Not really, vote them out is the solution.
The nice thing about having a constitution is that we can have rights even when democracy doesn’t go the way we want it to.
Getting back to the OP a bit, libraries should perhaps focus more on diversity of ideas rather than diversity of group membership. There is sometimes overlap between the two, but there are far more ideas out there than distinct identity groups.
Not when the people who get into power support neither the Constitution, nor rights, nor democracy.
And a diversity of ideas is the exact opposite of what the Right wants.
A local friend loved reading Playboy. She (yes, she, believe it or not) loved the interviews, and the articles on current music, and the short fiction.
It may sound strange, that my friend was a girl and loved Playboy, until you understand that my friend was blind and had been so since birth. She read the Braille version at the library every month, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks for reminding me. I hope my friend is doing well. I kinda miss her.
Let me clear this up for everyone.
Working to reshape societal policies and infrastructure so that every person, not just white heterosexual men, have a better opportunity (but not a guarantee) to achieve better outcomes and acceptance EQUALS discrimination of the worst kind, an abomination that cries out to God for vengeance, an outrage that should shock the conscience of all decent people.
Leaving things as is, so that all with privilege maintain it EQUALS sublime fairness. Even better if you promote that privilege and the status quo.
Any library that leans at all toward the former is evidence of a leftist, woke desire for a dictatorship that favors gays, blacks, and other undesirables. That includes displaying BLM posters, Pride flags, and other dangerous, subversive propaganda tools.
Hope that helps.
Definitely! You left out a reference to CRT in there somewhere, though. Haha. Remember when that was a big deal?
Yeah, people get bored with the same old hate word after a while. They definitely have a shelf life.
I guess it’s similar to a euphemism treadmill, where you have to keep making up new things to be outraged about.
I’m disappointed that this thread has turned into mostly just more conservative-bashing. Not that they don’t deserve it, but it’s too easy, I’m not learning anything new, and here on the SDMB, it’s just preaching to the choir.
There should be a mention in there about real Americans.
I, for one, who be happy if conservatives were offering some ideas that were worth discussing seriously, even if I didn’t agree with them. But the conservatives we have now? Being denounced is all they deserve.
Also, this:
I feel the exact opposite is true. For one thing, what does this really mean, does it mean that libraries should have equal numbers of books that believe the Holocaust did or did not happen? But even moving away from the admittedly strawman argument I just made, enforcing diversity of ideas is precisely the putting the finger on the scale that Sam warned about. You will note that when he put forth his parade of horribles as to what a Donald Trump Librarian, they were all specifically political, and yes I would oppose a library setting up a pro-life book display, but I would also oppose them setting up a pro-choice book display, because those are specific political view points which a public source of information should not take side on. Libraries should be literally “we report you decide”.
When it comes to diversity of authors, (which is inexorably intertwined with diversity of ideas since different groups have different perspectives, and no, no matter how much a white person has studied the issue they can’t express what it was like to grow up black in the Jim Crow south the same way someone who lived it can) the only idea that is being expressed is that blacks, gays, women, transgender people, exist and write books. This is not should not be a politically contentious stance, and only is one, because one political party feels that blacks, gays, women, transgender people, should not exist or at the very least should not write books. Now white straight people write books too, and so it could conceivably make sense to have a white author, straight author or male author display. But that would be stupid because you would basically have to put the entire rest of the library on display. However it might make sense to highlight specific subsets, or example a display of Southern Authors, or Norwegian Heritage and I would not oppose since they too have their own unique perspectives.
That’s the problem. Too many people read “agenda” into everything. When libraries have a display of books related to Pride Month, they’re providing a service to patrons–all patrons–who want to learn more about Pride Month, and not necessarily to agree with it. Why is it people don’t see displays about Veterans Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, or Memorial Day as part of an agenda?
A better image to define equity, used in the recent training I got:
[This link points at a similar image to the one used in my DEI training, the text is different from the training, but points at how equity has to be seen]
When we focus on equity, we actually achieve equality. So think of equity as being a prerequisite to equality, as the next image shows. In this cartoon, you will see a man shoveling snow from the sidewalk so that the children can walk up the stairs to the school. The child who is in a wheelchair asks when the ramp will be shoveled off and the answer is, “As soon as I get these stairs cleaned for the other children.” The point is that if the shoveler took care of the ramp first, everybody would be able to get into the school at the same time.
However, @Chronos was referring to Sam’s definition that includes also an imaginary helping of not being fair to right wing points of view, in this thread, it includes book censorship and also censorship of seemingly leftist points of view of books at the library. The right wing right now is attempting to pigeonhole many books and efforts at equity as just being leftist nonsense.
Taking the definition into account, one has to notice that equity does benefit even people in the right wing of the spectrum, right wing women and conservative disabled persons too [looks disapprovingly at Greg Abbott, but still, he deserves his equity.]
My library also displays staff picks, which seems to lack any cohesive theme.
On the topic of exposing children to new things.
