For further reading and action prompts, please visit whitesupremacyculture.info/ objectivity
This concept hits a lot of library folks right in the feels.
Concept that objective reality is real, but any one person is only capable of perceiving part of that. Questions about how much of that perspective is western culture, white supremacy, etc. Our "reality" really only exists because the group in power and/or the majority has decided what it is. Every individual's reality is vastly different. Is it time to set the desire for library neutrality on the back burner while we focus on healing the extremely broken system in which we developed/grew up? If true objectivity or neutrality is not feasible, then why do we spend so much time and energy on it?
0 Comments
For further reading and action prompts, please visit whitesupremacyculture.info/ progress is bigger, more
We find that pre-COVID, this is something we saw a lot in our own work experiences.
Some folks are reminded of their experiences in churches and how focusing on growing the congregation can result in a drifting away from the mission of the church. How do we measure success in the library? Books on the shelves. Bodies in the library. People at programs. Summer Reading signups. We often focus on the quantitative and not the qualitative, and quantitative data is easily skewed, misinterpreted, and only part of the story. We cannot demonstrate impact and tell whole stories using only one aspect (e.g. only stats, only a photo, etc.). For further reading and action prompts, please visit whitesupremacyculture.info/ i'm the only one
For those of us who are single-person departments, we're used to doing everything ourselves. When we do get help (e.g. an intern or a volunteer) it can be extremely hard to delegate or relinquish that power and trust the other person, but it's essential!
This ties in to weaponized incompetence. If we are used to people actively acting in this manner, then we can fall into a habit of thinking we're the only one capable of doing a thing. Both things are not good! Sometimes this looks like, "My coworker would be good at this, but it would take them 3 days and I could have it done this afternoon, so I'll just do it." INDIVIDUALISM
We find that this is the way a lot of us were raised - with an expectation of and pride in individualism. We do have some observation of increased group work in schools. Remembering back to our own experiences with group work in school and college, we were not given the reasoning behind group work or taught the skills to succeed in group work, so we all just dreaded the group projects.
In our workplaces, some of us are pretty isolated or in extremely small teams. Even in large teams, it takes intentional effort to bring everyone in and create/maintain good teams and relationships. It's very easy to let extremely capable folks work hyper-independently, even though that eliminates so many opportunities, perspectives, and knowledge. image credit: iguana mouthHoarding power is something that many of us do without even realizing it. We don't always look like Smaug on a pile of treasure. Often, hoarding power looks much, much more innocent.
In our March discussion, we lovingly started referring to the concept of power as a pie. There are plenty of pieces to go around and you can divvy it up in many ways. Some examples of sharing power included:
Examples we shared of our own power-hoarding included:
So many of us said some version of, "I always want to just do it myself because then it will be done well and the way I want it, but when I take a little bit longer and bring other folks in, the end result is always better." We also acknowledged that there is a balance between bringing everyone in and letting a process go on too long (ultimately inhibiting completion/growth/results). As with everything, there is a balance and no one right way. Each situation will require a slightly different approach. Thursday evening rolls around, you've gotten home from work - or maybe you're still at work - and you just. don't. wanna.
You don't want to spend another 90 minutes talking about difficult things. You don't want to feel guilty about things you've said or done in the past, and you certainly don't want to feel like crap about something you said this afternoon. The thing is: this is work. Talking about how we as white folks move around in the world - how we get to exist - is uncomfortable. If Unpacking was a monthly wine tasting or stitch-n-bitch, it would probably be more appealing after a long day. But it's not. It's a choice to continue. Even we, your humble organizers, get nervous and reluctant the day or two before a discussion. We worry about being too tired, not well-prepared enough, not "on" enough. But every single time we come away feeling more invigorated, aware, and capable. We see growth in ourselves and you! (We're proud of you.) So with that, join us in April. Even if you're tired. Even if you really don't wanna. We'd love to learn with you. This is the first of many posts sharing our thoughts and experiences in working through the White Supremacy Culture article by Tema Okun. In our first discussion (February), the resonant consensus was that we are all perfectionists. We pride ourselves on it. We glory in it. "My greatest weakness? I'm a perfectionist. Ugh, isn't it just awful? Everything has to be just right or I just can't handle it." So then, why is being a perfectionist a Bad Thing?
Perfectionism sets us up for failure. Perfectionism stops us from taking risks. It dissuades us from looking outside ourselves for other ideas and feedback. It rationalizes. It criticizes. It chastises. It's not just a quest for the unattainable; it is a crippling fear of not being enough. Perfectionism tells us that our value is somehow outside of ourselves. It tells us that there is one, single ideal to which we must all strive. When we all work towards this unreachable, unfathomable, uniform ideal, we lose the richness of experience and perspective which makes us actually successful. Perfectionism is one facet of the complex systems we accept as standard, but it's not immobile. What feelings come up when you think about your own perfectionism? How does that feeling resonate in your body? What is an action you can take to break down your own perfectionism? Perfectionism will come up a lot in future topics, so we felt it was the perfect place to start. Now go mess something up today! (We're just kidding. Sort of.) Hello readers!
