Social Bookmark 2: Diversify Your Reading

Diversify Your Reading is a blog that helps readers discover authors from cultures that are often overlooked in mainstream literature.  Each post covers one cultural group (i.e. Latino North American Authors) and then lists the authors, their works and links to reviews of the books.  The site also has a great section called Events and Challenges.  This section contains a list of book challenges that require the participants to read books about/by a specific cultural group.  These challenges could inspire related library events, or help a librarian plan a book club.  This blog is also a great site for librarians who want to discover books that will diversify the library’s collection.

Scholarly Review 1: "Trippin’over the color line"

In an article published in 2005 Todd Homna states that “all too often the library is viewed as an egalitarian institution providing universal access to information for the general public. However, such idealized visions of a mythic benevolence tend to conveniently gloss over the library’s susceptibility in reproducing and perpetuating racist social structures found throughout the rest of society” (p. 3).  Hidden within this eloquent quote is a very weighty accusation- that libraries can be involved in racist behavior.

Most people do not typically think of a library as being an inherently racist place.  Everyone is welcome in a library, so most people think of libraries as being fair and colorblind.  However, in his article Homna claims that libraries are actually helping society maintain a color-coded social system.  When one takes a closer look at the current library system, it does appear that Homna has a valid point.

If one were to look at the racial make-up of library employees one would likely notice that this is still a profession where the majority of the employees are white, especially those who are in positions of power within the library systems.  Also, libraries tend to focus on helping people learn how to be a part of the mainstream culture by providing popular books, magazines and other educational materials.  Unfortunately, most of these materials also promote the mainstream white culture, and thus by promoting these materials libraries are promoting these same ideas. 

While Homna is very wise to point out the lack of diversity and the need for more studies, he does not spend a lot of time discussing how we as a profession can begin to make our libraries more inclusive and how we can stop promoting a system where whites dominate.  Some recommendations I have would be to offer more multicultural classes to library science students.  I also believe that we should try to recruit a more diverse group of people to join the profession.  Many people are not aware of the exact nature of the library profession, or how one becomes a librarian.  Therefore, library science schools should advertise at high schools with diverse or mostly minority populations, so that minority groups will be more likely to join the profession.  By having a more diverse population on staff, there will be a more diverse group of opinions and knowledge, and this may help make the libraries feel more inclusive. 

A third proposal is that we should make an effort to display books and create programs that reflect different cultures, so we are not intentionally or unintentionally promoting one race or ethnic group over another.  While it is hard to implement new practices, and sometimes it is even hard to recognize that these practices need to be implemented, I do believe that we need to be aware of the image libraries project and to make sure that they are truly a place where everyone in America feels welcome and comfortable, and where every culture is considered to be equal.

References

Homna T. (2005). Trippin’over the color line: The invisibility of race in library and information science. InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies 1(2). Retrieved from http://repositories.cdlib.org/gseis/interactions/vol1/iss2/art2

Social Bookmark 1: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has been one of America’s most important cultural landmarks since it opened its doors in 1993.  This museum is dedicated to teaching tolerance and preventing future acts of genocide.  The site is an excellent place to begin research on Jewish history and culture.  It contains numerous resources for both teachers and students, and sections such as the “Curators’ Corner” give visitors of this site a unique look at historical artifacts. Also, while the site offers a wide range of information concerning the events of the Holocaust, it also covers important current events, such as recent threats to burn the Koran, in order to show that hatred and intolerance are current problems that we must continue to fight.

Link:United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Cultural Mosaic

According to Chao and Moon (2005) we are all comprised of different cultural tiles that are combined to make us who we are, and by understanding and identifying these tiles we can identify how we will fit into an organization.  Chao and Moon then go on to divide these tiles into three groups.  They believe that our different cultural tiles can be labeled as demographic, geographic or associative (p. 1129). In order to discover how I fit into the world of library science I began by studying my demographic tiles.

When it comes to ethnicity I am a typical American mutt.  I am a mixture of Irish, French, German and Native American descent.  While I realize I am lucky that I am aware of my heritage, I do not feel a strong connection with the traditions of any of these ethnic groups. Instead I feel that the most important demographic tile in my mosaic is my age.  I am a member of Generation Y and I feel that I fit the stereotypes of this generation. I am very competitive, have high standards and am tech savvy.  I feel that my generation has influenced me far more than my ethnicity because I am part of the majority and therefore my ethnicity was never issue.  Also, because my ancestors have been in America so long, any cultural traditions my family may have had have been lost.  While I do appreciate that America is a melting pot society, I do believe that one of the downfalls of this is that a lot of individual culture is lost in an effort to blend in.  I wish that my family did have a stronger connection to our family history, and that we would have maintained some of our ethnic traditions.

                While I may not have large tiles for my ethnic heritage, I do have a very prominent geographic tile.  I can easily define myself as a Michigander. I have lived in Michigan all my life, and while I love to travel, I cannot see myself ever living anywhere else.  I was born and raised in Michigan and I have attended three universities in Michigan, so I feel strong connections to several cities within the state. I love that living in Michigan gives me a chance to experience all four seasons, and that I am never very far from a lake.  While many people are moving out of Michigan due to the economic crisis, I plan on staying and helping Michigan become great again.  I feel that Michigan is filled with great people who have the potential to do amazing things with their lives if they receive the right opportunities to learn, and I think that it is important for educators and librarians to stay in Michigan so we can educate the next generation and help pull the state out of this economic crisis.

                The last tiles I need to explore are my associative tiles.  I believe that this set of tiles is the most important set in my mosaic. I have a very large extended family, and I define myself by my status as a daughter, sister, granddaughter, cousin, niece and aunt.  I feel that these are the most important roles I fill, and the ones that define me the most.  I am a member of my family first and foremost, and my place within my family is more important than my place within society as a whole.

I also feel that being Catholic is a large part of my mosaic.  While I am a very liberal Catholic, and I take all organized religion with a grain a salt, I do identify with the traditions and practices of the Catholic Church.  I have spent my life learning and practicing this religion, and I think that these traditions and beliefs will always be an important part of who I am.  I may not agree with every word of the doctrine, but I do feel at home when I pray in a Catholic Church.

The last tiles in my mosaic are representations of my professions.  I define myself as being both a teacher and a librarian, and I believe that I fill similar roles in both jobs.  For me these jobs are different sides of the same coin. Both of these professions are about distributing knowledge and educating the population, and these are ideas that I value.  I believe that being a member of Generation Y and being a native Michigander are two aspects of my identity that really help me to be successful in my chosen fields.  Libraries and schools are both very dependent on technology, and because I am familiar with technology I am easily able to help my patrons and my students.  I also believe that because I have spent so much time in my hometown I am very familiar with the problems my patrons and students have dealt with and I can understand where they are coming from.   While I feel that there may be a few of my own cultural tiles I have not yet identified, I do believe that I have a good understanding of who I am and how I fit into the world of library science.   I also believe that as I continue to work within the profession I will become more aware of how my culture affects my behavior as a librarian and the way I interact with others.

References

Chao, G. T., & Moon, H. (2005). The cultural mosaic: A metatheory for understanding the complexity of culture. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1128–1140.

               

Hello

Hello class.  I look forward to reading everyone's blogs this semester.