Today I will have a recap of what I saw and heard at PLA, yesterday, Friday April 4, 2024. Please note, I write these posts at night, after a long day at conference. Also yes, I know it is Saturday today and I don't normally post on the weekends, but I didn't want to wait until Monday to get this out.
I began my day at a program whose title is something Robin and I say all the time: African American is Not a Genre:
This session will focus on how to employ anti-racist practices in reader’s advisory conversations, as well as the collection development process. We will engage in a discussion of the influences of white supremacy within collections policies, and how those influences work against the visibility and promotion of Black interest collections. This session will cover the reader’s advisory process of urban fiction and other Black author collections, and provide a practical learning experience for this content.
The handouts including the slides, but actually more, are all here. These presenters were from Memphis Public Library.
I am not going to give a lot of notes here based on what is on the slides because they speak for themselves. This program was unapologetically about have a "culturally responsive collection" for Black patrons and I loved that.
They reminded us all that public libraries began in 1712 and were never meant to be for Black people. They are inherently racist, white supremecist institutions by deign and until 1970 they didn't even think about altering that.
Another great point to start, there has been NO research into Black readers so when you are trying to make a Black interest collection we are all flying blind.
The slides have some great information about the RA conversation, how RA is about conversations, not transactions, and how to do RA the right way-- well at least in my opinion, the opinion I express here and you all read.
For a bit, Robin and I got worried they were going to want to have a "Black Interest" collection that stickered or separated the books, but the actual opposite happened. The also reminded the group that not only is Urban Fiction the only Black interest genre, but it is worth having in libraries.
Then they tackled genre fiction and reminded everyone that genre fiction authors are genre writers first. They paraphrased NK Jemisin saying that she was not a Black author, she is a Fantasy author who happens to be Black.
The presenters rightfully said, when you remove Black genre writers from their genre, and classify them as Black, you are taking them away from their genre's readers. Check the slides for more examples, but they do also address international Black authors who are not African American.
We also had 2 examples readers and were asked to work with our neighbor to give them some reading options. Those profiles are included with the handouts here as well.
And they also talked about making sure you have funding lines specifically for diverse populations in your budgets because then it has to get ordered. If it has a line, it has to get spent for that. They acknowledged that this can get tricky, but I heard this in the Tulsa Program yesterday and another program later in the day. I heard it from Black and White librarians who are managers, who are fighting for this because change can't come from only good intentions, there needs to be money behind it so the staff knows the organization is serious about the change being successful.
This was one of the most direct and honest program I have ever been to at a conference. I got to sit with Robin we both agreed that this was great. Later, after she left, we were texting about how we both saw more Black librarians who stood up and spoke their truth loud and clear at this conference than ever before. No more couching it in terms the white librarians could handle. As Robin said, people are tired of everything and they are being loud about it.
You’ve completed a diversity audit of your collection. What’s next? This panel will provide an overview of the steps Kent District Library implemented to ensure that all patrons in their service area are being represented in the collection. From tagging to staff training, from discovery to collection development, learn how to better serve your patrons through a lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
You can find their handouts here and here.
This program was about how Kent District Library did their Diversity Audit using Ingram, but also worked hard to create tags using more natural language in the 690 field so that staff and also patrons could find diverse materials more easily.
When Ingram identified something as "diverse: they dug deeper and gave that higher level of detail. For example, Ingram tagged a title "Black Interest" but they also saw that it was about discrimintation-- racism. Use the links above to see their handouts where you get ALL of the tags they can use. It is extensive.
But one of the ways they were making their work "sustainable" is by training the staff, They made scenario videos of staff on how they can find diverse materials for a patron and make a display list. It is easy because of the behind the scenes work in the tagging but if they don't take the time to explain it to staff, they won't even know it is there to search for.
My final program of the day was also excellent and a perfect booked to the first. Curating Diverse Community Collections for Patron Engagement:
Much has been written about the need for diversity audits in library collections, but little follow-up has been offered to assist collection development and public service staff in creating real change. Panelists will discuss proven best practices for diversifying and curating community collections. Attendees will leave with a three-point action plan that will work for any size library, no matter the demographics of their particular community.
The slides are here and the presenters were from Cuyahoga County Public Library.
They went into a lot of detail about CommunityCollections. They defined it all well on the slides, so please check them. But taking the official definition the slides, they explained it this way-- After the pandemic when they had 0 checkouts, they realized that they had a chance to think about circulation differently. They challenged themselves to think of their 27 branches as 27 independent indie book stores. What would we do differently? What if our circulation statistics were thought about more like sales, meaning their paychecks depended on it? Not that anyone would get fired, but what if they made it that serious.
This is not a floating collection. They still do that with items. These are permanent collections for each community's branch that live there, that serve the needs of that specific community.
And what about holds? Holds get books moving between branches. Well-- and this is the single best thing I heard someone say so directly, articulating why public library structures are racist-- Holds are privileged. Not everyone can plan when they come to the library. Many branches need to have items there that they want at all times. And the middle aged white lady who was the highest manager on the panel said it.
And that woman was key because she also said they made these collections a separate line item (later she shared it settled at 6% of the branches' book budget). The branches were very worried about these collections and what if they don't circulate. It is a huge investment. But she was able to say, yes and the administration supports this by making a budget line for the community collections. This step empowers the staff responsible for increasing diversity in collection to actually do it.
Some great slides about what constitutes a "diverse collection" and how to be community facing. Again, go here for that info.
Then they did a section on how these collections and diverse displays in general needs to happen. A lot of what this presenter said is exactly what Robin and I say. Again it is in the slides, but she straight up says to staff, in emails and with one-on-one conversations that there are NO blockbuster authors on any endocarps. No Patterson and Steele. She says that directly as the manager. She also tells them to give marginalized authors a chance to shine-- even if the metrics say you should weed them
I loved that they also do a display right near the door that is always "intergenerational." no matter the topic they have books for all ages of patrons. I LOVE THIS. I tell libraries to do this and they tell me the can't. You can. Just do it. You won't go to library jail.
They also talked about the "succession planning." How to make sure the work lives on with new staff or if the manager is gone. Again, see the slides for more.
I was very impressed by this presentation and by their commitment to do this work correctly. I am so glad I stayed until the end and saw this program and could share it with all of you.
I did stay for the Closing Session but I made the choice to experience it, not take notes and I sat with my friend Kristi who lives in MA, which was also nice.
I hope these recaps were helpful. And as I said yesterday, I will write more about Tulsa City-County's program specifically soon. I have a lot of catching up to do next week.
And specking of next week, those who did not enjoy these posts, well we are back to the regular schedule next week so...
No comments:
Post a Comment