Project READY: Re-imagining equity and access for diverse youth.

To, Nhi.

 

Project READY. (n.d.). Project READY:  Reimagining equity and access for diverse 

youth. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

https://ready.web.unc.edu/about-us/ 

 

Summary: Project READY, which stands for Reimagining Equity and Access for Diverse Youth, 

is a free online professional development curriculum with the aims of promoting racial 

equity in libraries and educational settings. Developed by a group of educators and library

staff from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Project READY offers modules

on understanding racism, building cultural competence, and transforming library services, 

programming, and practices to support diverse youth. 

 

Evaluation: This project is a valuable resource for librarians as this could provide useful

information regarding topics of racial equity that may be lacking in their understanding. 

Provided that this is a free course, I believe Project READY should be an option that all 

libraries can look to add into their training or professional development for their staff 

members. The curriculum is comprehensive, leaving anyone who is able to complete the 

course fully to have a wealth of knowledge afterwards. I found this source to be incredible

cool as it is free and it is also online. Accessibility was definitely a consideration when 

creating this toolkit.

The Importance of Diversity in Library Programs and Material Collections for Children

Zubkov, Angelina

Hughes-Hassell, S. (2017, December 20). The importance of diversity in library programs and material collections for children. Equitable Inclusive Libraries for Youth. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://inclusivelibraries.web.unc.edu/2017/12/the-importance-of-diversity-in-library-programs-and-material-collections-for-children/

From this article, I learned that one place where children can interact with stories on a regular basis is the library. Through its materials, collections, and programs, the library introduces children to many stories, starting at a very young age. This paper emphasizes the importance of developing print and digital library collections that reflect cultural diversity, and details how librarians can promote cultural understanding through library programs that embody the diversity of their communities and the large world. After reading this paper, I learned that stories reflecting diversity should be routinely included in library programs throughout the year and represented in print and digital material collections and displays. 

I found this article to be important and interesting since it addressed access to a diverse collection from an early age. Early education that promotes cultural understanding can influence the foundational outlook of an entire generation and change the course of how society approaches diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Examining the Hidden Ideologies within Cultural Competence Discourses Among Library and Information Science (LIS) Students: Implications for School Library Pedagogy

Martinez, Evelyn

Kumasi, K. D., & Hill, R. F. (n.d.). Examining the Hidden Ideologies within Cultural Competence Discourses Among Library and Information Science (LIS) Students: Implications for School Library Pedagogy. Retrieved October 27, 2016, from http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/slisfrp/94.

  

Summary: Kumasi and Hill point out in their article that in the LIS profession, structural racism has been largely ignored because libraries and staff are either not aware and/or have not challenged the Eurocentric and White normative culture of libraries and within the LIS profession (2103).  The authors also point out that within the LIS profession there exists a “tendency to rely on empty, celebratory rhetoric that employs race neutral terms such as diversity and multiculturalism” that does not specifically examine racism and white privilege on a structural level (2013).  This article further examines the complexity and importance of these ideologies.

Evaluation/Opinion:  This is an important article that raises crucial issues that all LIS professionals should be aware of.  Librarians that work in public libraries and school libraries in urban areas service populations that are diverse in race, ethnicity and language.  Library professionals can best serve their needs by acknowledging and legitimizing their experience through collections that are relevant to them.  Ensuring that materials/texts used in the library are inclusive of their language, culture, experience and are inclusive of characters representative of underserved diverse cultures is important.  Providing materials where diverse cultures see themselves portrayed, as main characters in texts would be a way of affirming their identity as well as including materials in their primary language.

Cultural Competence: A conceptual Framework for Library and Information Science Professionals

Martinez, Evelyn

Overall, P. (2009). Cultural Competence: A Conceptual Framework for Library and Information Science Professionals. The Library Quarterly, 79(2), 175-204. doi:10.1086/597080

Summary:  This article discusses the definition of cultural competence and how it relates to LIS professionals.  The author explains the importance of cultural competence in the field of LIS and how it plays a central role in meeting the needs of marginalized and underserved patrons in all types of libraries.

Evaluation/Opinion:  This an important article that should be read and examined by all LIS professionals if they wish to serve the needs of all patrons knowledgeably and equitably.

