race Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Text graphic showing possible changes to Library of Congress Subject Headings, such as "undocumented immigrant" for "illegal alien."

Decolonizing the Catalog

November 1, 2021

The panelists included Elizabeth Hobart, special collections cataloging librarian at Penn State University; Staci Ross, cataloging and metadata librarian at University of Pittsburgh; Michelle Cronquist, special collections cataloger at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Kelly Farrell, program officer for the Triangle Research Libraries Network, a consortium of academic libraries in North Carolina. … Continue reading Decolonizing the Catalog →

Fighting Medical Racism

By Naomi Bishop | November 1, 2021

I am a health science librarian at University of Arizona’s Phoenix Biomedical Campus. I am also Akimel O’odham (Pima) from the Gila River Indian Community. From a Native perspective, the needs of the community are greater than the wishes of the individual. Mask mandates are in place on tribal lands, and colleges and universities occupy … Continue reading Fighting Medical Racism →

Up to the Challenge

By Allison Escoto | November 1, 2021

Foundations of Intellectual Freedom By Emily J. M. Knox This text is a practical introduction to intellectual freedom in librarianship. It provides a broad overview, including historical perspectives, key US case law and precedents, a presentation of opposing viewpoints, and an examination of various professional codes of ethics, among other essential topics. The work also … Continue reading Up to the Challenge →

Photo of patrons at Tulsa (Okla.) City–County Library view an immersive exhibit on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre in spring 2021.

Confronting History

In the years after World War I, an affluent African-American community flourished in the Greenwood district of oil-rich Tulsa, Oklahoma, an area that came to be known as Black Wall Street. Then, in late May and early June 1921, racial tensions erupted and violent white mobs—spurred by a murky allegation of sexual assault—destroyed thousands of … Continue reading Confronting History →

ALA Executive Board Opposes Censorship of Programs Addressing Racial Injustice, Black American History, and Diversity Education

August 18, 2021

The American Library Association is committed to upholding our core values, which include equitable access to knowledge, social justice, and intellectual freedom. As members of a profession committed to free and equitable access to information and the pursuit of truth, we stand firm in opposing any effort to suppress knowledge, to label “controversial” views, or … Continue reading ALA Executive Board Opposes Censorship of Programs Addressing Racial Injustice, Black American History, and Diversity Education →

History, Race, and Caste

By Amy Carlton | June 27, 2021

Jefferson spoke of the “twin pandemics” that have marked his tenure as president—COVID-19 and systemic racism—and pointed out that only the virus seems to be reaching resolution. “Isabel Wilkerson and her book Caste help explain why,” he said. Simone Stone, an MSLIS student at the School of Information Services at the University of Illinois at … Continue reading History, Race, and Caste →

The Insight of Interstitial Identities

By Terra Dankowski | June 26, 2021

“I’m thrilled to be here with you today,” said Nolan, “both as a first-time author but also as a person who loves libraries and is a library patron. I brought my library card along, just in case there were any doubts about the authenticity of that claim.” Nolan told viewers that she feels lucky she … Continue reading The Insight of Interstitial Identities →

A Seat on the Bus

By Amy Carlton | June 25, 2021

“All our lives are compilations of stories,” he said. “As members of the American Library Association, you put stories into the hands of people in your community to help them learn, and grow, and expand their worlds.” At 78, Person noted, he has finally realized his decades-old dream of writing a book and telling his … Continue reading A Seat on the Bus →

At the Center of America’s Story

By Terra Dankowski | June 24, 2021

As a teenager in Waterloo, Iowa, she took an elective class on Black studies. “It was the first time I’d ever gotten any type of extensive instruction on Black Americans,” Hannah-Jones told viewers at the Opening Session of the American Library Association’s virtual 2021 Annual Conference and Exhibition on June 24. “Opening up that door … Continue reading At the Center of America’s Story →

Newsmaker: Savala Nolan

By Terra Dankowski | June 21, 2021

Growing up, did you encounter stories of other people who, like you, hold overlapping identities or experience a sense of dislocation? When I was a kid, people weren’t thinking about identity the way we do now. I was Black and white and Mexican in an era when we were expected to choose one lane and … Continue reading Newsmaker: Savala Nolan →

Illustration of dozens of diverse faces (Illustration: Franzi Draws)

Ask, Listen, Empower

By Ellen Knutson and Quanetta Batts | June 1, 2021

Put another way, it is not enough to simply be not racist; we must work to be antiracist. Psychologist Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College, uses the analogy of a moving walkway. The history and structures of racism are the walkway. It is not enough to simply stop walking, because you’re still moving … Continue reading Ask, Listen, Empower →

