Siobhan Stevenson
Associate Professor
Education:
- PhD - Library & Information Science - University of Western Ontario, 2005
- MLIS - Library & Information Science - University of Western Ontario, 1991
- BFA - Theatre - York University, 1983
Administrative responsibilities:
- Executive Committee
- MI Path Liaison: Library and Information Studies
Past responsibilities:
- Awards Committee (2007-2008)
- LIS Search Committee (2007-2008)
- Technology Committee (2006-2007)
- Executive Committee (2006-2007)
- Life and Times Committee (2006-2007)
- Selection Committee, Open Area Search (2006-2007)
- Student Evaluation Committee
Biography:
Siobhan Stevenson has taught at the iSchool since 2006 and obtained her PhD in Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario in 2005. From 1990 to 1998 she was Senior Manager at the Southern Ontario Library Service.
Honours & awards:
- 2006-2008 - Associate, Trinity College, University of Toronto.
- 1991 - Beta Phi Mu Honor Society
- 1990 - Laura Colvin Cataloguing Prize (for excellent work in advanced cataloguing). SLIS, University of Western Ontario
Research highlight:
Professor Stevenson investigates the working conditions within the information economy, particularly at public libraries. She developed a model that attempts to capture the dialectic between the ascendancy of library consumer-producer identity and the diminishment of the public librarian as a skilled, waged, and unionized public service worker.
Research description:
Research interests
- Political economy of information policy
- Information policy
- Equity of access
- Changing role of the public library in the global economy of information
- Digital divide
- Role of information professionals in the public arena
- Post-Fordist French Regulation School theory
- Critical information studies
- Library history
- Digital labour
Professor Stevenson's research interests encompass a broad range of information policy issues including equity of access to information and communications technologies; the changing role of the library within an information-based global economy; the tension between intellectual freedom and intellectual property; the role of information professionals within the public policy arena; and, ensuring the establishment and maintenance of a viable information commons on the Internet.
Her theoretical orientation falls under the rubric of critical policy studies. As a political economist working within this policy tradition, the central focus of her work is to uncover the ways in which the unequal distribution of power within capitalist society influences all aspects of the information policy process from agenda setting through to program development, implementation and evaluation.
Selected publications:
Refereed Articles in Scholarly Journals and Conference Proceedings
Stevenson, S. (in press). New labour in libraries: The post-Fordist public library. Journal of Documentation.
Stevenson, S. (2010a). The political economy of Andrew Carnegie's library philanthropy, with a reflection on its relevance to the philanthropic work of Bill Gates. Library & Information History, 26(4), 237-257.
Stevenson, S. (2010b). Unlimited potential, unlimited power? Microsoft’s corporate citizenship in the battle over new social relations of production. First Monday, 15(10). [~9,000 words].
Stevenson, S. (2009). Digital divide: A discursive move away from the real inequities. The Information Society, 25(1), 1-22.
Stevenson, S. (2008). Public access computing in Canada: A comparative policy analysis of Canada’s community informatics and public library communities. Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, 32(1/2), 1 -34.
Stevenson, S. (2007). Public libraries, public access computing, FOSS, and CI: There are alternatives to private philanthropy. First Monday, 12(5). [~9,000 words].
Stevenson, S. (2001). The rise and decline of state funded community information centres: A textually oriented discourse analysis. Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, 26(2/3), 50-72.
Book Chapters
Stevenson, S. (2010). Michel Aglietta and regulation theory. In G. Leckie, L. M. Given, & J. Buschman (Eds.), Critical theory for library and information science: Exploring the social from across the disciplines (pp. 1-13). Greenwood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Non-Refereed Articles in Journals and Conference Proceedings
Stevenson, S. (2010). Language matters: Unpacking professional discourses using critical theory. OLA Access, 16(2), 40-41.
Stevenson, S. (2006). Philanthropy’s unexpected consequences: Public libraries and the struggle over free versus proprietary software. Progressive Librarian, 28(Winter), 64-77.
Conference Presentations and Talks
Stevenson, S. (2010a). Public librarians as knowledge workers in the knowledge economy. Paper presented at the Inter-University Research Centre on Globalization and Work Conference. Theme: Challenges of Work and Workers in a Knowledge Economy. Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS. [Refereed Abstract]
Stevenson, S. (2010b). Services in challenging times: Immaterial labour in the library. Paper presented at the Library Research Seminar V. Theme: Integrating Theory and Practice. University of Maryland, College Park, MD. [Refereed Abstract]
Stevenson, S. (2010c). When citizens become consumer-producers: Immaterial labour and the unpaid work of patrons in the library as place and virtual space. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science. Theme: Information Science: Synergy through Diversity. Concordia University, Montreal, QC. [Refereed Abstract]
Stevenson, S. (2009a). Exporting new social relations of production one machine at a time: Gates’ international library philanthropy. Paper presented at Digital Labour: Workers, Authors, Citizens. The University of Western Ontario, London, ON. [Refereed Abstract]
Stevenson, S. (2009b). Is there such a creature as the Post-Fordist public library? The value of regulation theory. Paper presented at 37th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science. Theme: Mapping the 21st Century Information Landscape: Borders, Bridges and Byways. Carleton University, Ottawa, ON. [Refereed Abstract]
Stevenson, S. (2007). Beyond Gates’ philanthropy: PAC (public access computing) meets CI (community informatics) at the local public library. Paper presented at the Library Research Seminar IV. Theme: The Library in its Socio-Cultural Context: Issues for Research and Practice. University of Western Ontario, London, ON. [Refereed Abstract]
Invited Speaker
Stevenson, S. (2010). Panelist at Metatheoretical Snowmen II: The 7th International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science. University College London, London, England.
Stevenson, S. (2009). Panelist at Metatheoretical Snowmen: ASIS&T 2009 Annual Meeting. Vancouver, BC.
Stevenson, S. (2008). Public libraries and community technology centres: Digitally divided? Paper presented at the 2008 Ontario Library Association Super Conference, Toronto, ON.
Stevenson, S. (2005). The Post-Fordist Public Library: Mapping out an Alternative Future for the Public Library. Paper presented at Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois, February 23, 2005.
Stevenson, S. (2004). The Post-Fordist Public Library: From Carnegie to Gates. Paper presented at the School of Information Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, November 19, 2004.
Stevenson, S. (2002). The new age public library: From Fordism to Gatesism. Paper presented at the 2002 Ontario Library Association Super Conference, Toronto, ON.
Stevenson, S. (2001). The post-Fordist public library. Colloquium presentation at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontarion, London, ON.
Stevenson, S. (1999a). Discourse analysis: A value and paradigm critical approach for LIS. Paper presented at Connections ’99: The Fifth Great Lakes Information Science Conference. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
Stevenson, S. (1999b). The public library and the new information and communications technologies. Presentation at the FIMS.COM Conference, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario, London, ON.
Workshops & Poster Presentations
Stevenson, S. (2010). The public library as a mode of social regulation: The value of regulation theory for questions in public librarianship. Poster presented at the 7th International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science. University College London, London, England. [Refereed Abstract]
Stevenson, S. (2005). The post-Fordist public library: From Carnegie to Gates. Poster presented at the 2005 ALISE Conference, Boston, MA.
Supervision:
Michele Beaudoin (with Prof. Chun Wei Choo)
Affiliations & collaboration:
- Ontario Library Association
- Canadian Library Association
- American Library Association
- American Society for Information Science and Technology
