Introduction to the Volume: Critical Race Theory in Library and Information Science

Critical race theory (CRT) has become one of the most divisive terms in the last few decades. The concept, which originated in the legal studies field, has been co-opted and weaponized by political interest groups and politicians alike as a fear mongering tool and used to spread misinformation and disinformation about the goals of social justice. Various groups and individuals, including news media outlets and politicians, have attacked the concept and have spread false information about it having Marxist origins, or being a strategy for shaping K-12 curriculum, and even misrepresented as defending racist principles (Colón-Aguirre & Cooke, 2022; Parrish, 2021; Ray & Gibbons, 2021). Due to this concerted smear campaign which has taken hold of popular media, any work rooted in the principles of CRT must begin with a definition. For the purposes of this volume, it is understood that CRT is