Discussion recapContent: racism, bigotry, bias, religion The August discussion focused on personal and implicit bias in library collections. This is the first discussion in the new format of Unpacking, the theme for the Fall season being collections. A link to implicit bias tests was sent out prior to the discussion meeting time. While most attendees did not have the opportunity to take further tests, at least half had taken one in the past. The tests taken had been race-based, age-based, and gender-based tests. In reflecting on test results, the consensus was that the tests revealed bias we did not realize we had and brought greater self-awareness. Many attendees mentioned that, when approaching collections, they recognized that they specifically held biases towards religious collection materials, more specifically Christian materials. As a group this experience was validated, and we returned the conversation back to bias pertaining to Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) collections. In attendance were library staff who worked in public, academic, special, and school libraries. Discussion moved to how we keep a balanced collection. Question posed: How do we assess materials to be sure that they are authentic representations? Striking a balance between:
A resource list to help libraries develop balanced collections that represent BIPOC was started and will be shared to the blog and resources page on the Unpacking website. Discussion then moved to how cataloging can be a boundary for buying materials. Questions asked:
Question posed: If you were a supervisor and knew that one of your employees was self-censoring due to personal biases, how would you handle that? Some suggestions were:
The discussion moved to the question of what if the issue is with your supervisor not allowing certain programs or materials:
With these discussions, it was suggested that we do some calling in/calling out practices during discussions to get more comfortable and be prepared. upcomingReferring to a library's collection development policy came up during our discussion this month about collections and bias. Our September 1st, 2022, discussion will focus on collection development policies. If you are not already familiar with your library's collection development policy, see if you can get a copy of it to have handy at the next meeting.
Thank you and we look forward to doing more of this work with you!
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