[Libs-Or] Collection Development Policies & Racism

[Christy Davis]

I really appreciated reading this Marly. Thank you.
*- Christy*


Christy Davis, Director
Silver Falls Library District
410 S Water St. Silverton, OR 97381
503-873-5173 x309
christy.davis at ccrls.org





On Thu, Sep 30, 2021 at 1:02 PM Marly Osma de Forest via Libs-Or <
libs-or at omls.oregon.gov> wrote:

> What I’m going to say may be provocative - but I need to push against some
> of the ideas around the Freedom to Read.
>
>
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> Freedom/Right to Read - does not exist.  Has never existed.
>
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> At least not in the idealized way that we have and continue to use it.
> When we use this phrase it is to often removed from historical context and
> the context of how publishing, bookselling, and libraries actually work.
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> The Freedom/Right to Read is already manipulated before libraries ever
> enter the picture, and then we build on those practices, turn them into
> policy undermining our own stated values. The reality is that when we take
> into account the historical/current exclusion of groups of people from
> libraries (Jim Crow-era segregation, those experiencing houselessness,
> often unwelcoming environment for neurodivergent people), limited access
> because of location and the burden of fines, the lack of a diversity in
> materials that the libraries provide - it is clear that the Freedom to Read
> has only ever been a reality for some groups of people.
>
>
>
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> Over the last 10 years, there has been more visibility of the work of
> disabilitycrit, LGBTQIAP+, and BIPOC library people who discuss and
> provide data about the lack of books by and about queer people, disabled
> people, and people of the global majority yearly. Here are the latest
> numbers
> <https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/literature-resources/ccbc-diversity-statistics/books-by-and-or-about-poc-2018/#USonly>
> from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center about US publishing if you
> haven’t gotten to see them yet.
>
>
>
>
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> This lack of diversity affects person’s Freedom to Read.
>
>
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>    - A Garifuna immigrant didn’t have the Freedom to Read about someone
>    like them. They didn’t/don't have the freedom to pick up a book and trust
>    that anti-black/indigenous racism wouldn’t be present. Historically they
>    couldn’t even be guaranteed that the library would be open, available, and
>    welcoming to them.
>
>
>
>    - Queer children couldn’t freely read about being queer for years, and
>    if they did it was a moral tale where the characters died or experienced
>    trauma because of their identity.
>
>
>
>    - Until recently you couldn’t find books by transracial adoptees about
>    the experience of being adopted. Books about adoption were almost always by
>    an adoptive parent or industry professional. Most were guides or books
>    about how to  adoption, storybooks were from the adoptive parents'
>    perspective, not adoptees.
>
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> The examples are countless.
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> At the inverse : white, middle-class, straight, heteronormative people
> have always had the opportunity to read books that speak to them. To have
> an abundance of stories to choose from. Some terrible but also many that
> aren’t racist, ableist, queermisiac
> <https://simmons.libguides.com/anti-oppression#s-lib-ctab-10174165-1> or
> otherwise oppressive to whole groups of people. These books have had the
> freedom to be read, to exist for decades - even centuries - just by virtue
> of having taken up space on library shelves when countless books never even
> got published.
>
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>
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> If we can agree that we cannot have ALL the books - that there is not
> enough shelf/server space in our libraries to have every book and we have
> to use our judgment in selecting what goes on our shelves - then we need to
> acknowledge that the library does discriminate.  Has always discriminated.
> Has used collections to welcome AND exclude, to connect and ignore. We
> obscure that discrimination by leaning so heavily on the Freedom to Read.
> Whether we do it knowingly or simply because we’ve succumbed to vocational
> awe <https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/>
> (F. Ettarh) does not lessen the impact or harm.
>
>
>
> Yes, fighting against bans by schools and government is important,
> especially since the books most likely to be challenged or banned are by
> authors or about people from marginalized communities but that is only a
> small part of making the Freedom to Read a reality.  Until we look
> critically at the interlocking systems that make the Freedom to Read a
> privilege for some - not a right for all - until we look at how we
> perpetuate this in our policies and procedures then it will never be
> anything more than a slogan. We have an obligation to do better than that.
> Shifting our lens as we build collections is a start.
>
>
>
> This is not to say that all libraries are in the same place - location,
> funding, community, leadership and the will to change are varied. I want
> acknowledge the difficult work many libraries are doing , usually lead by
> library workers of the global majority and other marginalized communities,
> to a more equitable and liberatory framework.
>
>
>
> Thank you for taking the time to read.
>
>
>
> Marly Osma de Forest
>
> she/they
>
> marlyo at wccls.org
>
> West Slope Community Library
>
> 3678 SW 78th Ave
>
> Portland, OR 97225
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>
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> Links from body of message for easy copy and paste:
>
>
>
> Data on books by and about Black, Indigenous and People of Color published
> for children and teens compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center,
> School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
>
>
> https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/literature-resources/ccbc-diversity-statistics/books-by-and-or-about-poc-2018/#USonly
>
>
>
> Simmons Libguides : Anti-Opression - what does “misia” mean?
>
> https://simmons.libguides.com/anti-oppression#s-lib-ctab-10174165-1
>
>
>
> In the Library with a Leadpipe : Vocational Awe by Fobazi Ettarh
>  01/10/2018
>
> https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/
>
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