NASIG 2026

In this talk, Raina Bloom, Reference Services Coordinator for UW-Madison Libraries, will begin with two foundational questions. First, what do librarians know through the work that we do? And, second, what is the purpose of knowing what we know?

Librarians are highly-regarded, trusted, and even beloved, yet misunderstandings about our expertise and skills are common. Additionally, when librarians assert our expertise, negative reactions can range from silence to significant personal and professional consequences. The gap between the general perception of our work and the implications of our expertise can lead to dissonance and difficulty for librarians. 

With The Five Laws of Library Science, S.R. Ranganathan’s 1931 classic of Library and Information Studies as her theoretical frame, Bloom will offer a practice-based analysis of the expertise that librarians develop through our work. She will then apply this analysis to our current moment, sharing examples related to generative AI and reference services, illustrating the potential of librarian expertise to interrupt and complicate broader understandings about information and how people interact with it.

“Information and Intersectionality in the Digital Millennium” (Vaden, 2024) explored the importance of virtual and non-traditional information sharing mediums to create better information access outcomes for people experiencing multiple forms of oppression simultaneously. Non-mainstream media platforms and formats like Tumblr and zines, are a valuable potential contribution to the discourse on coloniality, decoloniality, and how resistant knowledges manifest according to the needs of the people who create them.

But wait, where do serials fit into the digital millennium? What does adaptability look like in this new era of unchecked technological advancement and increasingly convoluted information dispersal? How can we breathe new life and understanding into our own information cycles, when nothing right now is how it’s ever been? In this vision session, Mondo takes the audience to a deeper level, sparking new connections to transform the methodologies and stories of the past, in order to address the questions of the future. He aims for you to leave inspired and motivated to face whatever is next, and looks forward to seeing you in Madison, WI. 

Read the paper before the session! https://doi.org/10.1177/01678329241300576