Headline: We're back for our Spring Season. This season will be spent working through Tema Okun's White Supremacy Culture article. We're going to work through this together in real time, so there is no expectation that you will have already read the article. That being said, if you would like to build yourself a more robust foundation, we highly recommend reading the original article, exploring Okun's website, and checking out their recent update, "White Supremacy Culture: Still Here" from May 2021. Bonus thought: One great way to approach this work would be to print multiple copies of the articles and take notes directly on them, marking in different colors or with different writing tools as you work through it. Maybe you start with a pink highlighter and every time you notice yourself feeling defensive, you highlight that passage. Then during our first discussion, maybe you take notes in pencil. Come back with a different highlighter a month later and highlight new things that resonate with you, or which you don't understand. Keep layering this practice, moving on to fresh copies as needed. It's a great way to capture your thought process and see progress! Dates & Times: Thursdays 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. February 2 March 2 April 6 May 4 Logistics: We will have more housekeeping/organizational communications throughout this Spring season as we work to codify the leadership roles within Unpacking and as we work on expanding. We'll also be building up the resources and blog on our website this season, focusing on white supremacy culture. Stay tuned! Final thoughts: Please reach out with any questions, concerns, or feedback. We can't wait to see you all in February. Best, The Unpacking Team We have been called in. We need to do better. The Unpacking Discussion Group organizers (Brittany, Caitlin, and Taylor) are still learning our role in the Oregon library world. Being a newly formed group and not exactly formally organized, we admittedly had not considered the impact our silence or absence would have. We do now. This is a reminder that silence is complicity. How the OLA EDIA Meaningful Support for BIPOC Library Workers is directly related to the Unpacking Discussion Group:
We repeat, our voices joining and uplifting the EDIA Committee, BIPOC library workers and patrons are not okay. The full statement is below and can be read here. Share it. Do better. OLA Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Antiracism Committee Statement Calling for Meaningful Support for BIPOC Library WorkersIn response to ongoing violence against Black people in the United States, we, the OLA Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Antiracism Committee, reaffirm Black Lives Matter, and that Black people and African Americans, including library patrons and workers, are living under the weight of constant violence and other forms of discrimination and oppression. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) library workers regularly experience racism in the workplace from patrons, colleagues, and/or managers. The movement to ban books that discuss race or racism, and erase the reality of the BIPOC experience further stresses and demoralizes library workers. This trauma can be mitigated through impactful racial equity and antiracism efforts. Kaetrena Davis Kendrick and Ione Damasco's (2019) groundbreaking research on the low morale experience of BIPOC librarians found that BIPOC “who experience low morale cited inconsistent or superficial support or implementation of EDI programs as a factor that increased their low morale; and the most used phrase within their discussions of the diversity rhetoric enabling system was 'lip service.'" BIPOC library workers and patrons are not okay. They need your support, and they need it now. This commitee and allies will not sit by and passively observe our patrons, neighbors, and families being terrorized, murdered and otherwise abused. We invite Oregon libraries to join us in making it explicitly clear how and why Black Lives Matter. BIPOC and other individuals from marginalized groups are the key to re-invigorating libraries and our communities. We need their ideas, their spirit, their energy and love. Diverse workplaces are more creative, innovative, and productive. Yet BIPOC often experience trauma in majority White spaces, mental and physical health disparities, disparities in access to quality care, and pressure to prioritize excellence at work over their well-being. The Urban Library Trauma Study's research found that "a significant number of participants of color reported receiving racist abuse... Participants who had experienced racial abuse also reported not feeling supported by their colleagues or administration." A sense of inclusion and belonging is often missing from library work environments for those who are marginalized. What are you doing to create a work environment where workers from marginalized groups feel physically and psychologically safe, included, and valued? We ask that you look at the systems you have in place for supporting the well-being of your library staff and fostering inclusion and belonging and question how well these systems reflect a commitment to antiracist practice. Whose comfort and whose well-being are you prioritizing? Reflect on the following questions and use them to craft policy and practice:
If you’re interested in learning more about antiracist work, please visit these two projects of the OLA EDIA Committee:
Questions or comments can be directed to the OLA EDIA Committee co-Chairs, Ericka Brunson-Rochette and Meredith Farkas at [email protected] Mission Statement: We recognize libraries serve a vast range of individuals with unique experiences and characteristics. We encourage an inclusive environment that promotes freedom of speech in conjunction with strong policies that protect patrons and library staff of all gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, race, sexual orientation, disability, income level, age and all other personal, social, cultural and economic perspectives. Kendrick, Kaetrena Davis, and Ione T. Damasco. "Low morale in ethnic and racial minority academic librarians: An experiential study." Library Trends 68.2 (2019): 174-212. core.ac.uk/download/pdf/489844612.pdf
Urban Librarians Unite. Urban Library Trauma Study. 2022, urbanlibrariansunite.org/ults/. The November discussion focused on diversity audits. The theme of collections continued, as did the vulnerability in our discussions with each other. Diversity audits can feel daunting, especially if you are looking at an entire collection. what is a diversity audit?From the Oregon Librarian Association's Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Committee Antiracism Toolkit: "A diversity audit is essentially providing an inventory of a collection to determine the amount of diversity within the collection. It is a way of analyzing collection data to make sure that we include a wide variety of points." When you look at a collection or sample and you analyze an aspect of that question, that’s a diversity audit! We formally tally up our findings. Once you gather your data, you do some digging about what you want to add! Setting a goal is important, but you need to assess what work you as an organization needs to be done. Do you need to do some more research? What does access look like to materials that you’d like to add? Hot Tip! School Library Journal & Library Journal have a class every fall that is 4 weeks long and it’s about $300. Check out the Oregon Library Association’s scholarship page for some funding options. Continuing with questions to ask:
Brainstorm: ideas for audting displays
Brainstorm: things to remember
upcomingWe’re taking a break in December and January! This month we spent a fair amount of time talking about problematic creators, topics, etc. and how that relates to displays and the things that we put into our collections which brings us to…
Some ideas for the Spring season (February – May):
|
Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|