Holes at the Bottom of the Boat: Disrupting Performative EDI Efforts

Zepeda, Erick 

 

Hall, T.D. (2023) Holes at the bottom of the boat: Disrupting performative equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts in libraries in the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Journal of Library Administration, 63(4), 566-577, DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2023.2201722

 

Summary: The transition to digital work during the pandemic laid bare the inconsistencies in demands for employees to use and consume online media while lower income employees are less likely to have access to technology and reliable internet connections, particularly in rural areas. On the public-facing front, lower income areas are less likely to have access to information organizations and librarians that can assist in overcoming the digital divide. Meanwhile, the pandemic saw the elimination of many lower classified positions within libraries, where the majority of BIPOC staff are employed.

 

Evaluation: I am naturally skeptical of an industry’s incorporation of social justice aesthetics. They often end up divorced from practice. DEI has yet to even take roots in library culture, but we need not follow suit with the private sector or even The White House. Rather, I like how Hall refers to this stage as the "mission-critical" for DEI initiatives. The industry will either have to implement these concepts into material solutions or stagnate in a deathloop of meaningless gestures.