[Libs-Or] About the Petition to the State Library of Oregon

Wed Feb 16 21:58:01 PST 2022

Since my post late Monday raising ethical concerns in light of the OLA Executive Board’s endorsement of a petition promoting its president-elect for a position at the state library, I’ve had 20 different people contact me about it privately. (It’s been a busy couple of days.) 

One of them likened my original post to a public lynching.  

The other 19 were from people I know well and people I don’t know at all.  They live all over the state, are early career, mid-career and retired, are managers and front-line staff.  They are your colleagues and quite possibly, your good friends. They may see some things differently than you do regardless of whether you know that about them or not.  

Almost all stated that they did not feel safe publicly disclosing what they had to say to me.  So, with their permission, I am sharing some representative comments anonymously.  My focus here is not to rehash points I’ve already made about the EDIA petition, but rather to raise the issue of how we (as the Oregon library community) hold respectful space for each other to express dissenting points of view.  As you encounter the recurring themes in these comments, I hope you will ask yourself:  how are we doing on that?  
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I feel silenced and unwelcome in this discussion given the language and the tactics that are being used.  I appreciate you speaking up and asking good questions because I obviously cannot. Libraries have an opportunity to provide a place where civil discourse can happen, a place where false dichotomies and polarization are discouraged.   There’s a real need for that in the world right now. The dialogue needs to be constructive. 

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Thank you for speaking up about this. I am sorry to see, once again, anyone offering up constructive criticism of anything being done by anyone having to do with EDIA efforts is being labeled as, “those who would keep whiteness in control of everything”. Unfortunately, this always turns personal and misses the point.

Your assessment of the issue of conflict of interest was spot on, as well as your assessment of how things may have gone with the executive board. I have spoken with several colleagues today that saw it that way as well. But we fear speaking up publicly about it because of how we’ve seen things pan out in the past. I am still relatively early in my library career and don’t feel I can speak up in good faith without it being seen as a personal attack that leads to potential retaliation.
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Thank you so much for this statement. This is exactly how I felt when I read the petition, which I did not sign for this very reason. I am concerned that this will be noted by some and hurt my standing within the OLA ranks.
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 I share the same concerns as you, regarding the appropriateness of the petition and the conflict of interest, but I do not feel like that I can step forward. So I appreciate you giving voice to the potential ethical issues with the petition.

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What you did is very brave and currently I am not brave enough to stand with you publicly and I am ashamed of that. While it may sound extreme, I am afraid of losing my ability to keep my job, or get another library job, if I speak up.

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I felt compelled to write and just let you know I appreciate what you shared on libs-or about “groupthink” and concerns about conflict of interest regarding the EDIA petition. I, too, have been concerned about both of these things, both in this instance and many others.  

I do feel like we (the collective ‘we’ of OLA) have been demonstrating some concerning behavior where if an idea/request/thought/initiative is presented under the lens of EDIA, it appears through repeated examples that they are accepted, cart blanche, without active discourse of clear critical thought.  I personally do feel unsafe bringing up dissenting opinions for the exact fear that was just enacted on you, which is public ridicule and criticism, immediately casting one out as not being an “ally” or supporting the needs and advances of our EDIA directives.

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I have concerns with the EDI Toolkit distributed, was it vetted by an HR attorney of reasonable experience? If not, I would consider it slanted advice, I don’t need the grief in my life to ask that question at this point. I am glad you made the points you did today. I was not surprised to see the responses that came.
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My colleague and I discussed this and we do not believe commenting on the forum would accomplish much of anything other than creating trouble for us and possibly destroying our respective careers.  I read the petition and was dismayed at its divisive language and also that the author of the petition was being promoted as the perfect person to fulfill the new prospective job position, especially in light of her current position of being an incoming OLA president.  Like you, I felt this to be a conflict of interest. I would like to see the petition worded differently and the conflict of interest in naming Marci Ramiro Jenkins specifically for it be taken out in order to garner my support.  If I state this however then I’m labeled instantly as a racist so I won’t say anything. I appreciate that you took the leadership to address what you saw as problems with the petition in a way that I’d not be surprised was similar to the way a number of us saw it.  However open discussion and diversity of opinions no longer seems to be allowed, not even in the library world.

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I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your posts to Libs-Or concerning the petition. I don't feel capable of navigating the hazardous trail of this discussion openly but have shared your concerns with this process. You have eloquently addressed them in a respectful way, which I so appreciate.  Like so many librarians I know and respect, I want to see BIPOC rise in the profession. I see this issue making it more difficult to navigate, especially after reading the September statement by WOC-LIB. Carry on and know how much you are appreciated for your ability to speak out. I am not alone in knowing that you are doing so with the best interest in the advancement of all libraries and librarians. 
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Penny Hummel 

PENNY HUMMEL CONSULTING  

penny at pennyhummel.com | 503.890.0494 | www.pennyhummel.com 

Ensuring that libraries survive and thrive in challenging times

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