"How We Speak, How We Think, What We Do: Leading Intersectional Feminist Conversations in Libraries" in Feminists Among Us Resistance and Advocacy in Library Leadership, ed. Shirley Lew and Baharak Yousefi, Library Juice Press, 2017

Abstract

This chapter is an exploration of the general state of conversations about diversity and inclusion in libraries and the library profession as viewed by the authors. The authors explore strategies for building awareness and being intentional about what we do and don’t do within the library profession related to diversity and inclusion; discuss the importance of contextualizing conversations about diversity, inclusion, and oppression in the workplace; examine issues such as microaggressions and fragility; address how we deal with our own hang ups; discuss the vital importance of self-care and support; and identify suggestions for leading the way forward.

Millennium For All Alternative Report on Public Library Security

“…David J. Hudson points out that diversity and cultural competency training "reduces racism to individual relations, obscuring analysis of broader structures of racial domination behind an emphasis on paradoxically deracializing interpersonal understanding and harmony" (2017, p.17). Similarly, Fleming and Rhodes (2017) suggest that while diversity training may have somewhat limited applications for library workers who may belong to different communities, intersectional conversations might offer an opportunity for deeper change. WPL should consider encouraging, rather than shutting down, these types of conversations, with careful attention paid to listening to people whose intersectional identities of race or class might leave them feeling particularly vulnerable after management enacted the security procedures.…”