction as a practical framework of prevention, pragmatism, risk management and best-practice lead response. Aligned with current discourses in GLAM, UXD, C&T, HCDS and ISD, students will learn how librarians fight the opioid crisis while staying safe, how archivists create accurate and affirming metadata for 2SLGBTQIA+ people and how Big Data applications can be actively decolonial and anti-racist. Directly addressing the need for concrete harm reduction skill acquisition, this workshop incorporates hands-on Naloxone training with take-home kit, de-escalation technique practice sessions, intersectional social location exercises and situation-dependent rapid risk assessment modules. Furthering the practical utility of this workshop, students will critically analyze best-practice guidelines, recommendations and policies produced by governing bodies, community-based advocacy organizations and research coalitions to build their own profession-specific toolkit of culturally and situationally appropriate harm reduction practices applicable to the marginalized populations, clients, audiences and service users they will encounter in their future as information professionals.

Current Timetable