Scholarly Review #3

Scholarly Review #3

“The fiction shelves, where I began, were stocked with antiques, scores of Horatio Algers, nineteenth-century ladies’ books, some valuable-looking first editions, numbered sets of Thackeray, Dickens, and Conan Doyle, eleven copies of The Vicar of Wakefield, a lot of esoteric modern fiction, and a very few novels which might conceivably generate some interest if they could be got at all. Everything had been donated by Northerners whose good intentions were not so much in doubt as their grip on realities”.

Davis, D. and Malone, C. Reading for Liberation: The Role of Libraries In The 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, in Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries and Black Librarianship, ed. John Mark Tucker.

While the role of the Freedom Summer Project that took place in 1964 in Mississippi did an enormous amount of good in helping to see that underprivileged African Americans were allowed access to libraries, books, and knowledge, it is discussed in Reading for Liberation that a lot of the books that were donated were unusable. Granted, some of these books were probably not in the best shape when donated, but I believe that the majority of them that couldn’t be used were because they had no use for the patrons that were trying to be served. As stated in the article, and discussed by volunteer librarian Virginia Steele, “People had taken the trouble to search out books by and about Negroes, the most valuable to us and the most eagerly sought by local students and adults, about civil and human rights…”. While it is noted that the support of Northerners in establishing the libraries was very helpful, a lot of the people donating books hadn’t a clue as to what kind of books would be appreciated and used.

            As I stated in my first scholarly review, which was based on author Honma’s article Trippin’ over the color line: The invisibility of race in Library and Information Studies, in order to truly embrace diversity one must step away from one’s own culture and background and look at those around. While I would like to say that Caucasians have come a long way since the Civil Rights Movement, especially in libraries, I can personally say that we haven’t. As someone who works in both an academic and a public library I can say that Caucasian librarians are still struggling with fully embracing diversity as a whole and the diversity of their community. Just like the quote that I chose says, “Everything has been donated by Northerners whose good intentions were not so much in doubt as their grip on realities”.

            So, as a graduating Caucasian female librarian what can I, and others like me, do to help erase this divide and educate those who are the majority? One step in the right direction would be to pay closer attention to the materials that we purchase for our collections. In my collection development class it was taught that a librarian should conduct an Information Needs Assessment of their community to gain a sense of the diversity that they are serving. I suggest that librarians go one step further and, while still conducting an INA, make an effort to include books about cultures that aren’t represented in the assessment. I feel that even with an assessment of the surrounding community, the library can’t fully receive a full and robust understanding of the diversity that their community is actually made up of. Also, with so many libraries connecting with other libraries across the state and country librarians should be aware that even if their community doesn’t have a certain culture it doesn’t mean that the collection still can’t have materials that celebrate those cultures.

            It’s a shame that so many Caucasian librarians are still unaware of how biased they really are, but if Library and Information Science programs continue to offer classes on diversity as well as make an effort to include diversity in other courses, I think that eventually minority cultures will begin to be recognized as they should be. In a perfect library every race, culture, and religion would be equally represented and hopefully we’re not that far off.