Preserving Cultural Heritage: Considerations for Librarians & Information Professionals

Unger, Amy

Roy, L. l. (2015). Indigenous cultural heritage preservation. IFLA Journal, 41(3), 192-203.

Summary:

Author, Loriene Roy, is herself a member of the White Earth Reservation, a member of the Minnesota (USA) Chipewa Tribe; she is Anishinabe.  Her experience as an Indigenous person contributes to her literature review of  Indigenous cultural heritage preservation, as does her position as faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.  Her review provides summary of the current literature (found to be "still rather sparse and underdeveloped"), albeit still emerging in the field of Library & Information Science, regarding preservation of cultural heritage, as well as statements of the library professional's place in such work; how to attain guidance (such as from IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations); policy documents that are adhered to; and research methodologies/theory.  
Regarding collection development, libraries (as information settings) are recognized as connected to the preservation of cultural heritage from several vantage points:

1. They collect (and house) cultural heritage in its many formats, e.g. print, media, and digital.
2. They create and organize records of cultural heritage, i.e. through the processes of cataloging and classification.
3. They assist and shape a user's understanding of a cultural heritage by providing access to records through specific policies, e.g. employing digitization).
4. They provide location for cultural heritage to be expressed.

Perhaps most interesting is the recognition, noted through review of "Access and control of Indigenous knowledge in libraries and archives: Ownership and future use" (Anderson, 2005) in Correcting Course: Rebalancing copyright for libraries in the national and international arena, out of Columbia University, in light of the paradigm shift occurring in libraries: power is being gained by the people as their voices become heard through the library.  What will this mean for people whom have traditionally been subjected to archives, as they now/soon become able to "gain a recognized voice and question not only status within the archive, but the authority of the archive as a centre of interpretation" (Roy, 2015:193).

It is recommended that an adoption of non-western research methodologies is likely necessary for future successes in preserving cultural heritage; there is a concept of the Cultural Interface - written about by M. Nakata (2002) in IFLA Journal 28(5/6): 281-289 - which is constantly negotiated by Indigenous peoples: the place where their Indigenous lifeways and western viewpoints come together" (Roy, 2015: 197).  And yet, barriers that lie in the means for access to digitization/money/reliable and affordable technologies are as much of concern as the development of sensitivities regarding this work.

The author points to several free online resources that primarily highlight children's and youth collection pieces (this also leads to understanding of the absence in publications of the needs of adult library patrons, and is part of the impetus that led to the US campaign, "We Need Diverse Books" in 2015).  Among the resources are two through the ALA (American Library Association) website, i.e. the TRAILS (2008) notebook, and the Guide to Building Support for Your Tribal Library Toolkit.  One of IFLA's key publications on cultural heritage, the IFLA Disaster Preparedness and Planning manual, is also available for free online.

Roy concludes the literature review with recommendations for further work in preparing librarians to, essentially, be more culturally competent, and prepared - through acquiring knowledge of the specific techniques and processes involved in cultural heritage - for when the Indigenous communities reach out to libraries, archives, and museums "as settings with staff knowledgeable in cultural preservation" (Roy, 2015: 199).

Evaluation:

In addition to my affinity for library experiences of my past, I also look to the future through this reading.  Experiences of my past include visits to exhibits such as that of the State Indian Museum in Sacramento, CA and the Yosemite Museum, which:

has displays that interpret the cultural history of Yosemite's native Miwok and Paiute people from 1850 to the present. Demonstrations of basket-weaving, beadwork, and traditional games are presented. The reconstructed Indian Village of Ahwahnee behind the museum is always open. The art gallery is open periodically and often exhibits pieces from the Yosemite Museum collection.

It is my humble opinion that through explorations such as this, about the care-taking of cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples, I may become a better librarian in service of any, and all, people in the local community that I may serve.  Nonetheless, it is fun, too, to imagine myself as still possibly able to connect with such valuable work as archiving and curating in the second half of my career.  I find it inspiring any time that I see such works going on in public, K-12, special, or academic libraries.  I look forward to this including more of a community's local peoples, and not just authors of published books.