Anti-Racism Titles for a Better, More Informed World

Photo by Cyrus Gomez

I compiled a shortlist of titles after being asked by a colleague for some recommendations.  There are far too many compelling titles out there to list.  These are just personal recommendations that I can recall on the whim.   Deeply disturbing hate crimes against Asian Americans and Asian Canadians across North America, both physical and verbal assaults, have risen sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic.   The world is rising up to the occasion place these past few months to injustice and intensified with the Black Lives Matter protests.  Anti-Asian hate crimes are currently being investigated in the police everywhere. Incidents have included hate-filled rants, racial slurs, threats, and intimidation, as well as spitting and coughing on victims and violent physical assaults in public settings.  What can we do as a society to do our part in countering intolerance?   The first thing we can do is being informed, of tracing the history of racism.  

Yellow Peril!: An archive of anti-Asian fear
The Yellow Peril is a catalogue of more than 150-year anti-Asian writings, illustrations, propaganda, and pop culture. The recent spate of anti-Asian hate crimes stemming from COVID-19 would sadly fit right in at the end of this book, but offers a stark reminder that xenophobia is still deeply ingrained and much work remains to be done to combat it.

Asian American Librarians and Library Services Activism, Collaborations, and Strategies
What are the library services and resources that Asian Canadian and Asian Americans need? In a profession that is predominantly white and steeped in Western colonial traditions, what does it mean to be an Asian librarian in the 21st century? Library professionals and scholars share reflections, best practices, and strategies, and convey the critical need for diversity in the LIS field, library programming, and resources.

Days of Distraction
As the heroine narrates her romantic life, she finds herself in the process of facing misgivings about her role in an interracial relationship. It is a story of her family’s immigration, the history of interracial relationships in America, and stereotypes of Asian American women in the Western world

Double Melancholy: art, beauty, and the making of a brown queer man
C. E. Gatchalian's Double Melancholy charts the memoirs of queer Canadian man of Filipinx descent who attempts to tease out the complexities of his identification with white and Western ‘high culture.’

Obasan 
Set in Canada, Obasan focuses on the memories and experiences of Naomi Nakane, whose brief stay with her aunt ‘Obasan’ helps Naomi revisit and reconstruct in memory her painful experiences as a child during and after World War II, and the lives of Japanese-Canadians who were uprooted and sent to internment camps during the war. 

ACRL Academic Library Services for Graduate Students Interest Group - Online Library Services to Graduate Students

ACRL Academic Library Services for Graduate Students Interest Group next Tuesday afternoon for a panel discussion about online services for graduate students, including changes folks have made during recent building closures and other services changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bulk of the time in this session will be planned for taking audience questions for discussion among the panelists.

Panel: Online Library Services to Graduate Students
When: Tuesday, June 2, 3pm CDT
Register: https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Kok2gwbQQYqvdRNbLPV_4w

Panelists

• Allan Cho, Research Commons Librarian, University of British Columbia
• Nancy Garmer, Assistant Dean of User Experience, Florida Institute of Technology
• Mandy Havert, Graduate Outreach and Digital Research Librarian, University of Notre Dame
• Anne Melville, Education Librarian, George Mason University
• Matt Ogborn, Graduate Outreach and Instruction Librarian, Arizona State University

Moderators:

• Mark Lenker, Convener, ACRL Academic Library Services for Graduate Students Interest Group
• Geoff Johnson, Incoming Convener, ACRL Academic Library Services for Graduate Students Interest Group

Response to the World of Covid-19

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Racial diversity in librarianship is important because libraries and archives are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the historical and cultural records of society as a whole -- not just one group.   It is essential that the fundamental organizations responsible for the creation, selection, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge that reflects the diversity of the society that they seek to serve.  Unfortunately, the reality in North America is that minority librarians face challenges in the profession, and a recently retracted editorial by a Dean of Libraries really hit home when his racist-laden rant was somehow published in a (now less) reputable journal.

Although I'm a librarian of diversity, my professional expertise was not set on diversity in libraries.  I didn't start off my career with it as part of my professional agenda.  I was interested in issues related to social justice, but it wasn't until I started my career in this field that I realized I needed to be involved.  A profession that doesn't reflect its users is not healthy, especially one that serves the public.  I'm afraid while most in our profession recognize this homogeneity, its colonial history is unlikely to change in our lifetime.  This presentation speaks to me as a BIPOC.  In my own reflection, I will add three main themes that visible minority librarians and workers face in the profession:

(1) Isolation – There’s certain isolation when it comes to discussing topics such as race and discrimination. Rhonda Fowler has discussed her experiences of isolation. “I felt that most of my colleagues wanted a pleasant working environment, and really didn’t understand what I was talking about because it had not happened to them.” According to Peggy Johnson, “libraries do hire diverse librarians but they want you to conform to the dominant culture. If you don’t conform to the culture, then you might have experienced that they don’t understand.”

(2) Implicit Bias - The importance of reducing implicit bias in the workplace cannot be overstated. Implicit intergroup bias has far-reaching negative effects in many organizational domains, including, but not limited to, selection, retention (including compensation and promotion issues), teams-related issues, general work environment, and worker self-esteem and well-being. “Micro-invalidations” as it’s labeled – the act of dismissing what is actually experienced by the minority individual.  “Oh, you’re too sensitive” or “That’s not what I meant” comments are rarely helpful, and often and deliberately sidesteps the uncomfortable discussion.

(3) Exclusion – Minority librarians also have vulnerabilities when it comes to collaboration.   Rhonda Fowler laments how in her twenty-five-year career as an academic librarian only one non-minority librarian approached her for collaboration on scholarship.   This experience of exclusion is well-documented in academic research, and discrimination has revealed that members of different social groups tend to mostly collaborate with in-group members which diminish the diversity of social networks.

Maya Angelou's quote "When you know better, you do better" is so apt in our times.   I'm afraid there are no easy answers (or any at all) to what can be done.  I don't want to navel-gaze at the problem, it's too complex to solve on paper like a mathematical formula, but I wonder if the reason why librarianship languishes in identity crises (on topics such as the MLIS degree, titles, accreditation) is really a result of this colonial framework of groupthink.   Included are some resources below that can better inform us and for further reading.

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Canada

“2018 Census of Canadian Academic Librarians” by CAPAL – Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians [Link]

 “Aboriginal and Visible Minority Librarians: Oral Histories from Canada” a book edited by Maha Kumaran and Deborah Lee [Link]

 “Identifying the visible minority librarians in Canada: A national survey” by Maha Kumaran and Heather Cai [Link]

Mary Kandiuk – Librarian at York University – “Promoting Racial and Ethnic Diversity among Canadian Academic Librarians” [Link]

United States

 “Where Are All the Librarians of Colour?”  book by Rebecca Hankins and Miguel Juarez [Link]

"Asian American Librarians and Library Services" edited by Janet Clarke, Raymond Pun, and Monnee Tong [Link]

"Racing to the Crossroads of Scholarly Communication and Democracy: But Who Are We Leaving Behind? – In the Library with the Lead Pipe" by April Hathcock – [Link]