Advancing IDEAs: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, 2022 August 9

The following  post is one in a regular series on issues of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility, compiled by Jay Weitz.

“Let’s talk race”

Randy Dantrell Heath, Branch Manager of the Edgewood location of the Richland Library (OCLC Symbol: SRC) in Columbia, South Carolina, USA, writes about “Let’s talk race: The power of conversations” in his entry on the OCLC Next blog. He calls it “a simple but powerful set of programs open to anyone in the community. We’ve now facilitated more than 90 conversations with 4,000+ community members from all backgrounds on a variety of topics explicitly convened to discuss race, social justice, and inequality.” It’s emotional and difficult work, Heath reports, “But it’s work I encourage all libraries to explore. I promise you that the rewards will outweigh any negatives.”

“Indigenous Approaches to Digital Infrastructure”

Data & Society, the independent nonprofit research organization, recently welcomed its new postdoctoral fellow, Tiara Roxanne, who “will work with the key concepts of sacredity, Indigenous cosmology, and storytelling, bringing them into conversation with an evolving literature on trust and safety in digital infrastructures.” Their first blog post, “Indigenous Approaches to Digital Infrastructure” talks about “the decolonial gesture: a space where we inhabit active and bodily or embodied gestures or actions as moves toward decolonization,” while acknowledging that “Decolonization is impossible.” They will work with one Indigenous community each from North America, Central America, and South America, “to create a community-centered digital infrastructure that takes on necessary protocols while holding space for Indigenous voice, practice, and overall assertion.”

Libraries and abortion information

The largest library system in Oklahoma, Oklahoma City’s Metropolitan Library System (OCLC Symbol: OKE), like many libraries across the United States, has found itself at the center of the debates over abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. In the Vice article “Oklahoma Threatens Librarians: ‘Don’t Use the Word Abortion,’” Nadine Farid Johnson, the Washington director of PEN America, the freedom of expression organization, says, “We know that access to abortion care requires access to information. When the sharing of information is criminalized or otherwise prohibited, free expression rights are imperiled. The blocking of access to abortion information on public library computers and the silencing of librarians, if true, constitutes a significant impingement on the right to access information, and infringes these public employees’ rights as they seek to serve their patrons by sharing information that is arguably of public concern.” Bill Young, public information manager of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries (OCLC Symbol: OKD), notes in an Oklahoman article, “Oklahoma City library releases guidelines on patrons seeking abortion information,” that although librarians face reference questions every day, “We do not provide legal or medical advice.”

Serving Latinx communities

A Community Catalyst Initiative grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded a collaborative project involving the Public Library Association (PLA), the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), plus one urban, one rural, and one suburban public library aimed “to identify the existing barriers to Latinx families’ use of public libraries and to find community-driven solutions.” Several of those involved in the project, including staff from the suburban Englewood, Colorado, USA, Arapahoe Libraries (OCLC Symbol: CO2), write about the project in “Using Co-Design as an Approach to Better Serve and Engage Low-Income, Latinx Communities” in Public Libraries Online. Involving families in planning and delivering library programs, diversity and equity education for staff, diverse representation in collections and events, work with local social justice organizations, and building trust were among the factors found to have the most impact.

Disability pride

In the United States, many celebrate July as the unofficial “Disability Pride Month” in honor of the July 1990 passage and signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Throughout the month of July, Book Riot Contributing Editor Kendra Winchester compiled a multifaceted six-part series devoted to several aspects of disability literature: “7 Fiction Audiobooks for Disability Pride Month,” “A Book Lover’s Guide to Disability Pride Month,” “7 Nonfiction Audiobooks for Disability Pride Month,” “7 Tips on How to be a Better Disability Ally on the Bookish Internet,” “A Nondisabled Reader’s Guide to Disability Literature,” and “10 Books to Introduce Readers to Disability Literature.” Along the way, Winchester also explained the history and symbolism of Ann Magill’s Disability Pride flag, designed in 2019 and updated in 2021: “The black background represents the mourning and loss that disabled people have experienced throughout history. It also symbolizes the rebellion and protest of disabled people fighting for their human rights. The diagonal lines symbolizes the barriers disabled people experience in society and the ingenuity disabled people illustrate when navigating those barriers.” Each color represents different “needs and experiences:” white for “Invisible and Undiagnosed Disabilities,” red for Physical Disabilities,” gold for “Neurodivergence,” blue for “Psychiatric Disabilities,” and green for “Sensory Disabilities.” Earlier in 2022, Winchester offered additional recommendations for intersectional reading in “10 2SLGBTQ+ Disabled Authors to Read this Pride Month” and “9 Nonfiction Books About Disability by People of Marginalized Genders.”

Opinions on libraries, censorship, and truth

In his “Op-Ed: Why inappropriate books are the best kind,” Los Angeles Times opinion writer David L. Ulin cites the April 2022 PEN America report “Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights” in pointing out that some 41% of current bans “are tied to directives from state officials or elected lawmakers,” which is a concerning and historic shift away from ban requests that have traditionally come from members of local communities. In a related vein, Guardian US opinion writer Maeve Higgins talks with ALA president-elect Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada of the Palos Verdes Library District (OCLC Symbol: PVL), California, USA, in “The Right in the US has a New Bogeyman: Libraries.” Pelayo-Lozada says, “Our goal as libraries is to empower our users; to empower them for critical thinking, to empower them to make their dreams come true. And that can be scary to folks who maybe don’t want everyone to be in power, who want to have power over others.” “Libraries help us to think. That is why they are powerful, and that is why they are under attack,” Higgins concludes. “That is also why we must protect them.” Tying it all together in a way are Frieda Afary, recently retired from the Los Angeles Public Library (OCLC Symbol: LPU), and Los Angeles Community College District (OCLC Symbol: LACCD) historian Wonda Powell, in their Library 2.022 “Urban Librarianship: Embracing Challenges and Opportunities” presentation, “Librarians as Stewards of Knowledge: Critical Thinking, Empathy, and Truth.”