From the Executive Director by Tracie D. Hall

A Hurting Thing

By Tracie D. Hall | May 3, 2021

Usually the calls were about the kids who frequented the library—which ones had graduated, who was off to college or the military, and sometimes, sadly, who had been shot or killed, or gone to jail. One call still haunts me: A teenage boy I knew well was facing serious time in a juvenile detention center. … Continue reading A Hurting Thing →

Latest Library Links

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Valentine’s Day (February 14) and Random Acts of Kindness Week (February 13–19) is one month away. In our January/February issue, we offer stats celebrating the platonic, romantic, and civic love found in books and libraries, including the percentage by which romance book sales increased after the pandemic struck (24%); the number of valentines that Shaler North Hills Library in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, received after putting out a call for its “Valentines for Seniors” program (902); and the number of years Valentine (Neb.) Public Library has served its community (101).

American Libraries Trend, Jan./Feb.
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Athlete, activist, and author Colin Kaepernick will appear as the closing speaker at ALA’s 2022 LibLearnX conference on January 24. He will discuss his first children’s book, I Color Myself Different, a joyful ode to Black and Brown people and communities and a story based on events from his youth. In August 2016, Kaepernick made headlines when, before a preseason NFL game, he chose not to stand during the “Star-Spangled Banner.” This action sparked a movement, and he has become widely known for his work challenging anti-Blackness and systemic oppression.

ALA, Jan. 13
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Cass Balzer writes: “Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, libraries have served both informally and officially as public health partners, from 3D-printing personal protective equipment to serving as vaccination sites. Now, as the country continues to ease masking and social-distancing restrictions, libraries are again stepping into the role as a point of care—this time by helping to distribute rapid, at-home COVID-19 testing kits. Joel Mantey, adult services manager at Findlay–Hancock County (Ohio) Public Library, says the tests were sorely needed in their area: ‘It’s been a boon for the community.'”

American Libraries Trend, Jan./Feb.
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Farah Javed and Reuven Blau write: “The book was closed at 25 libraries throughout the city on January 10 due to staffing shortages, forcing some New Yorkers to stand outside in the cold for Wi-Fi. The city’s three public library systems—New York, Brooklyn, and Queens— have scrambled the past two weeks to keep open their 207 branches across the five boroughs as scores of librarians and other support staffers called out sick with COVID-19 or related quarantines.” A renewed wave of pandemic closures and limited operations is happening across the US and Canada, from York County (Pa.) Libraries to Fairfax County (Va.) Public Library to Toronto Public Library.

The City, Jan. 10; York Dispatch, Jan. 7; WTOP-FM (Washington, D.C.), Jan. 10; Globalnews.ca, Jan. 4
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Cass Balzer writes: “Libraries have been experiencing First Amendment audits for several years, but there was an uptick in reported cases in 2021, according to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF). And while the format of these audits is familiar, libraries are reporting more aggressive, targeted, and organized operations than in years past. There is now a clearer mechanism for First Amendment auditors to profit from their videos, either through monetizing YouTube channels or using crowdfunding tools like Patreon and GoFundMe. Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of OIF, also notes the potential impact of pandemic-induced shutdowns. ‘We’re living in a time where there is a little more contention over politics, and some of it may be coming from that,’ she says. ‘But there may also be a relationship to the fact that libraries are open again.'”

American Libraries feature, Jan./Feb.
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The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced $24.7 million in new grants to support 208 scholarly projects and exhibitions at cultural institutions, museums, libraries, and archives. Awards include nearly $45,000 to University of Virginia, toward the creation of a database of 18th- and 19th-century North American weather records; a $100,000 grant to Northeastern University in Boston, to support its Digital Archive of American Indian Languages Preservation and Perseverance, which gathers handwritten materials in the Cherokee syllabary; and $30,000 to the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, New York, which will support a digital mapping project exploring the history of jazz and hip-hop in the borough. The awards are part of the agency’s regular cycle of grants; last year, the agency also distributed more than $140 million in additional grants supported by the American Rescue Plan Act.

The New York Times, Jan. 11, Nov. 16, 2018; National Endowment for the Humanities, Jan. 11
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Nia Thimakis writes: “The last year, especially the last few months, has seen a dramatic increase in book challenges nationwide. The timing of such an organized push repeats the censorship wave of 1981. The 1970s saw schools become more secular, the women’s liberation movement, the gay rights movement, the continued civil rights movement, the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade in 1973, and fear of the loss of the traditional family unit. With these supposed attacks on the morals of the country, the Moral Majority was formed in 1979. Groups based in Texas, Utah, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania threw their hat into the fight to ‘curate’ what children have access to in public spaces. More often than not, the parents objecting had not read the materials they were protesting or cherry-picked parts taken out of context to prove their point. If this sounds familiar, it should.”

Intellectual Freedom Blog, Jan. 10

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