Preliminary Conference Agenda

Research shows that libraries in Nigeria are still grappling with automating their library operations because of lack of skilled workforce. This study has explored the current digital skills and training gaps of library professionals in Nigeria.

A mixed method was adopted to collect data through questionnaires and interviews sequentially from 453 respondents. Questionnaires were analyzed descriptively and interview recordings were subjected to thematic content analysis.

Findings revealed that the university library professionals in Nigeria lack operational digital skills to carry out tasks especially serials, acquisition, cataloging management etc. Also, found that in-house training is the only pathway for expert training on digital operations while others are ineffective. Personal factors such as financial constraints and gender related issues, alongside management factors such as policy and poor financing were found to impede capacity development of library staff in Nigeria. The study recommends re-harnessing the existing resources and refocusing the training programs towards expert programs.  

This paper introduces the concept of state literacy, drawing on the struggles of campesino or peasant communities in the Colombian Amazon and interdisciplinary literature on state-citizen interactions. Using feminist and action-research methodologies, the study is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Guaviare, Colombia (April–December 2023). Data collection involved participant observation, interviews with peasant community leaders and members, and analysis of documents and photographs. Thematic analysis explored campesino interactions with state bureaucracies and their information practices. Historically marginalized by state zoning policies that deem their lands unsuitable for peasant practices, campesino communities have organized collective efforts to reinterpret state governance frameworks. They use tools such as state maps and digital applications to foster state literacy, challenging exclusionary policies and advocating for alternative governance models. State literacy emerges as a collective, networked, and critical practice that enables marginalized communities to engage with state systems. It is supported by informal sociotechnical infrastructures. It configures subversive practices that transform bureaucratic systems. State literacy represents a vital set of skills and practices for marginalized communities to navigate and resist bureaucratic marginalization. It highlights the potential of marginalized communities to challenge and reimagine governance structures, while proposing ethical, community-driven alternatives.

Introduction. We introduce legitimation practices through Know Your Meme documenting the high-profile sex-trafficking and suicide ruling of Jeffrey Epstein.

Method. Using netnography, we analyse the legitimation discourse provided by the six authors’ reported previous knowledge and what the website legitimised about memetic knowledge, Know Your Meme, and the Epstein case and surrounding conspiracy.

Analysis. Our initial analysis suggests that legitimation discourse is a valuable netnographic methodology to understand how documentation both technically and textually establishes ‘authoritative’ contexts for memetic and conspiracy theoretic content. We have found that Van Leeuwen’s categories of legitimation function in relation to self-reported claims about cultural heritage sites such as Know Your Meme’s archival and narrative accounts of memetic meaning.

Conclusion. Our work begins filling two gaps in contemporary digital information environments. Firstly, our work helps fill a gap between netnography and cultural heritage sites such as archives, repositories, and so forth. Secondly, we contribute diverse individual legitimations of memetic content. Future work will develop more rich interpretations of what is legitimated by Know Your Meme. Additionally, we compare individual participants’ legitimation process relative to their prior reported knowledge.