ALA Council

One of the main reasons I attend Midwinter is that I am an ALA Councilor-at-Large, elected to a 3-year term, 2012-2015.  My first event of today is "Orientation" which is basically a refresher all Councilors are encouraged to go to so that they can be reminded about Parliamentary Procedure (We use Sturgis), writing a resolution, what we do/don't need to go to as Councilors, etc.  Instead of boring you with the rules of parliamentary procedure, I thought I'd give you a little background on what being an ALA Councilor entails.  Continue on if you're curious!

ALA Council is the governing body of ALA and helps guide the organization, as well as create and comment on policy.  Fun stuff, right?!  I think so!  A lot of really interesting issues and discussions come forward during council which affect libraries around the nation and I feel that it's my job to add to the discussion as a young(ish), West Coast, Public, Children's Programming Loving, Librarian of Color.  The more diversity and variety of voices on Council, the better.  It's only then that we can have the important discussions that will impact change in our day to day lives as librarians whether it be in regards to the Freedom of Information Act, the Library Bill of Rights, or Intellectual Freedom and Censorship (to name a few key issues).

As a Councilor-at-Large, I represent the interests of the larger membership body on the National Level, which would include my colleagues in various associations, as well as you guys.  California has it's own dedicated ALA Chapter Councilor, Patty Wong, who will serve California through 2017.  As ALA Chapter Councilor, it's Patty's job to bring the concerns of the state and CLA to the National Forefront and also to keep CLA informed of what's happening at the National Level.  On occasion, I may ask you guys for your POV on various topics or why you do/don't join ALA and other professional associations, etc.  I ask because I want to make sure I'm representing everyone and getting a well-rounded POV.

For more information on ALA Council, you can click here or just ask me.  It's an opportunity I am very fortunate to have and something I care a lot about and think is important to libraries at large.

As with the meetings, I'll try not to bore you guys with the uninteresting aspects of Council Meetings such as Treasurer's Reports, but I will provide highlights from each of our 3 sessions.  In addition to our regular/mandatory meetings, we also meet every evening after our Council meetings to discuss agenda issues the next day, giving people the opportunity to re-write their resolutions, hear second, third, and twentieth opinions, and get to know one another a little better since the composition of Council is quite large and encompasses libraries and library professionals of all types, at all levels, and varied interests.

Upcoming blogs about each session:
Sunday:  Council I/Council Forum I
Monday:  Council II/Council Forum II
Tuesday:  Council III

Day of Diversity Panel 1: Diversity in Children's Literature -- History & Myths

To transcribe my notes seemed quite cumbersome, so hopefully these make sense -- if not, let me know and I'll try to put them into paragraph form :)

Diversity in Children’s Literature:  History & Myths

Milestones/How far we've come:

• Increase of POC in Publishing – Still not many, but more than zero.
• A few HUGE bestsellers by People of Color (POC) – Dork Diaries, Wonder, Out of My Mind 

What are the Myths?

Jason Low (Lee & Low Books):  

• MYTH:  Diversity is only missing in the publishing industry sue isn’t limited only to the publishing industry
• FACT:  The Diversity gap spans industries including media (note the most recent Oscar nominations, the Sci-Fi industry, etc), business, science...
• Excellent blog:  http://blog.leeandlow.com/
• Media acts like it’s a new issue every 3-5 years, we have to write about it, and then it dies out – but the issue is sustaining itself – we have to keep the balls in the air and move into action

Gene Luen Yang (author):  

Personal Note:  One of my favorite authors!

• MYTH:  Diversity issues are a recent thing
• FACT:  Every 3-5 years these issues come to light, get some press, and then disappear.
• Gene looked at this issue through the lens of graphic novels which struggles with how do we depict other cultures in graphic novels?  It's not all white men in capes.
• Herge & Tin Tin:  The artwork evolves – starting w/the Blue Lotus, he struggles and tries to depict people of other cultures in a more authentic way
• Some examples of great multicultural graphic novels:
• For Kids:  
• Luke on the Loose (toon books) – a kid of any color can be a stand in
• Gum Girl – Latina girl who chews so much gum she gets gum-like super powers – it even smells like gum!
• Hereville – orthodox jewish community
• For Teens:
• Ms. Marvel
• March
• Anya’s Ghost
• The Color of Earth

Adriana Dominguez (Agent):

