Posted on by hildaweisburg

Beyond EDI

There’s one more step we need to take.

An important and ongoing issue in our schools is the importance of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). It is something we must address in how we run our libraries. We recognize all three must be integrated into our daily practices to ensure that the library is a safe, welcoming place for all. But is there more that we can do, and, if so, what is it?

Before looking ahead, it’s important to review how this process has changed. An early understanding was realizing the difference between equality and equity. Equality means everyone gets the same thing, for example, all students get Chrome Books. Equity takes into account that not everyone is starting at the same point and resources are allocated to minimize or, even better, eliminate the difference so all have the same opportunity. It means that not only does every student have a Chrome book, but access to wi-fi so they can be used whenever needed.

Diversity addresses the need for everyone to be represented. Your collection should have materials that show a broad understanding of the many cultures, ethnics, genders, and physical distinctions that make up our communities. Even if our communities appear monochrome, the country and the world aren’t. Your collection must represent this. It’s not a diverse collection if all it has are the five “F’s”(food, festivals, folklore, fashion, and famous people). Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop first talked of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors in 1990 (you can read the full article here). She stated:

“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created and recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books. (1990, p. ix)

We now look for #ownvoices and other sources to build a wider, more authentic collection.

Inclusion shows up in who is in the top classes and who is in the bottom. We can see it in the members of student government and in academic competitions. It is also visible in the cafeteria and on the bus. To create an inclusive environment where there wasn’t one takes planning, communication and patience, getting different groups to collaborate with each other.

We certainly have become better at creating a safe, welcoming place for all, but there is one more step to take. Belonging goes beyond EDI. Belonging is about emotions. It tells you how people feel about your library. Sometimes EDI feels like you are just following a set of the newest directions set down from administrators. While important, it doesn’t have that added sense of a welcoming embrace.

LaFawn Davis explains to the business world How Belonging Differs from Diversity and Inclusion — and Why It Matters. She quotes Verna Myers who said, “diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.” Davis then adds, “belonging is knowing all the songs.” You can feel the difference.

Davis recommends surveys to get some answers about belonging, giving this example:

We asked respondents to consider five statements regarding inclusion and belonging and select an answer ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Two of the statements were specifically related to psychological safety, the underpinning of belonging:

  • When I speak up, my opinion is valued.
  • I feel comfortable coming forward with concerns or complaints, without the fear of retaliation.

Do all your students feel their opinion is valued? Do they worry a concern or fear of theirs will be bring retaliation or just be brushed off?  Can you have conversations with students to get answers, or does that already suggest the answer?

She also suggests creating “opportunities for connections” based on interests. As you launch a research project, how can you frame it so that you get diverse members working in collaborative groups. Do formative assessments as they go along to see that all voices are being heard and welcomed.

Your Mission, as Davis says, can promote belonging. Review your Mission and make any tweaks necessary to include belonging. Keep checking to gauge how well this part of your Mission is unfolding and being lived by your audience.

Diversity is having a seat at the table; inclusion being having a voice. Belonging is the support you get for that voice. The school library has been a haven for so many over the years. It’s where countless students have felt safe. Take it one step beyond and make it the place where they feel they belong – and belong with others.

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Posted on by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: Taking a Stand Against Racism

The Oxford Dictionary defines racism as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.”  In our schools, virtual or physical, we must actively fight racism – in our collection, in our educational community, and in ourselves. Many of you have been working on making your collection more diverse, but when creating a collection which includes “mirrors and windows,” ensuring that our students can find books that reflect their lives and let students see into the lives of others, how successful have you been?

Sadly our efforts have fallen short if too many of our diverse books fall into one of the four “F” categories: Folklore, Fashion, Food, and Festivals. This not only misses the mark when it comes to multiculturalism, but potentially veers into stereotyping cultures in terms of language, ethnicity and traits. True multiculturalism can only happen when significant attention is given to many different backgrounds in a particular setting.

What proportion of your books on Blacks are about slavery or the Civil Rights Movement?  That isn’t a mirror.  We need to be more pro-active about having a more representational collection. There are some very helpful websites such as https://diversebooks.org/ and if you do searches for titles under Own Voices.

Even better is to do a Diversity Audit. Library Collection Shelf Audit for Diversity and Inclusion is a relatively simple one. As you check the books, note whether the author is writing in their own voice.  Too many books are authored by those not sharing the history they are writing about, although more publishers are now actively seeking those who write from their own voice. Diversity audits take time, and you probably cannot accomplish it in the virtual world, but plan on doing one when you have physical time in your library.

