The Library Media program is supposed to support everyone, including all stakeholders in the school. As such, it will necessarily touch a range of people from various backgrounds (consider: ethnicity, race, religion, gender, intelligence/special needs, socio-economic, etc.).
Personally, I think it is a mistake to identify specific groups and take great pains to celebrate them, as members of an identified group, in an overt way. In doing so, we will inevitably highlight our identification with some groups over others. This defeats the whole purpose of stressing diversity, in the first place, as we pick and choose which groups we highlight. This can pit supporters of one group against another, engendering an environment of jealously, rather than acting as a force for pulling all individuals together as part of the school identity and culture. We can appreciate the salad bowl, but should encourage assimilation stew, to the extent we are engendering a school culture. I think we do greater service treating our stakeholders as individuals, striving to meet their needs the best we can. We should consider issues as they come to our attention, and strive to address challenges as thoroughly, and in as timely a manner, as is possible.
A possible exception, if it fits the definition of an exception, would be identifying school based groups, classes, teams, and celebrating them as a part of our school and highlighting their accomplishments. I don’t believe that really fits the definition of highlighting diversity, though.
The reality is that diversity does not really affect access to information, as information is available in many forms, all of which should be available, regardless of diversity issues.
Special needs would bring up a different set of possible issues, as some students have legitimate problems accessing information; these situations should be addressed and these problems overcome, so we continue to provide equal access. This is really more an issue of access than diversity, but I tend to see the diversity issue through the lens of access.
As in other areas of our society, we have an obligation to provide equal opportunity/access, and to encourage all our stakeholders to avail themselves of our resources, but we err greatly, and do harm, when we shift from that noble aim towards attempting to provide equal outcomes/identification for various groups.
With this being said, I also feel strongly that we can quietly use what we learn of a person’s background to facilitate use of available resources, including reading for pleasure. I might notice a trend towards certain titles that a certain racial or ethnic group might like and make a point to keep those in the collection. I might highlight the items, making efforts to bring a particular group further into the fold of the Library Media Center, but I will do so quietly.
We should diversify our offerings and ensure access to all, but focus on meeting the needs of our individuals, as best practice in a school Library Media Center.
I think that it is our responsibility as media specialist to incorporate all different types of diverse materials into out media center to support our stakeholders’ needs. An example would be should we have Spanish books in our media center? Absolutely, we should be supporting our stakeholders where they are but we should also be encouraging them to grow to the level that they need to be at. We have special needs students at our school so we should be assisting them in any way that we can in order to help them to have a better educational experience. All groups should be included in all of the programs that are offered at the media center.
ReplyDeleteI had never really thought about divrsity in the sense that we needed to do the best for each individual stakeholder. I do believe we should have diverse items in our collection but looking at it from the view of doing best for each individual takes a differnt twist on the subject. The idea that it is more access for our special needs students is another interesting way to look at the subject. I know at our school we have a special reading time for the special needs classes and we even have a preschool storytime for the community. It does make me think more about each individual stakeholder instead of the racially diverse communities that we have.
ReplyDeleteI like your different view on this topic. I had not thought about diversity in this way. I teach in a rural, majority white elementary school. Most of our children are free or reduced lunch and we have the severe and moderate special ed. students in the county. Our media specialist is a firm believer in catering to the students' needs and wants, not what is popular. For example, there have been many instances where she pointed out why she did not purchase a certain award book. The main reason has been the students cannot connect with characters with an inner-city setting or ones who ride the subway, visit museums or plays. Our students understand farming, chickens, and walmart. While she and I understand the need for diversity and celebrating other cultures (there are numerous books on these subjects), she does not try to impose it at every opportunity. We do have a diversity of learners at our school and in this area, our library is diverse.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear someone else speak with the voice of reality and not the "Pollyanna Prose". I totally agree with you that in the role of SLMS we should focus on the whole and then address the parts when and where we can.
ReplyDeleteYour point about equal access really hit the mark for me. It really is about access to information. It is our role to provide that access for the majority and only then to assist the smaller groups with their issues. I know some people will see this as hard-hearted but I think of it as being practical.