• MYTH:  Diverse Books Don't Sell
• FACT:  They do!  It's just whether or not people want to see connections in the text 
• Ex.  Gaby Lost and Found has sold over 200,000 copies and is used in book clubs across the country -- the novel centers on a girl who's mother is deported and dealing with those issues -- Personal Note:  LOVED this book)
• There is not only one type of diverse book.  There are cross-sections and authors of color who write about nothing to do with race or ethnicity, etc.
• For example, the book Taking Flight:  Could have been reduced to a book about a black ballerina but actually…  The classic Cinderella story; overcoming obstacles and following your dream.  Book has been optioned for film rights.
• You are my baby series – Argentinian author, features no diverse peoples, all animals

KT Horning (CCBC):

• MYTH:  We’re living in a post-racial society
• Cites Larrick’s article in the Saturday Review back in 1965 citing the same issues
• We Need Diverse Books – Important grass roots movement
• "Buying a Book is a Political Act" -- Put your money towards the books that are written with diversity in mind so that more books will be encouraged and purchased.
• Feels one cause for the decrease is the budget cuts in libraries -- less money = less time for review, less money for books, and relying primarily on Starred Reviews, Buzz, etc.  But these don't necessarily designate quality.  Just popular.

What are the challenges we face when breaking down the walls that these myths stand behind?

• KT Horning:  A feeling of powerlessness – what can we do?
• Recognize the myths – white kids won’t read about kids of color – WRONG!  Kids want a good book above all
• Recognize the Real power of librarians and our activities such as award committees – they make a huge difference to sales
• Read the award books – Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre, APALA Lit Awards, AILA Lit Awards, Stonewall, etc. -- know them and promote them
• Award Criteria changes?:  Consider the books in terms of diversity – books that reflect the diverse world
• Rule of thumb:  Need at least 3 POC to effect change
• Gene Luen Yang:
• Book Displays in inconspicuous areas of the library (especially for LGBTQ issues so kids can see them but not feel too self-conscious)
• Jason Low:
• Look at your skill set and incorporate it into your everyday
• Lee & Low poster on creating diverse collections
• Talk about them ALL YEAR -- not just during Black History Month, APA Month, Chinese New Year, etc.
• Adriana Dominguez
• Use the Cheat sheet for selling diversity by Grace Lin - Don't just focus on the diversity parts, focus on the content of the story too.  Just becuase a kid is white or chinese doesn't mean s/he only wants to read about kids who look like them although they should have that option http://www.gracelin.com/media/press/diversitycheatsheet.pdf
• Be proactive

What are some of the examples of solutions and partnerships we should all explore further to go beyond myth to affect reality?

• Link books together – if you like this book then you’ll also like…
• Find connections that aren’t necessarily obvious
• Alexis De Veaux – "Buying books is a political act."  BUY THE BOOK
• Pay attention to all award winners but also do your homework.  Don't rely on lists already created.  Don't rely on awards.  There are so many great books and options out there that may not make these lists.

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings!

The primary purpose of the ALA Midwinter Meeting is, you guessed it -- Meetings!  Meetings for various committees and projects -- the sky's the limit and you know how we librarians love meetings and committees.

If anything interesting happens in any of those meetings, I'll be sure to blog about it.  A few, such as the APALA Executive Board meeting, will be fairly straight forward and uninteresting, so I'll probably spare you the details, but the Council Meetings can get a little juicy -- more on Council tomorrow.  Tonight, now that the Day of Diversity is over, I'm headed to that APALA Executive Board meeting to report on what I've done with the 2 committees I Co-Chair, Finance & Fundraising and Family Literacy (which administers the Talk Story program and grants).

Hooray!

Also -- just a note.  If any of you are interested in joining APALA (the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association), you don't need to be APA and membership is only $30/year for librarians and $15/year for other staff.  Melvin already joined.  You know you want to, too.  LMK if you want more information!

Day of Diversity Keynote: From Broken Yolks to Party Folks

This blog is in reference to the Day of Diversity symposium.  For background, click here.

Our day started off with a Keynote address by Dr. Camila Alire of University of New Mexico & Colorado State University.  She's also past ALA President, past ACRL President, & past REFORMA President among many other titles (such as a totally warm, hilarious and wonderful woman).  The title of her presentation was "From Broken Yolks to Party Folks:  The Importance of Libraries and Literacy in Keeping Diversity Alive for Our Children".

She began with a story and then threw a lot of statistics at us.  All of them were pretty depressing -- below is a photo of the first set of stats.  The top line of information includes books from 2002 and the bottom includes books from 2013.  Statistics were compiled by the Cooperative Children's Book Center based out of Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison.

