«...And then I wasn’t Norwegian in her mind»: three women of colour share their experiences as library workers in Oslo

Abstract

In this paper I aim to get the ball rolling for Nordic LIS-research aimed towards the experiences of discrimination that women of colour who work in libraries face. Women of colour who work in libraries are not exempt from occurrences of racism, sexism, etc., just because they work in libraries. Libraries are part of real life. This research has, to my knowledge, not been done before. I conducted interviews, used my background from a master’s in gender studies, to show how theories about structural oppression (i.e., racism, sexism) are to be used in an intersectional way to illuminate the overlapping experiences of women of colour. I employed a thematical analysis and have thus uncovered that WOC who work in libraries in Norway experience everything from microaggressions to the n-word at work seminars, emotional baggage from colleagues, support from colleagues and managers, to non-action and differences within the university- and public libraries. Additionally, I have found that universal whiteness is pervasive within libraries, as it is everywhere else in the Nordics. The implications of these findings are that research was and is fruitful, and discussions about discrimination in libraries have to include not only patrons who could be discriminated against, but also that librarians of colour could be discriminated against.

Keywords: racism, sexism, Nordic LIS, Norwegian libraries, intersectionality, discrimination, women of colour, WOC, feminist LIS