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