Laura Carpenter
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion/White Privilege Study in Children's Books
March 19th, 2021
Diversity
Diversity affects many aspects of libraries, including:
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-Programming and Services: Having programming and services that incorporate diverse cultural representation is beneficial to everyone involved. Ensuring that programming and services are created and implemented by a diverse staff is also a key element to bringing accurate and beneficial cultural representation to library patrons and communities. Understanding the information needs and wants of the library's patrons, and of the marginalized communities represented in the area, is crucial to creating programming and services that embrace those marginalized by society.
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-Collection development: Assessing library collections for widespread and accurate representation of many marginalized peoples is a practice that stays true to the goal of libraries acting as centers of equity. While the vast majority of picture books feature white characters, followed by animals and inanimate objects, there is progress being made in the publishing industry, trying to close the gap that exists in terms of representation of marginalized peoples. Actively searching for picture books that feature BIPOC, Latinx characters, those with differing physical abilities, neurodivergence, and characters across the gender and sexuality spectrums is an absolute must to ensure a collection that serves a diverse population.
Diversity is "the condition of having or being composed of differing elements: VARIETY, especially: the inclusion of people of different races, cultures, etc. in a group or organization" (Merriam-Webster, 2021).
Ensuring that peoples who have historically been marginalized are acting in leadership roles and making the big decisions in their professions is incredibly important. In their article, Diversity, Social Justice, and the Future of Libraries, Morales, Knowles, & Bourg assert that "librarians confront and creatively address the lack of racial and ethnic diversity within our profession and actively pursue a social justice agenda within our libraries and in the communities we serve" (Morales, Knowles, & Bourg, 2014, p. 439). A framework of whiteness cannot create professions that are welcoming to marginalized peoples.
