The following post is one in a regular series on issues of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility, compiled by Jay Weitz.
Preparing for comic book challenges
On January 18, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table (GNCRT) will present the webinar “Preparing for Challenges – How to be ready before you get one.” Panelists will discuss such preparations as documenting strong collection development policies, building advocacy, and knowing the historical context “to build an arsenal of tools to deflect or defend against challenges.” The participants will include Shauntee Burns-Simpson, Associate Director, Center for Educators and Schools, New York Public Library (OCLC Symbol: NYP); Mary Grahame Hunter, youth services librarian, Ferndale Area District Library, Michigan; and Carla Riemer, school librarian and current member of the GNCRT Addressing Comic Book Challenges Committee.
Gender and Sexuality SACO Funnel Project
Virtual attendees of the June 3, 2022, OCLC Cataloging Community meeting witnessed a rare event in real time: the formation of a new Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Subject Authority Cooperative (SACO) funnel project. “A SACO funnel is a group of libraries (or catalogers from various libraries) that have joined together to contribute subject authority records for inclusion in the Library of Congress Subject Headings,” according to the SACO site. The new Gender and Sexuality Funnel Project, which developed from a Cataloging Community discussion, “promotes and facilitates the creation and revision of authority records for Library of Congress controlled vocabularies used in the cataloging of resources about, for, and by transgender, gender diverse, intersex, asexual, and other queer, non-heteronormative or non-heterosexual people. The goal of this project is to improve access to gender- and sexuality-related resources, and to reflect more accurately the terminology used by non-heteronormative and/or non-heterosexual communities. Additionally, the Gender and Sexuality Funnel Project is interested in the creation and revision of terminology addressing personal relationships, with a focus on subject authority records that perpetuate or normalize cisgender and heterosexual perspectives and relationships as the standard.” Potential participants are welcome to contact the funnel at GenderAndSexualityFunnel@gmail.com. Among many other SACO funnels are the African American Subject Funnel, the Africana Subject Authority Funnel, the CJK Funnel, the Hawaii/Pacific Subject Authority Funnel, the Judaica Funnel, and the Latin American and Indigenous Peoples Funnel.
Marrakesh Treaty
The Marrakesh Treaty facilitates the production and international distribution of books adapted for people with visual impairments through exceptions to standard copyright laws. In “Framework for the provision of information to the visually impaired in academic libraries in compliance with the Marrakesh Treaty,” three Kenyan information scientists suggest various ways to improve that access through such strategies as revising library policies and increasing awareness of the treaty. Samuel Macharia Were, Lecturer at the School of Information Science at Kisii University (OCLC Symbol: KEKIS); Japhet N. Otike, Professor of Library and Information Sciences in the School of Information Sciences in Moi University (OCLC Symbol: KEMOI); and Emily K Bosire, Senior Lecturer in the School of Information Science at Moi University, presented their study in the December 2022 issue of the IFLA Journal (Volume 48, Number 4, Pages 727-741).
Loida Garcia-Febo on diversifying the library workforce
The Oregon Library Association (OLA) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism Committee presents the tenth episode of its podcast, Overdue: Weeding Out Oppression in Libraries. The episode entitled “Libraries, Communities and Mentorship: Connecting the Dots with Loida Garcia-Febo” features the Puerto Rican American librarian, 2018-2019 President of ALA, and global activist for equity, diversity, and inclusion. She talks about mentoring Black and Indigenous People of Color, trying to instill empathy in all library workers, and getting out into the community to serve it better by building trust. She suggests embedding EDI principles into the strategic plan of each library, announcing job openings to multiple ethnic and cultural organizations with in ALA, and reaching out to high schools to help diversify the library workforce. Garcia-Febo spoke with Roxanne M. Renteria, Community Librarian at the Deschutes Public Library (OCLC Symbol: DCH), Bend, Oregon; and Brittany Young, Law Librarian at the Lane County Law Library, Eugene, Oregon, on 2022 September 20.
Multiple mentors
Continuing on the same topic, Annmarie Magurany, a reference and instruction librarian, and Elizabeth Dill, director of University Libraries, both at the University of Hartford (OCLC Symbol: HRM), write about “BIPOC Librarians and Retention: Mentorship and Supportive Relationships in the Workplace” in College and Research Libraries News, December 2022 (Volume 83, Number 11, Pages 474-476). In the discussion, Magurany says, “I think that it is valuable to see representation of oneself within leadership in any organization, especially for historically marginalized groups. It helps signal the organization is not just open to theoretical inclusion but follows through on the ideals expressed in DEI statements. But ultimately, … I do not believe that a mentor and mentee need to have a similar background.” They agree that having more than a single mentor can be most valuable.
