As librarians, we spend a great deal of time teaching students how to create proper citations and abide by the rules set out in various style guides. When participating in this kind of work, it can be easy to focus on the advantages, such as helping learners avoid academic misconduct and gain skills that will benefit them in assignment completion and even beyond their academic studies. This type of support is frequently requested by students and instructors alike, but it does not come without its challenges.

In recent years, there has been much attention on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) including the emergence of citation justice. Citation justice aims to address the citation gap of minority researchers due to systemic failures. This concept involves “the deliberate act of citing more work authored by people from marginalized communities in society and in academia” such as individuals who identify as BIPOC or S2LGBTQIA+ (Coalter, 2023, p. 62). According to Mott and Cockayne (2017), “the choices we make about whom to cite – and who is then left out of the conversation – directly impact the cultivation of a rich and diverse discipline” (p. 955). Therefore, citation justice offers students an opportunity to establish positive change by highlighting scholars in their own work that have traditionally been excluded.

This topic has the potential to influence the types of sources our students find, read, use, and ultimately cite. Citation justice affects our students’ research and writing processes in profound and complex ways, yet are these elements integrated into citation-related resources and services? And if not, why is replicating appropriate style guide information our only goal? How can we foster critical thinking and encourage students to reflect on why and how citations are disseminated? In considering such questions, two librarians began a research project focused on these very things. In the fall of 2023, they completed an evaluation of citation support offered by the top 15 research-intensive Canadian universities (known as the U15) combined with a thorough literature review. Inspired by their findings, the librarians decided to introduce citation justice by adding new content to the library's primary citation LibGuide as well as integrating it into a new workshop for undergraduate and graduate students.

Citing is so much more than simply writing a reference, and as librarians, it is crucial for our practice to evolve to help students understand and learn from historical and emerging citation challenges . Librarians can assist students in developing the skills to make informed and thoughtful decisions about which citations they use, and how to be aware of and apply citation justice within their own writing. As scholars themselves, it is only right for students to learn to be critical, curious and informed about the sources they encounter. In this session, presenters will share their own experiences in moving beyond traditional citation instruction and share strategies to help participants transform their own resources and services to support student learning in a holistic way.