When I think about diversity, the effect it has on many topics is the first thing that comes to mind. Therefore, the best place to learn and reflect on diversity seems to be the media center. As a media specialist, we have a lot of power to influence the culture of the school by the materials we select. I think it would be great to say that everyone in this position would make materials selections based on developing a culturally diverse collection, but I am sure this is not the case. I think that many media specialists make selections based on their current student population, which is good in some respects. At least you know that students will be interested in using the collection you are developing. However, like most adults, students don’t know what they don’t know. So, if the media specialist does not provide information that the students can learn from and create new experiences with, they are doing a disservice to their students.
If I had to define diversity to a first grade student I would say that diversity means “differences “. Although most people think of diversity as something bad or something that can be boxed up into a term, it means so many more things that than. I think that the world can be viewed from more perspectives than just age, culture, gender, language and race. A person who is short might have a different experience in life than someone who is average height or tall. The numbers of simple differences that exist represent the number of ways a media collection should be diversified. The expression “something for everyone” comes to mind when I think of diversity, again, in this light we must also make sure that no matter who comes in or what they want to experience, we should try to have something for everyone.
Yes, I agree, we have the opportunity as library media specialists to be instrumental in teaching diversity awareness, and in the world of literature, there is a wealth of material available for us to do so.
ReplyDeleteDiversity and tolerance of others is a difficult subject, in my opinion, because one might accept something as true (i.e. your example of short vs. tall), whereas another may not agree at all with the premise. So again, you make a wonderful final statement, "we should try to have something for everyone".
I completely agree that as LMS we should try to create a collection that has "something for everyone." And that in fact, many LMS probably do create collections for the students currently at their schools. While on the surface this may appear to be a good thing (the books are being checked out, right?), in the long run it is a disservice to students just as you pointed out. Furthermore, school dynamics change over time. The collection of books that you purchased in the first five years the school was opened may no longer fit the clientele ten to fifteen years later. You made some really good points!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is our responsibility to offer resources for everyone. We have to know the students so that we can ensure that each student that is represented has resources that they can relate to. This means that books should be targeted for a certain group of students. I like the short and tall example because diversity could be something as simple as making sure the boys in the school have books that represent their interests.
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