Facing censorship
The December 2022 episode of the “ALA Connect Live Series” is now available. “Our Brave Communities: Facing Censorship Head On with ALA,” moderated by ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair Lesliediana Jones, features Martha Hickson, School Librarian at New Jersey’s North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School (OCLC Symbol: LI7); Brian Raitz, director of the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library (OCLC Symbol: PARWD) in West Virginia; and Lisa Varga, Executive Director of the Virginia Library Association, discussing the current spate of book bans and how the profession has been countering it. In addition, Ed Garcia, Library Director of Cranston Public Library (OCLC Symbol: RH6) in Rhode Island and Chair of the ALA Committee on Legislation, and ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office Senior Director Alan Inouye consider the possible impact of the 2022 elections and library advocacy efforts planned for 2023. A PDF of “Links and Resources” from the episode is also available.
“Protecting Minors” in Louisiana
On November 30, 2022, the Attorney General of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, announced the creation of an online “Protecting Minors” tip line through which citizens may report “books that contain extremely graphic sexual content that is far from age appropriate for young audiences.” In the words of AG spokesperson Cory Dennis, “Landry has been committed to working with Louisiana communities to protect minors from exploitation, including early sexualization, grooming, sex trafficking, and abuse.” ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom Director Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who believes that this is the first such tip line OIF is aware of, points out in response that “Libraries have long had policies on the books that allow any library user to raise a concern about a book. Every book has its reader. Public libraries serve a wide range of information needs for everyone in the community. There are going to be books that people disagree with or don’t think are suitable for their kids. But they’re there because they serve the information needs of someone in the community.”
LGBTQ+ controversy in Kansas
Thanks to an “outpouring of public support,” the lease of the Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library (OCLC Symbol: BX2) in Kansas was renewed for a year on December 6, 2022, without restrictive language that had been proposed. Saint Marys City Commissioner Matthew Childs, who was elected mayor at the same meeting, had put forward wording that would have required the library to not “supply, distribute, loan, encourage, or coerce acceptance of or approval of explicit sexual or racially or socially divisive material, or events (such as ‘drag queen story hours’) that support the LGBTQ+ or critical theory ideology or practice.” Coverage of the ongoing controversy can be read in Kansas Reflector reporter Rachel Mipro’s articles “Kansas town’s library lease renewed after months of debate about LGBTQ content” and “St. Marys officials looking at ways to reshape public library, limit public comments.”
Accessibility standards for DLOs
Donovan Frazier, a curriculum development student assistant at the University of California-Riverside (OCLC Symbol: CRU) has conducted a most helpful review of accessibility standards for digital learning objects (DLOs) that can be applied proactively to try to ensure quality accessibility in the vision, motor, audio, cognitive, and linguistic realms. “Shifting from reactive to proactive: An accessibility review and revision project” appears in the January 2023 issue of College and Research Libraries News (Volume 84, Number 1, Pages 27-31). It accounts for sixteen standards that include alt text, image descriptions, video descriptions, check contrast, epilepsy check, closed captions, link descriptions, font clarity, and color blindness, among others.
Neurodivergent library workers
Former school librarian and special educator Kelley McDaniel contributes part one of “We Need to Talk About How We Treat Library Workers Who Are Neurodivergent” to the December 2022 issue of the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) Library Worklife. McDaniel believes that “librarians tend to do a good job promoting their diverse and inclusive collections and programs” and “that libraries can and should be part of the solution to the unemployment and underemployment of adults who are neurodivergent.” McDaniel links to the Autism @ Work Playbook: Finding talent and creating meaningful employment opportunities for people with autism, from the ACCESS-IT Research Group at the University of Washington Information School (OCLC Symbol: WAW).
Prior to his retirement in 2023, Jay was a Senior Consulting Database Specialist in the Membership and Research Division of OCLC, Jay has long been involved in WorldCat bibliographic quality control and record matching, OCLC-MARC validation, the Member Merge Project, the Virtual AskQC Office Hours, and the maintenance of OCLC’s Bibliographic Formats and Standards. He created the seven-session “Cataloging Defensively” series of presentations. For many years, he coordinated OCLC’s Enhance Program. He serves as OCLC liaison to numerous organizations, including the Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG), Online Audiovisual Catalogers (OLAC), the Cataloging and Metadata Committee (CMC) of the Music Library Association (MLA), the MARC Advisory Committee (MAC), and the Standing Committee on Standards of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). He also sits on the Bibliography Standing Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), represents the IFLA Cataloguing Standing Committee on the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA) of the American Library Association (ALA), and is Secretary of IFLA’s Permanent UNIMARC Committee.
Before coming to OCLC in 1982, Jay was a cataloger at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. He is the author of Cataloger’s Judgment (2004), both editions of Music Coding and Tagging (1990 and 2001), and the cataloging Q&A columns of the MOUG Newsletter and the OLAC Newsletter. Since 1992, catalogers throughout North America and Japan have been subjected to dozens of his workshops. He was the recipient of the MOUG Distinguished Service Award in 2004, OLAC’s Nancy B. Olson Award in 2005, and the Music Library Association’s lifetime achievement award and highest honor, the MLA Citation in 2019.