the why A lot of the messaging I was receiving when I started working on being more intentional with equity work and trying to look at my collection and displays through that lens was to include diverse and own voice books year round in displays, booktalks, etc. People talk about the value of not just talking about Black historical figures during February or only discussing LGBTQ+ issues during June, which is both true AND incredibly important. So that's what I've worked on the past few years, being more intentional with inclusive displays, booktalks, buying, etc. Then early last spring, I heard someone say or tweet that they had a student who was noticeably upset that their school didn't do anything that was visible to them during a cultural month that that student identifies as. The student had expected that to be a guaranteed time they would see or hear about others like them and were crushed when that did not happen. That story coupled with some conversations my school's equity leadership team had at the end of the school year led me to utilizing a "yes, and" approach. I will continue and grow my efforts to to display, booktalk, order, etc. inclusive texts and be intentional about representation and visibility. But I will also start having temporary, month long displays in the library with books that go along with different cultural heritage and history months during them. the how & What So I started doing research on what months have different recognitions happening to know which ones are coming up. (Of course that's where the librarian starts, with research. No surprise there.) I also ran the list I came up with by some colleagues to get feedback. In mid-September I started with books by Hispanic and/or Latinx authors to correlate with Hispanic Heritage Month and Latinx Heritage Month. Then in October I started with books by Filipino Americans for Filipino American History Month and books on LGBTQ+ topics or with LGBTQ+ characters for LGBT History Month. I pulled some of the books in our collection that represented characters, information, or authors from those cultures and identities. I pulled mostly own voices works, but I know at least a few of my LGBT books I pulled were not own voices. I also hung up signs on both sides of one of our entry doors, on the new book shelf, and on the display surface. I also typed up some short announcements about the months we were representing and how we were trying to recognize those in the library. I made sure to mention to students in the announcements and when talking to them in person that these displays have some of our books from these different identities and there are more and that these titles are in our collection year round. Here is a video walk around and here are some photos:
notes to consider Let me be clear here that I object to permanently separating out, stickering, or othering books that represent different cultures, identities, or backgrounds on a regular basis. While those methods may have good intentions, they have a harmful impact. But I do believe these monthly, temporary displays in addition to striving for inclusivity and intentionality, with the other parts of our job that involve books (recommending, ordering, etc.) is a good combination. After mentioning this display to a class, I had a few multilingual students ask me if I had any books in Spanish and where they were. In another class, a student fist pumped when he heard Filipino American History Month be mentioned with a wide grin. In another class, a student quietly and matter of factly asked me, what does LGBT stand for.
I am sure that there are other schools and librarians that have done these monthly displays. I know this is not an original idea. But there is value in us talking about this happening, what that looks like, why it's happening, etc. If it's something you do, I'd love to hear your approach/process. We also need to remember that actions we take for marginalized groups are not just beneficial to them but are beneficial to all. I heard someone at a conference once mention that a ramp is not only good for people in wheelchairs, but is just a more effective design that can benefit everyone. It's good for ALL students to see histories, cultures, authors, and stories represented that do and do not represent them. Also, I will say that while that is a good step, it doesn't and shouldn't end there. There is more work to do. For example, I'm also seeing that this is a great practice for auditing my collection. For example, when I was looking for Hispanic and Latinx authors in my collection, I easily found several. When I was looking for books by Filipino American, I found almost 10 titles, but that was it. So that told me I needed more and prompted me to start researching Filipino American authors. I did find more that I can order but not a lot, which also showed me there's an underrepresentation in the publishing industry. Librarians could send email to or Tweet at publishers and address this concern. Would they listen to one of us? Probably not. But would they listen if they got several? I hope so. It certainly doesn't hurt to make some noise and try.
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