Racialized youth in the public library: Systemic racism through a critical theory lens

Abstract


 
 
 Public libraries are on the frontline of serving underprivileged groups like racialized youth and help them to mitigate social inequities that manifest in negative outcomes like education gaps, underemployment and access to safe and affordable housing. Although racialized youth account for half of the youth population in Canadian cities like Toronto, their experience in public libraries is an unstudied area of Canadian LIS scholarly and professional research. Existing research approaches youth as a homogenous group in terms of age and biological stages and does not account for race, class, and urbanism. However, racialized youth face different challenges in which race and systemic racism are a facet of everyday life. This work aims to reverse racial neutrality in public libraries by demonstrating how ambivalence about race perpetuates systemic inequalities and the disengagement of racialized youth. It draws on interdisciplinary research to show how the race-blind approach is not reflective of the needs of communities being served. Using a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework, it shows that public libraries can implement processes to gather race-specific data under the recently-implemented Anti-Racism Act (2017). This will provide a contextual understanding of the racial make-up of users and provide a valuable frame of reference to support efforts to build stronger and more effective relationships.
 
 
 
 

Reflections on the Public Library System in Canada: Inclusivity, Race and Power

“…Within Canada, 88% of librarians are white and the number of Indigenous librarians has stayed at less than 1% for the past ten years (Schmidt, 2019). Additionally, Brook et al (2015) argues the profession has been well aware of this overrepresentation of white staff for several decades, as Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) librarians have expressed concerns about the lack of career opportunities and disproportionate staffing of BIPOC individuals (Matthews, 2020). Despite claims of inclusivity, the library as an institution itself remains to be overwhelmingly white.…”

“…As Amber Matthews notes, racialized youth represent over a quarter of the youth population in Canada, which makes this demographic a significant population in the library. However, individuals in this demographic rarely sees themselves or their culture reflected within library programs or collections as librarians are often unaware of social or cultural preferences (Matthews, 2020).…”

“…For example, although Toronto Public Library has continuously created strategies for youth services, they do not account for racialized youth or attempt to improve these services (Matthews, 2020). In complete opposition to the public library's goal, the library's whiteness causes racialized youth to look outside of the libraries for cultural information because their needs are often not met in these spaces (Matthews, 2020).…”

A Bibliometric Analysis of Race-Related Research in LIS

“…As a field in which 87% of the workforce is reported to be white (Schmidt, 2019), there is a strong need for Library and Information Science (LIS) to collectively examine how cultural, social, and political biases manifest in research literature. Racialized and critical LIS scholars have identified the need to adopt a critically focused social justice research agenda amid continuing struggles to reflect and include racialized communities in LIS research and practice (Espinal, 2001;Espinal et al, 2018;Hathcock, 2015;Honma, 2005;Hudson, 2017a;Gibson et al, 2020;Matthews, 2020). These scholars note a significant dearth of research evaluating current LIS approaches to fostering equity and social justice.…”

“Finding my Blackness, Finding my Rhythm”: Music and Identity Development in African, Caribbean, and Black Emerging Adults

“…Despite its reputation as a land of relative equality, Canada has a violent history of enslavement and ongoing legacies of anti-Black racism (Maynard, 2017). Racial profiling in schools and communities, experiences of violence, disproportionate representation in the justice and child welfare systems, and silenced histories are woven into the racialized Black experience in Canada (Cole, 2020;Maynard, 2017;Mullings et al, 2016;Pon, 2009;Pon et al, 2011). Legacies of enslavement continue to shape the experiences of many African, Caribbean-and Black-identified (ACB) Canadian communities.…”