Chadwell, Faye

CommonKnowledge

Volume 9 , Number 2
Diversity Matters (Summer 2003) | Pages 1
July 2014
Diversity Matters
Faye Chadwell
University of Oregon
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OLA Quarterly is an official publication of the Oregon Library Association | ISSN 1093-7374 | http://commons.pacificu.edu/olaq
Chadwell, F. (2014). Diversity Matters. OLA Quarterly, 9(2), 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1648
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Diversity Matters
—Faye Chadwell
University of Oregon Libraries
Guest Editor
I know diversity matters to the Oregon library community. Numerous Oregon libraries make
a difference by providing outreach
services to previously underserved
communities, diversifying their collec-
tions, or recruiting ethnically or
culturally diverse staff. Consider these
libraries as examples: The Black
Resource Center, located in the North
Portland branch of the Multnomah
County Library, offers many library
materials relating to the African
American experience. Corvallis-Benton
County Public Library offers “Hora Des
Cuentos en Espanol” (Spanish story
time) every Saturday. Southern Oregon
University Library is developing the
First Nations Tribal Collection, a digital
collection focusing on the tribes who
lived in or near the Siskiyou-Cascade-
Klamath bioregion.
Diversity is a part of the Oregon
Library Association’s Vision 2010. This
statewide call to action urges us to
create a “strong and diverse workforce”
by drawing on “the broadest range of
skills and abilities from people with
diverse educational, experiential, and
cultural backgrounds.”
While putting this issue of OLA
Quarterly together, I queried a
number of library professionals about
why diversity matters to libraries.
John Helmer, director of the Orbis-
Cascade Alliance, said: This is pretty
simple minded, but for me it comes
down to the fact that you just can’t
think outside your own head. The
only way to get something new in
there is to keep your mouth shut for a
bit and listen to someone that has a
different perspective and background.
Even if you forget about the fact that
it is just “right” to respect other
people, on a purely self-interested
basis, you do better when you draw
on a wider range of human experi-
ence. The difficult part is making the
time, listening, and looking for your
own built-in prejudices.
Sheryl Steinke, school librarian for
the Eugene 4J school system, told me:
… As a public school librarian I
believe that so much of what children
learn about … happens at school. The
best schools are those where people
of many ethnicities, religions, ages and
persuasions learn and work together.
In public schools lacking diversity
among the people, the books, maga-
zines and other materials in the library
can help to introduce the richness of
the human condition.
Xe Yu, in Portland State University’s
Cataloging Department, wrote: The
most important and difficult thing to
achieve, of the many dimensions of
diversity, perhaps, is ethnic diversity …
Our problem is that libraries are more
interested in diversifying their collec-
tions, than in diversifying their ranks.
Without a major effort in human
resources, libraries may not be able to
provide good services to all.
Typically, when someone dis-
cusses diversity in libraries, we focus
on services or collections. We are, after
all, a practical profession intent on
improving user services. Contributions
to this issue of OLA Quarterly will
satisfy this practical, professional bent.
I hope they also will address that side
of us that is needful of introspection
and inspiration.
In their careful analysis of gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender
holdings, Gary Klein and Larry Oberg
offer a search strategy and methodol-
ogy applicable to assessing collections
for other subjects. Michael Shapiro
explores a best practices model in his
evaluation of web-based Spanish
language resources offered by five U.S.
public libraries. Bridging the emerging
generation gap among library staff,
Annie Zeidman-Karpinski and Karen
Munro examine the virtues of online
chat. Examining another type of gap,
Jey Wann and Maresa Kirk ponder the
value our profession places on educa-
tional attainment. Carolynn Avery’s
thoughtful piece reminds us that
embracing diversity in libraries means
incorporating services and collections
to support users with visual impair-
ments or physical disabilities. Finally,
Sandra Rios Balderrama’s provocative
essay anchors this issue. Her vision of
diversity bestows new but not effort-
less levels to which we should as-
pire—deep change above and beyond
the mundane.
While we can be proud of the
steps that our profession and Oregon
libraries have taken to honor diversity,
we should not be complacent. Respect-
ing the diversity of opinions of others
can counter political climates that
measure someone’s patriotism by
measuring one’s level of conformity.
Enhancing our understanding of
gender, ethnicity, disability, or culture
can dismiss notions that make someone
automatically suspicious because of
physical appearance or religious beliefs.
Especially in the aftermath of the events
of September 11, 2001, the health and
welfare of libraries, if not our nation,
may be incumbent on promoting and
sustaining diversity.


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