Providing care and community in times of crisis: The BIPOC in LIS Mental Health Summits

Abstract

In mid-March 2020, the U.S. federal government officially recognized the COVID-19 Pandemic (coronavirus). As a result, the nation experienced a social and economic shutdown. The persistent public health emergency resulted in long-term interpersonal disconnections as people adhered to stay-at-home orders and associated pivots to remote teaching and working, while watching the development of an increasingly politicized response to the pandemic.

As the spring moved to summer, social justice and antiracism movements increased in response to heightened reports of police brutality and the murder of unarmed African Americans. These events were all compounded in the LIS field as libraries applied uneven responses to the pandemic—some remaining fully open during lockdowns, while others shuttered completely.