Inclusivity requires intention and planning. More and more, library leaders are acknowledging that making our programs, hiring practices, and trainings inclusive and community-led benefit staff members and patrons. These six guides provide support for libraries looking to make thoughtful, impactful, and service-transforming changes.
The Inclusive Organization: Real Solutions, Impactful Change, and Meaningful Diversity
By Netta Jenkins
Jenkins, a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) executive, has worked with organizations of all sizes. Here she draws on her lived experiences and years of accumulated knowledge to suggest actionable ways that employees can improve their workplaces. The book shows readers how to create a framework that their organization can use to make meaningful changes, with a focus on allocating time and resources for implementing DEI learning and policies. While the book is aimed at organizational leaders, Jenkins’s insights will be useful to any library staffer, particularly in the ways she pinpoints how discriminative structures affect employees differently.
Wiley, 2023. 240 p. $27.95. 978-1-1199-1013-8. (Also available as an ebook.)
The Inclusive Language Field Guide: Six Simple Principles for Avoiding Painful Mistakes and Communicating Respectfully
By Suzanne Wertheim
This book asks readers to consider the words they use and the nuanced ways in which context affects language. Wertheim offers examples of social interactions while explaining the cultural and historical connotations of particular words. For instance, the indefinite pronoun everyone isn’t always appropriate. (Wishing “everyone” a happy Mother’s Day isn’t inclusive of those who were raised without a mother, have lost their mother, or do not have a relationship with their mother.) Wertheim makes a great argument for adopting inclusive language, which can help our profession avoid inadvertently erasing or diminishing our colleagues’ and patrons’ life experiences.
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2023. 256 p. $21.95. PBK. 978-1-5230-0424-9. (Also available as an ebook.)
Building Representative Community Archives: Inclusive Strategies in Practice
Edited by Hannah Leah Crummé
Using case studies, this guide outlines the differences between community-created archives, community-centered archives, and archives that document communities from afar. As oral historian Alissa Rae Funderburk explains in her chapter, “Talking White,” a collection should not just preserve people’s stories but should originate from the people and places the stories are about, since a storyteller from outside the community might miss important details and context. While Crummé’s text is aimed at librarians who do archival work, it can also serve as an insightful blueprint for public and university librarians, as well as communities that seek to tell their stories with the help of archives, libraries, and museums.
ALA Neal-Schuman, 2024. 288 p. $64.99. PBK. 978-0-8389-3959-8.
Trans and Gender Diverse Voices in Libraries
Edited by Kalani Keahi Adolpho, Stephen G. Krueger, and Krista McCracken
This collection of essays by trans and gender-diverse people in the library field covers areas based on the library spaces each author occupies, including MLIS programs, archives, and public and academic libraries. Authors discuss topics such as visible and invisible labor, coming out as trans at work, and pronouns. The contributors also frankly discuss the work libraries need to do to be more welcoming to trans and gender-diverse communities. These essays are full of rage, sorrow, and frustration, and their honesty can help educate readers on how to better support trans and gender-diverse colleagues.
Library Juice Press, 2023. 560 p. $75. PBK. 978-1-6340-0120-5. (Also available as an ebook.)
Empathic Design: Perspectives on Creating Inclusive Spaces
Edited by Elgin Cleckley
Designer and architecture professor Elgin Cleckley defines empathic design as a process in which planners work thoughtfully to create spaces that welcome all members of a community. Since that approach aligns with libraries’ missions, this title will be helpful to those planning new facilities. Each chapter details design approaches and methods that acknowledge the history and lived experiences of residents, especially those from underrepresented communities. Architect Liz Ogbu, for example, explains how she sought insight from local activists in the Baywood neighborhood of San Mateo, California, to plan a community center that has hosted workshops and cultural events and served as a food access point during the pandemic.
Island Press, 2024. 208 p. $32. PBK. 978-1-6428-3205-1. (Also available as an ebook.)
Creating Inclusive Libraries by Applying Universal Design: A Guide
By Carli Spina
Universal design makes physical spaces appealing and accessible to users with varying needs. This valuable resource explores universal design style and how libraries can implement it for their community’s benefit, discussing topics such as determining the right kind of questions to ask architects and how basic elements like lighting and furniture make a difference. Libraries may have financial or other limitations; still, Spina’s work suggests that implementing these practices to whatever degree possible is a step toward equitable facilities.
Rowman & Littlefield, 2021. 187 p. $51. PBK. 978-1-5381-3978-3. (Also available as an ebook.)
