By: Jenny Chisnell, Senior Librarian of Adult Services, Harry Belafonte Library, New York Public Library “I did not see myself as a racist, because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth.” -Peggy McIntosh The year was 2003. I was about to start college and, with it, my first job in a library. The same year, a children’s book was published, called, The Skin I’m In: A First Look at Racism. 16 years later, I...
Intersections
About Intersections
Intersections, the blog of the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services (ODLOS), highlights the work of library and information science workers as they create safe, responsible, and all-inclusive spaces that serve and represent the entire community, as well as initiatives and projects supported by the office that promotes their work. Please note that these blog posts are by individuals and do not reflect the views of their employers.
By: Megan Kinney, Library Manager, of Bayliss Library Names changed to protect privacy. Me: [huge smile and open demeanor, sits down at the same level] Hi, I’m Megan. I have noticed you seem new to town and I have seen you hanging out here at the library, I want you to know you are welcome here and we are happy to have you. What’s your name? Patron: [no smile, a bit guarded] I’m Lynn. Me: Hey Lynn. How are things going for you and your partner? Patron: [cracks a smile, whole body relaxes] Megan and Lynn - visiting on a bench in front of the...
By: Shelley O’Rourke, Librarian/Instructional Coach, North Middle School, Great Falls Public Schools Every good writer knows the key to crafting a memorable story is the balance between character and plot. To hold a reader’s interest, events in a story, as in life, impact a character, positively and negatively. When things happen to us in life, how we respond determines the outcome of our hero’s journey. In the spring of 2018, my district administration presented me with an “opportunity for leadership.” When two high school librarians retired, the...
By: Denice Adkins, Associate Professor, School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, University of Missouri As part of the Diversity Research Grants Program sponsored by ODLOS, we've started a monthly spotlight on research advancing issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in libraries. We welcome your submission of research for inclusion in future spotlights, email us at diversity@ala.org. This month we highlight Dr. Julie Marie Frye and Dr. Maria Hasler-Barker project entitled “Silence or Share: How Bilingual Librarians Use Language to Support or Resist...
Mayumi (my-you-me) Miyaoka was born and raised in Saitama, Japan. She is a Librarian & Archivist at St. Joseph’s College New York by day and an accordionist by night. Mayumi received her master’s degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University and her Librarian Certificate from Meiji University in Tokyo in 2010. Before joining St. Joe’s, she worked at several special libraries including the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts as a project researcher and cataloger for a special collection of audio recordings in the Japanese language....
By: April Moyo, Librarian, Central Piedmont Community College This is not a new topic, but certainly one that deserves more attention. Having worked in public school libraries and now monitoring a small children’s literature collection at my community college campus library, this section always makes me smile. While working on collection development, the children’s lit section is my favorite one to review. “We Need Diverse Books” has successfully transitioned from a hashtag response to a full movement and organization, dedicated to encouraging the publication of...
By: Alison Day, Programs, Outreach, Youth Services Manager, Monterey County Free Libraries Monterey County Free Libraries’ (MCFL) mission is to bring ideas, inspiration, information and enjoyment to our community. One of our primary values is inclusion and we strive in all that we do to be inclusive of all individuals who live in our communities. Inspired by the “We Need Diverse Books” movement, and a desire to make sure that our customers see themselves represented in the materials they check out from the library, staff at MCFL have been working towards creating...
By: Deena Caswell, Supervisor of Outreach and Diversity, Cherry Hill Public Library “Drag queens will read to kids at Cherry Hill library, and it sounds like fun” read the headline in the May 31, 2017 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. If only it had been that simple. In early 2017, I began planning for the third running of my “Pride at the Library” event series, celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June. Previous years’ programming had included film screenings, book discussions, and informational sessions from local organizations like PFLAG...
By: Babak Zarin, Access Services Librarian, Central Rappahannock Regional Library Mentoring. An ancient idea, the word itself dates back to Homer’s Odyssey. mentoring has become a highly recommended way to help students discover how their academic skills and knowledge can apply to practice and to figure out reasonable professional goals. And many students enjoy having someone offer them guidance as they develop their professional identity as librarians, making mentors highly sought after. But how do you find the mentor that’s right for you?...
Yuri Shimoda obtained an MLIS at UCLA, with a focus in media archival studies, in June 2019. While at UCLA Shimoda helped to establish the first student chapter of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), co-founded Basement Tapes Day, and served as a Graduate Student Assistant at the UCLA Music Library and a UCLA Community Archives Lab/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Intern at Visual Communications, a media arts center for Asian-American and Pacific Islander filmmakers. Shimoda has also served a summer as a Library of Congress Junior Fellow in the Recorded Sound Section at the...