To summarize, the number of books about People of Color has decreased SIGNIFICANTLY in the last 11 years.  I can only imagine that in the last 2 years it's decreased even more.  

Why does this matter?  How does this affect us at the library level?

Short answer:  If our patrons don't have materials that reflect them visually and contextually, they will probably read less and in turn have lower literacy rates.  We all like to be able to relate to things and pick up things to read that feel familiar.  We also like universal stories -- where race, ethnicity, gender orientation, and ability don't matter.  So why aren't more of these stories told from a POV of a minority or other diversity?  Why aren't there more blogs about the APA experience or the African American experience or the Latino experience?  There are many myths regarding the whys and the publishing industry, which will be discussed in my next blog post... 

Basically, though, this matters because literacy among all children is critical and lends to their development, success, and future.  According to the 2013 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), the average reading score (across the board) did not change from the last assessment in 2009 and reading scores overall decreased since the very first assessment in 1992.  What is troubling, though, is that only 23% of hispanics scored on or above reading proficiency, african americans scored 16% (16%!!),  and American Indian Alaskan Natives scored 26%.  Asian Pacific Americans tied with Whites at 47%.  But the APA category was not broken down by ethnicity and typically Pacific Islanders and marginalized Asian groups such as the Hmong score much much lower.

Alire also brought in many more statistics which I won't bore you with -- High School Drop Out rates of minorities, teen pregnancy, and much more.  One important statistic that I will note, though, is that according to the 2010 Census, Minority Populations in the US increased 28.8% over 10 years.  From 30.9% of the population in 2000 to 36.3% of the population in 2010.  And the number will only continue to rise.  So why, then are there so few books about such a huge portion of the population?

That's part of what guided our discussion today.  It was also guided by figuring out whether or not a book exhibits inherent or unconscious racism and sexism.  I highly doubt that anything is written explicitly to be offensive, but that doesn't mean we still shouldn't be critical.  If you're interested in finding out how to tell, Camila provided a great resource which can be found at TeachingforChange.Org.  Pdf Here

Our discussions today were about how do we fix these problems?  How do we help our children see themselves reflected in the books and media around them?  How do we help close these literacy gaps.  How do we get publishers on board?  Ho do we encourage writers of color to tell their stories?

One initiative she discussed were the family literacy programs created during her presidency.  Of which one of them, I am the Chair of!  Each Ethnic Caucus created a family literacy program specific to their group.  For me, it was Talk Story: Sharing Stories, Sharing Culture which came out of a partnership between the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association & the American Indians Library Association.  Many of the programs have done great things, and Talk Story in particular gets yearly funding from Toyota Financial Services which we then turn around and give mini-grants to libraries and community groups across the nation to put on APA themed programs and bulk up their APA collections.

Camila did a great job setting us up for not only a day of dialogue, but also a day of action.

More blogs from this Symposium to come!

Live-Tweeting

I forgot to mention that if you want more up-to-date info, I'll be tweeting the conference intermittently @lessalibrarian :)

First Up on the Agenda: Let's Talk About Diversity

Good morning from overcast and "warm" Chicago!

Where will I be all day?  Talking about the importance of diversity!

I was invited to take part as a facilitator in the Association for Library Services to Children's Day of Diversity:  Dialogue and Action in Children's Literature and Library Programming, an all day symposium focusing on just what the title implies -- Diversity in Children's Lit & Library Programming.  There will be a Keynote, 3 panels, and 2 corresponding breakout sessions (one of which I'll be co-facilitating) -- I'll give each major section a separate blog to come later in the evening or tomorrow morning.  An outline of our day and background on the need/guiding discussion going on in the community is linked here in case you're interested or can't wait for my report -- It includes links to some really great reading regarding the topic of diversity in lit and libs.  I especially enjoyed K.T. Horning's article and Balderamma's.

Upcoming Blogs to Look Forward To:

• Keynote:   From Broken Yolks to Party Folks: The Importance of Libraries and Literacy in Keeping Diversity Alive For Our Children
• Panel 1/Breakout 1:  Diversity in Children’s Literature: History and Myths/Show Me the Diversity!
• Panel 2/Breakout 2:  Literacy Programming: Forming Partnerships and Sharing Resources/Partners in Diversity
• Panel 3/Wrap Up & Next Steps:  Moving into Action

It's getting warmer...