I have the great privilege of being old, and as a Chinese Canadian librarian, I have assembled this reading list of sources that have helped me grapple with questions of my own identity as an Asian Canadian. I hope this reading list helps the next generation with their struggles to be seen.
Because whiteness functions as normative and invisible, it is often very difficult for white people specifically to see whiteness.
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.
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.
When I think back to my early understandings of race, I recall being five years old and passing some older boys who spat on me ...
When I was thinking of a suitable title for this month’s column a number of ideas came to mind including “Decolonization is not a metaphor” and “Acknowledgement is not enough.”
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.
Have a strong feeling about something you read in Open Shelf? What to share your thoughts? Write a letter to the editor.
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,…
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…