Ensuring a diverse collection: promoting equity of access and free expression

Howe, Jackie

ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee. (2020, June 20). Ensuring a diverse collection: promoting equity of access and free expression. https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2020/06/ensuring-a-diverse-collection-promoting-equity-of-access-and-free-expression/ 

Summary & Opinion: 

This article notes the importance of having a diverse children's collection, and the value for all children to see themselves represented in literature. The article noted one example, that the children's library at the University of Wisconsin saw a 34% increase in books published by diverse authors, but only 15% of children's books in the collection were by diverse authors. One of my critiques of this article is that it does not outline or clearly define what a "diverse" author is. While it appears the authors are more specifically referring to race they do not go far enough in further breaking that down for readers, just simply stating "non-white". They wholly disregard the myriad and varied ways that individuals identity can be "diverse". 

Additionally, the second part of the article then helps readers to select a diverse collection. They included helpful links to outside resources, but on the whole did not provide concrete steps a librarian could take in ensuring that their collection is representative of the diverse life experiences children come to the library with everyday. While this article is a good starting point and conversation starter about the importance of developing diverse collections it could dig deeper.