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Better Together: Dietetics Student and Librarians Promoting Weight-Inclusive Content and Conversations
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Abstract
Fat studies is a well-established area of research and scholarship and is accompanied by a long history of fat activism in intersectional communities. Recent developments and marketing around GLP-1 drugs, organizational and legal policies, and an increasingly mainstream social justice awareness have magnified weight-inclusive discourse and action. In response to these conversations, University of Vermont (UVM) health sciences librarians and the liaison librarian for UVM’s Nutrition & Food Science Department started exploring weight inclusivity in critical librarianship and as a facet of health equity work. When a Masters of Dietetics (MSD) student created a 37-page repository of weight-inclusive text and media sources as part of their degree capstone, it was a natural springboard for collaboration and mentorship with UVM Libraries. This student and librarian partnership resulted in a collection development project, a virtual and physical book display, and hosting an interprofessional panel discussion of practitioners from dietetics, nursing, and pharmacology. We found our collaboration between dietetics and two libraries noticeably increased our overall reach and engagement. Academic spaces can be very specialized and siloed and, while librarians’ work allows a unique interdisciplinary perspective, we don’t always acknowledge our expertise and how it can contribute to deep, disciplinary collaborations. These efforts added valuable depth to the conversation about weight inclusivity, the MSD student experience, and the working relationship between health sciences and other liaison librarianship. We will share our process, outcomes, and next steps in this work.
Type
Presentation
Date
2024-06-04