Sarah Fetzer Equity and Diversity LIS617: Materials for Children

Representation Plan

Steps to Addressing Issues of Equity and Diversity Representation

1. Identifying a User Group/Population:
a. County population statistics and extensive community surveying should be
used to develop a portrait of my potential user base.
b. Circulation statistics will help to identify which items in my library are being
used by my user base and are most likely to need frequent replacements.
c. Population statistics should also give me an idea of what kind of minority
groups exist in my user base.
2. Choosing Diverse Materials:
a. I recognize that my perspective is lacking in regards to literature that is
about people from different races, cultures, and background than my own.
I would defer to blogs and book reviews written by people of color when
searching for diverse materials.
3. Questions to ask about current and potential new materials:
a. Does this material provide a well thought out perspective?
b. Is this material well reviewed in traditional review resources?
c. Is this material well recommended or reviewed by a person of color?
d. What percentage of my budget am I putting toward diverse materials?
e. Do my patrons seem themselves reflected in the literature that I'm offering
them?
4. Multiple Language Titles:
a. Does my user base contain a population of English language learners,
multilingual people, or immigrants?
b. I should stock titles in languages that reflect the languages that my
patrons can understand. If I'm working in Charlotte, NC, there is a large
Vietnamese population and titles should be stocked in Vietnamese.
5. Identifying Potential New Titles:
a. I should subscribe to many professional publications including School
Library Journal and Kirkus to identify potential new titles.
b. I should cultivate a good relationship with my vendors and regularly
peruse their current offerings so I know what is available to me.