I want to use this thread as a way to think about concrete steps that school (and other) librarians can take to begin the work of #antiracism in their libraries. I don’t have all the answers, but I know the conversation is important. And I have a sense that those of us who are...

at home, away from our students and libraries right now, are longing for ways to get started. So… here we go. But first, I think it’s important to acknowledge that racism often doesn’t look like what we’ve been taught it looks like.

We’ve been taught to look for white hoods...

and burning crosses. In libraries we sometimes falsely assume that racism would take the form of things like signage reserving some resources for “whites only” or librarians who hurl racial slurs at patrons of color. In most cases, however, racism is far more insidious...

infiltrating policies and procedures in ways that are quiet, but still incredibly damaging. We tend to think of racism as being only about intention, when really racism is very often about outcomes. With that in mind, here are some ways that we (as librarians) can use this...

time to deeply examine a few of our policies and procedures to detect racism and then develop plans to dismantle them.

1) Fines/Circulation: Creating a blanket “one size fits all” policy around late/last materials might seem equitable, but often produces racist outcomes....

Regularly running reports to ensure that these policies don’t disproportionately affect IBPOC students is one step towards true equity. But that work only matters if we use the data from those reports to dismantle those policies so that their outcomes match our intentions....

Right now, from home, most librarians can access their LMSs to run the reports necessary to examine who is most affected by those policies. Right now, from home, librarians can start reimagining systems that ensure truly equitable access.

2) Cataloging: Developing cataloging...

procedures to inform/enable inclusivity auditing of collections is antiracist. Purchasing books featuring IBPOC characters is important, as is conducting regular inclusivity audits. But these steps alone are not enough. If our intention is to truly affect representation and...

access to inclusive stories, we must also create cataloging procedures that allow us to assess whether or not we’ve achieved that goal. For example, using the 658 tag (or other local tag) to create marc records that capture information like #ownvoice authors/illustrators...

makes it possible to run reports to see how many books by IBPOC authors you really have in your collection. Here’s an example of what that marc might look like: In the 658 tag: [a #ownvoices 2 Local X Latinx]. Using a local tag like 658 ensures that the data we input won’t be...

written over by a global update, but also allows us to run reports searching for this specific category. Only with REAL information about our catalogs can we truly audit them for inclusivity. Right now, from home, librarians can start to develop cataloging procedures that make...

antiracist work doable.

3) Displays: Auditing displays for inclusivity and authentic representation is antiracist. Creating displays featuring IBPOC characters during _____ History Month is not enough. Antiracist library work demands that we use the real estate we have in...

our displays to ALWAYS celebrate diverse stories. AND that we audit every single display for broad/authentic representation. Creating sub locations in our LMS for specific display spaces can allow us to keep track of what books are regularly displayed and how often they are...

circulated, etc. The real estate presented by our displays provides us with an opportunity to examine and better our practice. Creating those sub locations and planning for physical displays is work that can be done right now.

4) Virtual Spaces: Treating our virtual spaces...

like displays (above) also allows us to be intentional about how we leverage them for antiracist work. Virtual displays can also be added as a sub location in your LMS to help you analyze data about how they are created/used, etc. This work can be done right now. From home...

5) Literally every other policy: if we’re going to truly do the work of being antiracist in our work as librarians, then we must deeply examine the outcomes that our policies produce. If IBPOC students are disproportionately affected by a policy, that policy has to be taken...

apart and put back together such that it no longer does harm to our kids.

Everything I have mentioned here can be done from home. Right now. This is our chance to get started.

What are some other things that we can do to begin (or continue) the hard, but critical, work of...

dissecting our policies and procedures for potentially racist outcomes?

One of the reasons why I chose librarianship as my profession is because I believe so strongly in the foundational values of libraries. Libraries remain, despite great pressure to change, one of the few...

egalitarian spaces left on our planet. Librarians are conduits to the most powerful...resources in the world: information and story. Libraries, and their librarian caretakers, make manifest the values we should all aspire to. As I look around, I know one thing to be true above...

all others: we need libraries (of all kinds) now more than ever. But only if we are willing to do what we’ve always done, which is to listen, learn and then DO BETTER.

I look forward to reading your ideas.

Also, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the profound effect that @DrIbram's book How To Be An Antiracist has had on my thinking. He, and others, have already shown us the way. It's up to us to figure out the HOW as it pertains to our own work.