WARNING! Sensitive Content Ahead

LIS education programs are designed to ensure students gain mastery of technical, managerial, reference, and other skills needed in day-to-day work in library and archives collections. However, LIS pedagogy may not fully prepare students to handle moments when that work becomes personal and traumatic. While liberatory practices may be a goal that individual LIS educators are working towards, current LIS education programs are rarely designed with consideration for individual students’ identities, experiences, and emotional needs. This paper conceptualizes content warnings as tools for mitigating harmful reactions to archival materials. However, for any harm-reduction tool to be effective in the LIS work setting, both the uses and limitations of the tool should be critically examined and taught in the LIS classroom.