Theory in practice II: Moving from systemic racism to anti-racism in Ontario public libraries
There is a strong need to explicitly acknowledge deeply embedded racist thinking in order to move towards systemic change in public libraries.
Theory in practice: Moving from systemic racism to anti-racism in Ontario public libraries
Acknowledging that colonialism and systemic racism exist and working towards developing more inclusive and welcoming practices doesn’t imply that our work is inherently bad. Public libraries are good places.
How white is your conference: message from the OCULA President
Angela Henshilwood, OCULA President, introduces herself and discusses the need for more conversations about white supremacy and the lack of diversity in librarianship.
Privilege, reflection & intentional noticing
Chris Cluff is our guest podcaster this month. Host of Chasing Squirrels, his most recent podcast features OSLA president Jennifer Brown. Jennifer also writes…
Inclusive librarianship: On white fragility
Because whiteness functions as normative and invisible, it is often very difficult for white people specifically to see whiteness.
Unlevel playing field
White middle class professional library values can create an unlevel playing field for Indigenous organizations and individuals. How? By privileging one world view over another.
Making room for diverse voices in our schools
It can be easy to say that our school library learning commons is a safe space [but] simply saying something out loud does not make it true.
Inclusive librarianship: On whiteness
As for librarians of colour, a focus on whiteness is very beneficial. I found this true for myself and I got a great response from librarians of colour.
Transformative conversation(s)
We take to heart the responses from Ontario Library Association (OLA) community members to the Open Shelf column Safe Spaces, and specifically the most recent post on race and privilege.
Hear to listen … Ici et tout ouïe
Have a strong feeling about something you read in Open Shelf? What to share your thoughts? Write a letter to the editor.
Safe Spaces: Race & privilege
The Safe spaces column is an attempt to explore today’s persistent socio-cultural debates in light of the alleged values of the librarian profession: intellectual freedom, equity,…