One of the nice things about books wildly inappropriate for very young children is that the children can’t comprehend the writing. The dense, small print and lack of pictures also turns them away (I have to plead ignorance of graphic novels, as I’ve only read superhero comics). By middle school, themes involving discrimination are appropriate in my opinion (such books are assigned for class). Likewise with sexual themes in high school.
I haven’t personally heard anybody complain about Black History Month or Irish American Heritage/Women’s History Month or Arab American Heritage Month or Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage/Jewish American Heritage Month or Pride Month or Hispanic Heritage Month or Italian-American Heritage/Fillipino History/LGBT History Month or Native American Heritage Month displays on account of children being exposed to inappropriate content. I’ve heard complaints about hypotheticals, but not actual instances. I have, however, heard that there are too many designated heritage/history months to celebrate minorities to keep track of, and the idea is dumb. But that’s just small talk. Nobody I’ve met actually cares what books the library has on display this month.
Coincidentally I’ve never seen an empty spot on the display shelf. I don’t know whether this is because the librarians dutifully restock or whether nobody actually checks those books out. I tend to go weekly but have never been tempted by any of the ‘history/heritage’ month books. For a long time I only read classics and non-fiction (sans autobiographies and memoirs, yuck). These days since I’m back in school and reading textbooks again, my library books are mostly short mystery and sci-fi novels, or even short stories. I know some people will pick up a book specifically because of how the author identifies. More power to them; I’m not one of those people. I like to pick them at random from the stacks (the stickers help), and I completely skip over the author bio and introduction. I might read those after finishing the book though.
~Max
This is the way equity was tried in California math education:
Deeply stupid and malevolent equity promoters tried to prevent schools here from teaching algebra in the 8th grade (which is generally necessary if you want to reach calculus in high school). It got walked back about halfway, but I have no doubt they’ll continue pushing in this direction.
In response to Dinsdale’s original post,
As a patron, I plead ignorance of the ins and outs of library administration. But my uninformed opinion, made just now and not corrected by anything I’ve read in this discussion so far, is that a library shouldn’t do any targeted minority outreach unless necessary to correct some factor that makes the library unattractive/unwelcoming to minority patrons. For example if your catalogue is underrepresentative of hispanic authors that would justify targeted acquisitions of books with hispanic authors; if your patrons are disproportionately white vis a vis the population you serve, that would justify outreach programs for minority races. Implicit in this view is that the library serves the entire population rather than the subset of actual patrons, and that a general public library is supposed to (at least) present a representative sample of literature. Or at least English-language literature. Actually, I’m not sure how we count non-American literature.
Paging @NinthAcolyte to this topic
~Max
Just to clarify, IME our library had both smaller table-top “displays” for recommended books, as well as several glass-fronted display cases in which displays were presented. I recall seeing the Black History and Pride displays in the children’s department display case, because my kid worked in that department at the time, and told me of the complaints they received, including from a library board member. Discussing w/ my kid, it was clear that she and - at least some - other employees intentionally attempted to be somewhat provocative in exposing comfortable suburbanites to the very real concerns of others. My kid worked hard at acquiring materials for the kids’ department that did not solely represent white people in traditional families - which I think a laudable goal whatever the community’s ethnic makeup. And my kid and others quit when they felt the library was all lip service and no action.
Since my kid no longer works there, I no longer go into the kids’ department. The other day when I went in a case near the door now had what appeared to be “public notice” type memos, and one in the adult department had a display on the eclipse.
So I am not simply asking hypotheticals “what about”, but am instead asking about what I experienced in my library. As I said, I was not personally bothered by the displays - and tended towards supporting them. But more than one person told me they were tired of feeling like they were being told they were “bad people” or needed to become more aware of certain issues when they simply wanted to check out some books. Not a position I share, but it did not impress me as crazy. And it made me question how much of our library’s mission ought to be to challenge/stretch patrons’ comfort zones.
No, I am not trying to suggest that the concerns and feelings of comfortable white hetero religious people are more imprortant or even the same to the experiences and concerns of anyone else.
Finally, our library’s:
Mission
X Public Library enriches life in X for all by providing opportunities
to connect, create, and explore.
Vision
X Public Library, a trusted place at the heart of the community, champions library use by providing the support, resources, and space for all to:
• Pursue a Love of Reading • Cultivate Curiosity
• Access Information • Connect with Others
• Explore Interests • Create and Innovate
Values
XPL prioritizes making all patrons and staff feel valued, respected, and inspired by recognizing that everyone has unique interests, talents, skills, and abilities. Access, inclusion, fiscal responsibility, and awareness are fundamental to all our Library functions, collections, services, and initiatives.
Do you remember any of the ‘provocative’ titles? Because if they were behind a glass case the only way for them to be provocative is with cover art and titles. At my library, at least, the kids section is for grade school kids, like ages 11-12 and under. It doesn’t make sense to put titles intended for adult audiences in there, if that’s what you mean. If dealing with sexual themes, depression, drugs, etc - does your library have a separate young adult section like mine?
~Max