Welcome to Group Six’s blog. For the next five days we will explore mulitculturalism and diversity and the impact that these two ideas have on librarianship today and in the future. As the impact librarians have on each other as professionals as well as within the communities they work, it becomes increasingly important that librarians remain on the cutting edge. Not only is it important to keep up to date on the newest technology and educational ideas, but also ways in which entire communities can become involved and make use of libraries and their programs. In order to do this librarians must understand how multi-culturalism and diversity affect communities and libraries and also how as a profession librarians can make libraries a place where people of all races, genders and ethnic backgrounds feel welcome.
As defined by Webster’s dictionary, multi-culturalism means of or relating to, reflecting or adapted to diverse cultures. Diversity is defined as the condition of being diverse; variety, especially the inclusion of diverse people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization. These two terms encompass an entire world that librarians must learn about and embrace in order to expand their profession. Not only are these ideas important to the profession when it comes to libraries, but also in regards to students in Library Science programs. More and more often students in all levels of education are exploring the world in order to gain understanding of cultures different from theirs. As librarians, we cannot afford to be any different. Cultural proficiency becomes of utmost importance as students explore the global landscape (Abilock).
As we as future librarians look into the future of our profession there is much to be examined. There are many questions that we need to ask ourselves, the most important of which is what will we do to embrace ideas of diversity and multi-culturalism? “ It would seem that we majority white educators who are library media teachers have the task of providing an education for our majority nonwhite students. But we have an equal responsibility to prepare our white students to become good citizens in the culturally and linguistically diverse world they are inheriting. Will they respond?
With fear of and misconceptions about "strangers," or will they respond with knowledge, understanding, and compassion? The answer to that question lies in how actively
We pursue instruction to deal with all diversity issues as we teach our students each and every day.” (Schuckett)
Questions for discussion:
What areas or opportunity do you see in libraries to embrace multi-culturalism and diversity?
To what extent do you believe that librarians can actually affect how communities except diversity and multi-culturalism?
Resources consulted and cited:
Abilock, D. Educating Students for Cross-Cultural Proficiency. Knowledge Quest v. 35 no. 2 (November/December 2006) p. 10-13
Schuckett, S. Diversity: Do You Walk the Talk?. CSLA Journal v. 31 no. 1 (Fall 2007) p. 17-18
Jaeger, P. T., et. al., The Virtuous Circle: Increasing Diversity in LIS Faculties to Create More Inclusive Library Services and Outreach. Education Libraries v. 30 no. 1 (Summer 2007) p. 20-6
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8 comments:
In part it begins with collection development. No matter what kind of community you are in, diverse in population or not, the different kinds of resources NEED to be there. If not, how else does one even begin to learn about diversity and multiculuralism? Or furthermore, where would they turn if they so chose to learn about the subject?! The library seems like the logical place to me! I think about my own hometown library. The population where I am from is completely homogenious. Unfortunately, so to is the library, or at least what I remember of it. Though I haven't been back in awhile, I cannot imagine that it has changed all that much. Compared to the library I work for now, it's almost shameful. Now, I work and live in a much more diverse population. The library clearly reflects this as there is a large and growing foreign film collection, and materials in over a dozen languages. In addition, the programming we provide often places an emphasis on multiculturalism and diversity. For example there is a children's storytime series where local residents, speaking a variety of different languages such as German, Hindi, French, etc. come in and lead the storytime in that language. For the adults there is an international movie discussion night-in fact, there is one next week! In this library, the resources are there, but sadly we know that not all libraries provide this.
In her article "Success in Diversity: How Three Illinois Libraries Embrace Multiculturalism" Suzanne Arist quotes Vandella Brown, manager of the Illinois Diversity Program.
"It is often said, libraries offer the world to their users, but libraries do not know how to welcome the worlds diversity with that same offering."
It would be nice if, like Illinois, all states had programs such as the IDP to foster diversity within the libraries. There is such a long way to go in this area, and I think it is our job as future librarians to put this subject at the forefront of our endeavors.
Works Cited:
Success in Diversity: How Three Illinois Libraries Embrace Multiculturalism. Illinois Library Association Reporter v. 25 no. 5 (October 2007) p. 4-7
I completely agree Bethany. Collection development plays a huge role in the diversity of a library. Regardless of the population of the library's community, there is no chance for diversity if a diverse collection does not exist
One of the ways people learn about diversity is through reading and a library needs to have some kind of collection to inform people about diversity. Many areas are diverse but others are not and people need to be informed and have knowledge about subjects like this. As mentioned before, we have a foreign film collection that is circulated within the network and provides many different languages. Some areas are not as diverse as others and feel that they do not have a need for that material, but in reality, they should be aware of the diversity in other areas. Foreign magazines are popular at work for many. One particular magazine is circulated quite a bit because of the diverse area. It would be nice for every library to have the means to own their own collection, but if they cannot, they can reach out to others and do what they can. Collections like these need to be in a library for others to learn.
I think that multiculturalism and diversity is an important aspect of any profession. As a teacher, this topic relates to my current and future career in many similar ways. For me it is important for me to include multiculturalism and diversity within my daily lessons. It is important for me treat all of my students equally, and to teach my students to treat each other equally as well. It is important for them to understand the correct approach when trying to learn about an individual’s culture and respect each others’ differences. I think it is important to show these things in the librarian profession as well.
It really is primarily about colleciton development, because if the library has nothing else to offer the community, it has its collection.
So libraries need to have diverse collections. But as Joyce Sarick points out almost in passing in her Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library, (book review over at hunt6010b.pbwiki.com), libraries shouldn't just group, say, all Black authors together or all Muslim authors together, if they're writing on something other than Black or Muslim issues. Many people in my generation grew up almost being taught to believe that diverse authors and views were only worthy of note at the designated time of year--and not year-round.
And then, when the library holds book discussion groups on items within its collection, it can choose a book on, say, economics written by, say, an economist who happens to be Black. This requires that the librarian be quite knowledgeable about the books that are out there. But that, in large part, is the librarian's job.
Saricks, J. G. (2005). Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library. Chicago: ALA Editions.
Libraries have to be diverse in more ways then just collection development, although that is very important. Have a diverise staff is important. Having different languages written around the library is good. For instance, at my library they now have two illuminated walls...one has welcome in many different languages, one says media in different forms. I see how people react to this wall and they love it. Libraries have to be up front about their diversity.
As everyone before me has already stated, collection development is very important when dealing with multiculturalism and diversity. It must be made publicly known to the community that you have these items in your collection, almost as if you have to advertise it everyday. You have to almost advertise it everyday. Bringing out your collection into the open will open people’s eyes to the mass possibility of learning.
As a library, being more culturally aware almost sends a signal to the community in that it is great to learn about other ideas and culture, and that a meshing of cultures does not harm but enhances our understanding of each other. We will eventually come to find out that learning from one another will bring upon the realization that we are really not that different with respect to our individual community and way of life.
Collection development is essential, but I think that the first step is having an open-minded attitude and a policy of inclusiveness. If the general atmosphere of a library or other public institution is one that shows respect for different groups and encourages input from them, then I think that a collection development policy that reflects this will naturally follow. It's probably difficult for smaller libraries to include a truly broad range of cultures in their collections, though they may try, but simply being welcoming and open to other cultures as well as displaying curiosity and tolerance can go a long way towards making up for any shortfalls caused by limited funds or limited space.
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