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Women's concerns in Alabama's public libraries: An exploratory website content analysis of illustrative information support services
Author(s) -
Mehra Bharat,
Jaber Baheya S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
proceedings of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.193
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2373-9231
DOI - 10.1002/pra2.257
Subject(s) - blueprint , public relations , sustainable development , content analysis , political science , politics , sustainability , stereotype (uml) , prejudice (legal term) , sociology , psychology , social psychology , social science , engineering , law , mechanical engineering , ecology , biology
The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ratified 17 goals as a global blueprint towards “economic, social and environmental sustainability” of all nations. It includes “Gender Equality” (Sustainable Development Goal 5) that seeks to empower women and girls by eliminating discrimination and providing equal opportunities for their fuller participation in all aspects of life. This case study provides an exploratory assessment of web‐based information for women in Alabama's public libraries located in the “American South” and its Appalachian region. Both have experienced ostracization and stereotyping in popular culture owing to political and religious conservativeness, Civil Rights struggles, gender prejudice, and hostile conditions towards women/minorities. This exploratory website content analysis identifies seven examples of information offerings categorized into three groupings: (a) information sources (collections, resources); (b) information policy and planning (assigned role, strategic representation); (c) connections (internal, external, news and events). It develops a taxonomic framework with representative examples that challenge the regional stereotype in its images of solely deficit marginalization. The discussion provides new directions and potential opportunities to build collaborations of sharing within Alabama's public libraries and beyond to better address women's concerns and gender inequities in their local and regional communities.