Materials selection for a diverse library collection

Building and promoting a diverse library collection begins with materials selection. In an earlier writing I talked about the fact that communities served by libraries are increasingly diverse. “Race, ethnicity, language, physical and mental ability, socioeconomic status, gender expression, and sexual orientation are just a few ways diversity is reflected in [students’] lived experiences” (Hughes-Hassell, 2020, p. 21). My goal when building a library collection is to serve this increasingly diverse community by ensuring variety among the books in the library’s collection.

The critical theory that resonates for me when approaching this form of service is the idea of “cultural humility.” When applied to evaluating and selecting books for young people, cultural humility might involve the librarian “elevating accurate, culturally sensitive books in place of superficially diverse books or outdated classics” (Hanick & Keyes, p. 78). To accomplish this, the librarian may first need to decenter themself and their reactions to a book and instead ask questions like: “Who is the assumed audience for this book?” and “What does the book treat as default or familiar?” (Hanick & Keyes, p. 70).

Cultural humility also requires me to be mindful that “not all representation is positive representation” (Hanick & Keyes, p. 73). One example is that of Gerald McDermott’s Arrow to the Sun, which won the Caldecott Medal in 1975. The story presents a misleading portrayal of Pueblo kivas, which are not “scary places” but instead are more like “a church or temple” (Reese, 2006, para. 3). McDermott’s story also imposes a conflict around the protagonist’s illegitimate birth “that does not reflect Pueblo family structure and values. … The stain of illegitimacy is European, not Puebloan” (Reese, 2006, para. 8).

Lacking insider knowledge, my selection and assessment needs to be inclusive of other viewpoints: but in a way that respects my readers’ privacy and doesn’t impose a demand for their free emotional labor. I feel that it would be presumptuous of me to assume that, because someone in my community comes from a particular background, I should expect them to evaluate books that I am considering for the library.

To incorporate viewpoints from within a cultural community, I regularly consult “best-of” lists and award-winning titles and honor books from within these cultures and traditions to identify high-quality books that were written from an “insider’s” perspective. Books written by cultural outsiders may not always “represent a reality of those groups’ lived experiences” (Reese, cited by Tschida, Ryan, & Ticknor, 2014, p. 28-29), so in cases when the author of a story does not share a cultural identity with the person they are writing about, I seek out evaluations by reviewers and by other librarians who share the protagonist’s cultural identity.

I also look for evidence in an author’s note or in published interviews with an author, which indicates the author relied on beta readers from within the cultural community.

One example that resonates very personally for me is the portrayal of autistic characters in children’s literature. I keep coming back to the fact that when Leslie Connor wrote a story with two autistic protagonists (Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?), her author’s note didn’t refer to any autistic people: only to parents and a sibling (Parkhill, 2022).

Another author I admire, who I know to be autistic, credited Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? with “getting the details right” (Pla, 2022, para. 12). Connor said during the interview that she relied on “authenticity readers” (Pla, 2022, para. 13) — but Connor did not specify if those readers were autistic or not. And when most readers pick up Connor’s book, they won’t look for assorted interviews in which Connor talked about writing her book. Most readers will only be exposed to an author’s note that didn’t mention contributions by any autistic people.

Connor is an author who has won numerous accolades. The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle was a finalist in 2018 for the National Book Award and was a winner in 2019 of the Schneider Family Book Award, which “Honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences” (ALA, n.d.). In 2009, Waiting for Normal also won the Schneider Family Book Award.

Given Connor’s status in the world of children’s publishing, if anyone involved with creation of her book was actually autistic, explicit recognition could have gone a long way to normalize seeking direct input by autistic people themselves — not just by parents or other family members, or by people from a medical or otherwise professional background.

While building greater diversity in the library’s collection, I absolutely want to invest in books that have earned marks of quality: Newbery and Caldecott medal winners among them. One area in which I am optimistic is that these two ambitions do not seem to be in opposition, at least among recent medal winners and honor books.

“In the early years of the Newbery, winners were mostly white men. Yet over the award’s 100-year history, a majority of winners — more than 60 — have been women. Increasingly, Newbery medalists are becoming more reflective of underrepresented groups” (Hartz, 2022, p. 36). Nevertheless, alongside Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners I will also seek out award-winning titles that reflect diverse communities by looking for winners and honor books among the following awards:

• American Indian Youth Literature Awards: Identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America; 
• Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature: Honors and recognizes individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, based on literary and artistic merit; 
• Coretta Scott King Book Awards: Given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values; 
• Pura Belpré Award: Presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth; 
• Schneider Family Book Award: Honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences; and 
• Stonewall Book Award (Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award): Honors books for exceptional merit relating to the LGBTQIA+ experience.

Through my efforts, readers who visit the library will be exposed to stories about people who are both like, and unlike, them. Readers who occupy places of privilege in society due to characteristics of race, sex, gender presentation and/or gender identity, sexual orientation, bodily or mental functionality, financial status, generational background, etc., will hopefully gain greater empathy. And readers who come from demographics that enjoy less status or privilege will hopefully gain a greater sense of safety, acceptance, and belonging by seeing stories about people like themselves.

References:
American Library Association. (n.d.) Schneider Family Book Award. Awards: Books, Print & Media. https://www.ala.org/awards/books-media/schneider-family-book-award

Hanick, S.L. & Keyes, K. (2023). Cultural humility and evaluating books for young readers. In S.R. Kostelecky, L. Townsend, & D.A. Hurley (Eds.), Hopeful visions, practical actions: Cultural humility in library work. ALA Editions.

Hartz, T. (2022, June 1). 100 Years of the Newbery Medal: A look at the legacy—and future—of this distinguished award for children’s books. American Libraries, 53(6), pp. 28-31; 34-36. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/0622-1.pdf

Hughes-Hassell, S. (2020). Collection management for youth: Equity, inclusion, and learning. American Library Association.

Parkhill, C.M. (2022, April 3). ‘Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?’ and explicit recognition of autism. Cynthia Parkhill: Librarian. https://cynthiaparkhill.blogspot.com/2022/04/anybody-here-seen-frenchie-and-explicit.html

Pla, S.J. (2022, March 15). Leslie Connor: Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? (Autism, nonvocal). A Novel Mind. https://www.anovelmind.com/post/leslie-connor-anybody-here-seen-frenchie-autism-nonvocal

Reese, D. (2006, Oct. 25). Not recommended: Gerald McDermott’s Arrow to the Sun. American Indians in Children’s Literature. https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2006/10/gerald-mcdermotts- arrow-to-sun-gerald.html

Tschida, C. M., Ryan, C. L., & Ticknor, A. S. (2014). Building on windows and mirrors: Encouraging the disruption of “single stories” through children’s literature. Journal of Children’s Literature, 40(1), 28-39.