Check it Out:, Guest Blogger

CMLE Guest Post: Join Me in Building Inclusive Collections

Guest Post by Jenny Hill, Ed.D. St. Cloud State University

I was recently reading a book about library media centers where the question was posed: When you walk into a media center, who does space the belong to, the media specialist, or the students (Wools & Coatney, 2018)? 

This is a convicting question and that makes me stop and think.  Media specialists may be the program administrators, but space needs to belong to the kids!  

That leads me to another question: who are our students?

As demographics continue to shift in our schools, I find that the 1990 work of Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, often referred to as “the mother of multicultural literature,” still rings true today.  In her classic essay, Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors, Dr. Bishop outlines the need for kids to have access to books that reflect who they are; mirrors; provide perspective into another’s world: windows; and provide a way for students to enter into another’s context: sliding glass doors.

Twitter seems to be echoing this idea in 2020 with hashtags such as #WeNeedDiverseBooks  #DiverseReads and #OwnVoices.

We all want to develop inclusive collections, but how can this be accomplished?

School Library Journal is hosting a series of webinars this fall called Equity in Action: Building Diverse Collections.  There are three parts being held virtually on Tuesday, October 20th, Tuesday, October 27th, and Tuesday, November 10th which include topics such as:

  • What is a diverse and inclusive collection?
  • Collection Management Strategies to Enact Change at Your Library
  • Equity Work Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint
  • Conducting a Diversity Audit of Your Collections
  • Stereotypes, Tropes, and Cultural Appropriation: A Collection Development Deep Dive

Registration costs about $300 and self-paced options online are available if you cannot attend the live sessions.  More registration information can be found here.

If you do decide to attend, I would love to connect with you throughout the process and beyond to see if we can work together to implement some of the strategies presented so you can build a more inclusive collection in your schools. E-mail me at: jchill@stcloudstate.edu

References:

Reading Rockets. (2020).  A video interview with Rudine Sims Bishop, Ph. D.  https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/experts/rudine-sims-bishop

Woolls, B. & Coatney, S. (2018).  The school library media manager. 6th ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.