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- Description
- Table of Contents
- About the authors
- Reviews
Read an interview with the authors now!
This first Special Report in a two-volume set on Black and African Americans’ experiences in libraries provides an overview of their historical exclusion from libraries and educational institutions in the United States, also exploring the ways in which this legacy is manifest in our contemporary context. A compelling call to action, it will serve as the beginning of many conversations in which librarianship reckons with its racist past to move towards a more equitable future.
Still a predominantly white profession, librarianship has a legacy of racial discrimination, and it is essential that we face the ways that race impacts how we meet the needs of diverse user communities. Identifying and acknowledging implicit and learned bias is a necessary step toward transforming not only our professional practice but also our scholarship, assessment, and evaluation practices. From this Special Report, readers will
- learn the hidden history of Africa’s contributions to libraries and educational institutions, which are often omitted from K-12, higher education, and library school curricula;
- engage with the racist legacies of libraries as well as contemporary scholarship related to Black and African American users’ experiences with libraries;
- be introduced to frameworks and theories that can help to identify and unpack the role of race in librarianship and in library users’ experiences; and
- garner practical takeaways to bring to their own views and practice of librarianship.
Examination copies are available for instructors who are interested in adopting this title for course use.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. The African Roots of Education and Librarianship
Chapter 3. Public Libraries
Chapter 4. School Libraries
Chapter 5. Academic Libraries
Chapter 6. Frameworks for Exploring Race and Libraries
Chapter 7. Conclusion
References
Index
Have you read this book? Leave a review!
"[This] unflinching report emphasizes there’s a naïve perception that everything automatically improves for BIPOC users, who battle discrimination daily, when they enter the library. The authors acknowledge that individual libraries and librarians are working hard to affect change, but their findings indicate that the library system is among the American institutions that were never built for users of color—especially Black people— to thrive ... Essential reading, discussion, and action for everyone who works within the library industry."
— Library Journal (starred review)
"The authors have stimulated a meaningful dialogue that is, quite frankly, long overdue in addressing several critical issues within the LIS profession. Both reports speak to topics such as systemic racism and white supremacy, confronting whiteness in American libraries, and instilling and promoting antiracist principles and values within our work environments ... Folk and Overbey’s research provides LIS professionals with tools and resources to enhance equity-centered work. I highly recommend both reports. I also strongly recommend that this research be included as a part of the LIS curriculum to educate the next generation of librarians, and that it be used as a professional development resource for current librarians and administrators. These reports offer the LIS community an opportunity to engage in thoughtful conversations about the state of our profession and to learn from the experiences of Black and African American library users, who have been historically excluded from our institutions, and often underserved."
— College & Research Libraries