Gender-Inclusive Educational Frameworks for LIS Curricula

Abstract

This report presents WP2 Result 5 of the GEDIS project (Gender Diversity in Information Science: Challenges in Higher Education): a set of gender-inclusive educational frameworks for Library and Information Science (LIS) curricula. Building on the Comprehensive Curriculum Analysis Report, the Consensus Document on Innovative Teaching Strategies and the prototype teaching packages developed in WP2, the report proposes three interrelated frameworks that show how gender perspectives can be embedded systematically across LIS programmes.

Framework A (Gender-Inclusive Foundations of LIS) targets core and introductory courses, ensuring that all students engage with key concepts related to gender, equality and diversity in information environments. Framework B (Data, AI and Gender in Information Science) focuses on data, algorithms and artificial intelligence, highlighting gendered biases, gaps and power relations in contemporary digital infrastructures. Framework C (Media, Disinformation and Gender in Information Environments) addresses media and information literacies, disinformation and hate speech, emphasising how gender and intersectionality shape information flows and narratives.

Each framework is linked to multilingual Open Educational Resources (OER) and prototype teaching packages co-created by staff and students within WP2, including materials developed during the ESSISGEN Summer School in Barcelona. The report describes the pedagogical rationale, suggested course links and implementation options for Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes, as well as for staff development. The frameworks are designed to be modular and adaptable, supporting both incremental course-level changes and broader curriculum reform. They will be further piloted and refined in subsequent GEDIS work packages and integrated into professors’ and librarians’ toolkits, providing a transferable model for advancing gender equality in LIS education.