1. Exploring Anti-racism in
School Libraries:
Contributions and Gaps
Miriam Larson
University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign
larson40@illinois.edu
April 20, 2013
ISLMA Mini-Conference, Bloomingdale

2. What interests you about the topic?
Why did you come?
Introductions

3. To recommend resources that you can
use for your own learning, report-writing
or for sharing
To send you away with new ideas for
how to practice racially conscious
librarianship
Goalsfor thisSession

4. If we aim to be compassionate school librarians and
advance a world in which all people have equal
opportunity regardless of race, culture, class, religion,
etc. . . .
What scholarship exists to prepare us and
to guide our practice?
Guidancefrom Scholarship

5. Cultural competence as defined by Patricia Montiel-Overall is . . .
the ability to recognize the significance of culture in one’s own life and in the lives of others; and to
come to know and respect diverse cultural backgrounds and characteristics through interaction with
individuals from diverse linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomic groups; and to fully integrate the culture
of diverse groups into services work, and institutions in order to enhance the lives of both those being
served by the library profession and those engaged in service. (from Cultural Competence: A
Conceptual Framework for Library and Information Science Professionals)
Domains:
1. Cultural self-knowledge
2. Interpersonal appreciation - an “ethic of care”
3. Environment - language, space, policies, etc.
Buzzword: Cultural Competence

6. Referring to multiculturalism, Lorna Peterson writes . . .
“Differences in culture instead of
historical treatment become the focus,
and equity issues are obscured by a "me
too" claim in victim status in which
everyone's differences are made equal.”
(Library Journal, 1995)
Why it’snot enough . . .

7. Racism Then and Now
INCARCERATION
In major cities wracked by the drug war, as many as 80 percent of
young African American men now have criminal records.
The incarceration rate for Latino drug offenders in 2000 was more than
twenty-two times their rate of incarceration in 1983. In the same time
span rates of incarceration for white drug offenders have also increased,
but they are only eight times what they were in 1983
But studies show that people of all colors use and sell
illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates.
From Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow

8. Although the majority of illegal drug users and dealers nationwide
are white, three-fourths of all people imprisoned for drug offenses
have been black or Latino.
As of September 2009, only 7.9% of federal prisoners were
convicted of violent crimes.
The U.S. incarceration rate is six to ten times greater than the rate
in other industrialized nations.
From The New Jim Crow
Racism Then and Now (cont)

9. QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
If librariespromotedemocracy . . .
. . . then racism isour concern.

10. Librarians’ Contributions
Advocating for diverse books
Providing student-centered learning
spaces
“Nobody pushed me to make a fool of
myself, to let everybody know I couldn’t yet
handle all those books. I hung around here
with my friends, fooled with all the
computers, talked a lot, and found out that I
wanted to know more” - Hispanic Student
to racially equitable education
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Other specific benefits?
Ross Todd and Carol Kulthau’s study of school libraries in Ohio found that
students perceptions of how the library helped them with reading scored higher
for African Americans than whites

11. Addressing Gaps
Library-specific examples of racism
• Underrepresentation of books by and about people of color
1. Need for professional recruitment and retention of librarians of
color
School-wide examples of racism
1. Achievement gap: Locally and nationally, test scores for Latino
and Black students are lower than scores for other racial groups.
2. Disproportional disciplinary actions for students of color contribute
to a “school-to-prison” pipeline

12. *Data about books is from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) and most accurately
documents books in trade book format, as well as some series non-fiction titles. Population statistics are
from the U.S. Census.
African/ African
Americans
American Indians
Asian Pacifics/Asian
Pacific Americans
Latinos
2012 Characters in
Books
3.3%
(119)
6%
(22)
2.1%
(76)
1.5%
(54)
2012 Book Authors
1.8%
(68)
.1%
(6)
.2%
(83)
1.6%
(59)
2011 U.S. Population
by Race
13.1% 1.2% 5% 16.7%
Racial Representation in Children’sand YA Lit

13. • High Standards
a) Cultural Competence
c) Sociopolitical Consciousness
Racially ConsciousLibrary Practice
Education scholar Gloria Ladson-Billings proposes a framework that
includes cultural competence called culturally relevant pedagogy
“students must experience academic
success”
“students must develop and/or maintain cultural competence”
“students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge
the current status quo”

14. Scenario 1: Collection Development
Helpful fact: Research indicates that books that reflect the same
race and cultural background as the readers improve students’
motivation and success in learning to read.
Scenario: Imagine you are a middle school
librarian. When the “multicultural” box arrives
from your book fair provider you find that
almost all of the enclosed books are picture
books and transitional series books. How do
you explain this? What do you do?

15. Scenario 2: Instructional Collaboration
Scenario: A white school librarian works at a
predominantly white elementary school. An
Asian American teacher is working with her class
in the library. The librarian observes that a black
student is repeatedly talking out. The librarian
pulls the student out into the hallway and
reprimands that student. How might race be
significant in this scenario? How might the
librarian deal with this differently? Do you have
experience with variations on this scenario?

16. Scenario 3: Teaching for Sociopolitical
Consciousness
Scenario: “A group of African American youth, who attend
a predominately white high school, are overheard
complaining about their teachers' and administrators'
perceived lack of support and cultural sensitivity. The
library media specialist, in collaboration with several
classroom teachers, recognizes this as an opportunity to
explore the concept critical inquiry with students.”
(Kumasi, 2007)
What kinds of critical inquiry projects might conducted
in the library? What are benefits to hosting such a
project in the library? What are constraints?

17. Discussion: Culturally Relevant Library Practice
What else do I need to
know?
Teaching/Librarianship
Cultural differences/Racial
inequity
Adult-level knowledge
Research
Ideas for different
librarian roles?
Teacher
Information Specialist
Instructional Partner
Program Administrator
Leader
Space Design
Community Programs

19. “Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly
all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African
Americans” (2).
“Like Jim Crow, mass incarceration marginalizes large segments of
the African American community, segregates them physically (in
prisons, jails, and ghettos), and then authorizes discrimination
against them in voting, employment, housing, education, public
benefits, and jury service” (17)
And in an era of colorblindness, discriminating against criminals
sidesteps any need to name race or use it as a justification for
oppression.
Systematic Disenfranchisement