To make a change in your educational community, you need to step out and lead. Adding diverse books to your collection does not mean that students – or teachers- will read them.  How can you promote them?  One way is a book tasting with book jackets covered as you offer students a sample of what’s inside the book, piquing their interests without engaging biases. New books that increase your collection’s diversity and inclusion should be shared with teachers along with suggestions for ways to bring them into either library or classroom projects.

Going further, look for ways to curate information on microaggressions and related topics and make it available to teachers and administrators – this can go beyond books to websites, podcasts, and videos.  Become informed and give a workshop on it. You want the entire school addressing the issue. If there are books in your collection which are problematic, use it as an opportunity to create a program about racism and how race is portrayed (don’t remove the books or we start down the slippery slope of censorship). See if the PTA/O is open to doing an event around resources available at the library and offer support for parents who want to talk more with their children.

While it’s important to fight racism in our collection and look for ways to lead our educational community in becoming anti-racist we also need to look at ourselves. The more we learn about how we’ve been taught and raised to look at the world through a white lens the better we become about changing how we think.  I know I have benefited from White Privilege. It doesn’t mean I don’t respect people no matter their ethnicity, gender, religion, or any other of the many ways are different.  It means my life has not been made harder because of the color of my skin. When I am in a store, I don’t expect to be watched by security.  When a policeman stops me, I am not afraid.  I don’t worry about my grandkids going out with their friends at any time of day.

Recognizing White Privilege is only a start.  As a lifelong learner I am committed to learning more, to leading by example, and to speaking up when I see racism. I am a leader for change, and I accept that this starts with me. The Chicago Public Library posted Ibram X. Kendi’s, author of How to Be An Antiracist, Anti-Racist Reading List, and I highly recommend it. (It is also a good list for expanding your collection, especially at the high school level).

As librarians we are staunch defenders of the First Amendment. We are committed to making our libraries safe, welcoming spaces for ALL. We support Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as a basis, along with curriculum connections, for building our collections. We have not been just talking the talk.  We have been walking the walk, but it is likely we can and need to do more. We are not only responsible for our actions but tremendously influence the future of the communities we serve.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: A Safe Welcoming Space

In the aftermath of another school shooting, I felt this was an important topic to revisit because it is clearly an ongoing struggle. For learning to happen, students need to feel safe. Equally important, they need to feel welcome. It is our charge as librarians to create a space where both exist. Doing this is vital to your program’s success.

The way you have arranged your facility, the furniture, the displays, and how you greet students show them the library welcomes them.  To truly make all students feel safe and give them a sense of belonging requires a more concentrated effort. It starts with a collection that reflects a diversity of culture, ethnicity, and race of your students as well as the various lifestyles they lead. Even if your school is culturally homogenous, there is a need to show students what the larger world looks like. In addition, it’s important to be aware of differences that may not show so that these can also be addressed.

For example, how are socio-economic differences and physical disabilities being acknowledged in your collection? We need to pay attention to how these students access information, making it as barrier-free as possible. In creating a safe environment, you need to continually learn about those who are “other” in some ways and work to make them feel recognized, valued and welcome as well.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Against a backdrop of differences and in a time when differences continue to face suspicion and prejudice, librarians need to develop a collection policy that consciously pays attention to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI).  While the three terms seem similar, they encompass important differences. Understanding them helps you be more attuned to your students’ needs.

Equity is often confused with equality. Equality is giving everyone the same thing, i.e. all students get a Chromebook. Equity is ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity. If a computer is needed for homework, do all students have access to one at home? Can they access the internet? If not, then you don’t have equity.

An illustration appearing on many websites explains the distinction. Three boys of different heights are trying to watch a baseball game from outside a solid fence. Equality shows them now standing on boxes of the same height. The tallest boy has an excellent view. The next one can just see over the fence. The shortest one still cannot see the game. Equity gives the boys boxes of different heights, so they all have a good view.  A third panel shows the boys viewing the game from behind a fence with an open weave. This takes access to a higher level by completely removing the barrier for all.

Diversity is usually thought of as referring to the various ethnicities, religions, and cultures, but it includes far more. Gender, gender identification, socio-economic status is part of diversity. So are physical and emotional challenges. Diversity is so all-encompassing it can be hard to wrap your arms around all the differences. Adding to the challenge is that so many of these differences aren’t observable, certainly not on the surface. Despite that, libraries must strive to meet the needs of all these students. Lower check out areas for students in wheelchairs. No fines so as not to penalize those having financial challenges or spending time in two households. Books which represent different challenges, choices, and traumas.

