The road towards valuing diversity
The web page has books recommended for various age ranges as
well as a brief synopsis of each. What
is interesting is the very last page.
There you will find a list of books that are not recommended. Undoubtedly, many readers will find some
books that they expect to see on the list.
There may be other childhood favourites that are a surprise. If you click the links for the books, it will
take you to another page or website that contains an explanation of why or how
the book is problematic.
One of the issues brought up in the discussion of the not
recommended books is that of censorship.
I know that people who work in school libraries are really caught in the
middle here. Library training and
professional values lead librarians to resist censorship and the banning of
books. Instead, librarians tend to
promote intellectual freedom and open discussion about controversial
topics. On the other hand, many schools
and school divisions have committees that are tasked with identifying and
removing teaching materials and library books that might be emotionally
damaging to minority students or might teach or promote racist and prejudiced
views. The librarian values of
intellectual freedom and anti-censorship make sense in a free and democratic society.
On the other hand, the goals of the anti-racism committees are
unquestionable. Yet, the list of not
recommended books helps us to see how school librarians and anti-racism
committees can sometimes come into conflict.
The librarian can end up looking like a defender of a racist status quo
and the anti-racism committee can end up looking like suppressors of
information and free thought.
In recent conversations with a school librarian, I’ve heard
about a committee set up to address problems with anti-Indigenous language and
depictions in library materials and the use of DDC to discount Indigenous ways
of knowing. Many school divisions and universities
are undertaking this type of project.
The problem in this school division is that the tensions between the
committee and the librarians and library technicians have nearly ground the
project to a halt. The committee seems
to see librarians as guardians and perpetuators of the majority culture of the
colonizer and wants immediate changes to LCSH and DDC and a significant revamp
of the library’s collection. On the
other hand, those working in libraries are very pressed for time, have no
additional budget money to buy the books and make the changes the committee
wants, and are ultimately working to support the curriculum and teaching needs of a
school rather than the committee. In
short, librarians and library technicians do not feel that they have the
resources or mandate to do precisely what the committee wants them to do. In some cases, some of the actions would be
censorship. To make things worse, the
whole process feels very rushed. So, it
seems that a project which has a valuable purpose is now on the skids.
What does this all mean for us? Librarians spend a lot of time working on
displays and booklists for things like Banned Book Week and Black History
Month. It likely isn’t enough. It might be all that librarians and library
technicians can handle at the moment but, to achieve the ends that the schools
and communities want them to achieve, there needs to be much better support for
libraries in doing so. Just sending a
committee to advise library staff about what to do clearly won't cut it. Library staff need training and that training
will take time. Money will need to be
allocated to making the needed changes to the collection and that money should
not be provided at the expense of other parts of the library collection which
are directly needed to support teaching and learning. Time will be needed to make the changes so
demands and priorities will need to be adjusted. Many library staff are already at the limit
of what they can achieve in a day.
Nothing more can be squeezed out without breaking them. So, school or library administrations must
create the needed time by dropping or reducing other expectations until the
work is complete. Administrators also
need to be leaders and publicly show support for both the committees and
library workers who are making the changes.
It is those in charge who need to take a leadership role and speak to
teachers, students, and the community to explain what is happening in the
library and why it is important. The
leaders also have to openly acknowledge the hard work and courage of committees
and library staff in taking on these projects.
Real change takes time. Real
change takes effort. Real change takes
money. Real change takes support. While there might be a book display thrown in
here and there, it's only one part of a huge picture. If a school division or a community values
something, they put their mouth and their money there otherwise nothing
productive will happen and a lot of people end up feeling bad about each other.
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