Equity in Action: Building Diverse Collections Webinar Series
October – November 2020
Thanks to the Central New York Library Resources Council Professional Development Grant, I was able to attend a three-part webinar series offered by the Library Journal and School Library Journal entitled “Equity in Action: Building Diverse Collections”. This thorough, three-part series was a great stepping stone to the process of evaluating current library collections and offered many tips and strategies for increasing diverse reads throughout the collection development ordering process.
Before the first session began we were given access to a virtual classroom with a self-guided pre-course curriculum posted. There were three “chapters”, “Questioning Narratives”, “Making Space for All Stories” and “Resourcing Your Shelves”. Each chapter offered talks, essays and activities for us to watch, read, complete and reflect on. One of the biggest takeaways from this part of the course for me was Dr. Rodine Sims Bishop’s talk on “Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Doors”. It set the tone for thinking about how stories written from differing viewpoints have important benefits to offer to all people.
The course offered three different sessions with presentations during each session from different people each time. In addition to the sessions, we were assigned homework and research in between. Altogether, I probably spent close to five to six hours per week on this course. We were broken up into individual groups where we were able to post our thoughts and responses to relevant questions we were asked. The moderator of each group responded to our posts with helpful suggestions and strategies.
During the first session, Karen Jensen, the YA collection development librarian at Fort Worth Public Library in Texas spoke to us about the process she used to evaluate the collection at her library. She began evaluating her collection in 2015 and was able to offer some great tips and advice to break this process down and make it more manageable. During the second session, we heard from four speakers who discussed “Stereotypes, Tropes and Cultural Appropriation”. They offered very valuable insights from several different perspectives. One of the speakers we heard from in session three was Becky Spratford, a reader’s advisory specialist and founder of RA For All. She offered valuable insight for collection development and inclusivity when it comes to reader’s advisory.
Part of my job at Dunham Public Library is collection development. I order for adult, young adult and children. This seminar offered many tips and resource suggestions when choosing which books to order for our collection. I enjoyed learning more about the Own Voices movement. The entire webinar, including the talks, suggested videos and readings, homework and printable handouts is available to participants for the next six months. I have already referred back to it several times and have started to implement many of the things I learned at my library.
This experience has helped to enrich and expand my skill set and will definitely help me to continue to improve service to our patrons and community. I am extremely grateful to CLRC for providing me the financial means to take advantage of this opportunity.
Jaime Dudajek-Burgdoff
Library Assistant, Dunham Public Library
Are you interested in being our next Professional Development Award recipient? Check out the award page for the rules & requirements!