Inclusion means that all are a part of the whole.  It seeks to keep students in age-appropriate classes. Students are not judged to be inferior for any reason. Ever.

Another recent image going around social media captured the distinction among the three terms in this way: “Accessibility is being able to get in the building. Diversity is having a seat at the table. Inclusion is having a voice at the table. Belonging is having your voice heard at the table!”

Although EDI is the phrase used most of the time to describe what we are trying to achieve, a better visualization of what this means is the phrase Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors as coined in an essay by Rudine Sims Bishop. Mirrors are the stories that show students they are not invisible in the library collection. Bishop notes if children only see themselves, they develop an exaggerated sense of self-importance. These same books offer other students windows – the ability to see and better understand their peers and the challenges that they might face.

By now we are all aware of the importance of having books so that African Americans, Latinx, and Islamic students and others can see themselves in our collections. Many of you have acquired titles about LGBTQ+ kids and families while others face challenges to this step. But diversity goes beyond these areas.

The library’s collection needs books that include kids who have physical disabilities as well as mental and emotional problems. You also need stories about students who are homeless, have a parent or close relative who is incarcerated, or a parent who is in the military and is in an active war zone. Even Sesame Street, which has always worked to be diverse, currently has Muppets who have autism and are in foster care.

How do you do it all – particularly when your budget is small? There is no simple solution. Do your best to tune into the diversity that exists in your school population and make that your initial focus. Look for materials to meet them. And then check for grants. There may be an organization that offers grants to your school district.

It’s not easy and it takes time, but we all agree our students are worth the effort.  With windows and doors, we make our libraries safe, welcoming spaces for all.

 

Posted on by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: An Ethical Question

As librarians, we are accustomed to celebrating many months.  February is African American History Month.  March is Women’s History Month. And April is School Library Month, Poetry Month, and Math Awareness Month.  I am sure you have displays for all them, just as you do for the holidays in November and December.

June is GLBT Book Month.  Have you done anything to highlight it? I can hear a dead silence (crickets chirping) as I write these words.  Many of you won’t do anything.  Some of you have reason to believe you can’t do anything.  But what about library ethics?

Back in April I did a blog post on the “Many Layers of Diversity.” I was bringing ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee’s draft of the Library Bill of Rights Interpretation – Equity, Diversity, to your attention.  I dealt with all the aspects of the interpretation including meeting the needs of everyone in the school including LGBTQ students. (I am more familiar with LGBTQ rather than GLBT.) 

In June, these young people take center stage. Are you up to the challenge? Have you been avoiding books having LGBTQ characters?  I am not here to preach to those of you who are in untenable positions on the topic.  I know some of you work and live in communities where you would be vilified and possibly fired for purchasing these books. And you would not likely be hired anywhere else since the people in the surrounding towns hold the same views.

If you are sufficiently courageous, you might purchase some titles with your own funds.  Keep them in your office.  Your LGBTQ students in these communities are more isolated and fearful than in other more tolerant areas. When you have identified one of these kids, let them read the books you have in the library.  Taking them home could constitute a danger to you and possibly to them.  But you want your library to be a safe, welcoming environment for all your users.  And these students need to feel safe someplace.

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How far you go in marking this month is up to you.  If you are one step up from the most restrictive communities, consider an annotated booklist. In a more tolerant area you can put the titles on display and post it to your website.

Helen Adams, an active member in AASL and the Freedom to Read Foundation just did a blog for Knowledge Quest entitled “June is GLBQ Book Month.” In it she gives example of how to build a rainbow collection. She encourages you to include GLBT titles among others when you give a book talk, and offers suggestions for educating teachers.

Adams points out, “Of the 323 book challenges reported to the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom for 2016, five of the top 10 challenged books for 2016 included titles that LGBT characters including two with transgender children.”  She reminds librarians if they are facing a book challenge, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom is ready and able to offer confidential support.

Do check out the resources and links she provides in the article. Some of you might be surprised by the experiences of one New England middle school librarian who reported, “LGBTQ inclusion has become a normal part of the everyday activities in the library, and I think this has had a positive impact. This year, I’ve had an eighth-grade student ask me a couple times for good coming out stories, and earlier this year a sixth-grade student came to me to ask about pronoun etiquette.”

GLBT kids can be found in every school in the country.  Some are more obvious about it—when they feel safe. Others are desperately trying to hide who they are. They all deserve to know they aren’t alone and your library is a safe place for them. If you think you have a challenge – can you even begin to imagine theirs?

What are you doing for your GLBT students this month – and every month?  How much of a challenge is this for you?