Scenario: There are so many new books out there. It can be hard to decide which books to purchase based on your budget. As a new librarian, my mentee is learning how to make these selections. I envision this task being an easy start to having a conversation about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion because it is direct outward for the self. Once these topics are internalized, turning towards their own practices can be examined.
Activating and Engaging Phase
To start our conversation, I would invite my mentee to reflect on their thought process when selecting books. What resources are they using? I would also invite a reflection on the books on display. What was the thought process on selecting these books? What does the librarian notice? I would also ask about prior experience with examining identity or anti-bias type training to identify any prior knowledge.
Exploring and Discovering Phase
During this part of our conversations, I would be using a lot of third point documents and resources. My district has been working with Rebecca Haslam for the past three years so I would be using a couple of her resources including some introduction presentations to equity literacy. The main document from Rebecca that I would use as a third point is a literature audit. Our libraries are often too big to do this completely, but it can be helpful to look at just one small section with it. Also by learning to look through this lens, it will help with further purchases and when weeding. Our school equity team has also created a website of all the work we have done on diversity, equity, and inclusion. I would want to make sure that my mentee was aware of this resource to help guide future work. I would also use the AASL standards for School Libraries to help think about the libraries resources. What standards help guide us on selecting resources? Why do you think we have this standard? Why is it important?
Organizing and Integrating Phase
At this point of our conversations, I think is the perfect time for reflection. How are they doing? What confuses them? What do they feel good about? What worries them? What can I do to help them feel more confident on these topics? After this reflection, they should start to really gather and analyze the data. They should be given time to really get to know the collection they have inherited to be able to really understand the equity health of the collection, but they can use this for future purchases right away. Based on the books purchased so far, how do you think you've done in terms of diversity, equity, inclusion? As an elementary librarian, this can also apply to the books chosen to read aloud to students. Look at the data of the books select for this purpose to see how it relates to DEI. By looking at the data, they can see where they should focus their attention and they will be able to see their growth. They can see that they are accomplishing something. This can help inform a goal too. In fact many districts are working on these topics so making it one of your professional goals will help.
I would like to also use this infographic from AASL's Developing Inclusive Learners and Citizens activity guide to help them see where else Inclusion can take place in their program. I think it helps visualize what the standards could look like in practice. Include is much more than just having a diverse collection as this poster illustrates. I think that the diverse collection is a good place for a new librarian to start and then they can start to dig in to the other areas like safe spaces & multiple perspectives. Using this poster, I would ask my mentee how they felt about using what they learned about diverse collections to move to other areas. Where do they see openings? What still seems difficult? What support do they need? The whole activity guide would be a great think to unpack with my mentee. They could pick the level and domain to focus on for our meetings.
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