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Volume 25 Issue 1 Introduction | From the Guest Editor
No full textEquity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are at the center of our work in libraries. A cornerstone of democracy, libraries provide free and open access to services and resources for everyone in our local communities. This year EDI is a specific area of focus for the Oregon Library Association (OLA), and related initiatives include this issue of OLA Quarterly (OLAQ), the development of an EDI Plan for the association, and setting Equity, Diversity, Inclusion as the annual conference theme to provide a concentrated opportunity for OLA members to engage in related conversations. Together OLA is exploring EDI in its many connotations and intersections, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, physical and mental abilities, body size, religious beliefs, political ideologies, and geography.
This issue shares the important work that a wide variety of libraries are doing to help create equitable and inclusive communities in Oregon. It includes contributions from public, academic, and school libraries, and authors include staff, librarians, administrators, and graduate students in library and information science
Yes, but … One Librarian’s Thoughts About Doing It Right
No full textHere’s the thing. All the conference programs, blogs, and conversations about diversity and inclusion have given me increased awareness and caused me to pause and reflect and question. I’ve cringed at practices of mine in the past, and delighted in the increasing abundance of beautiful books that feature people of color. I’ve learned a lot and have had more than one tough conversation with staff.
Yes, but … I’ve also seen and heard opinions in the library world that potentially create more barriers. I’ve perceived attitudes that seem to shut down dialogue with, “I’m right, you’re wrong. I understand, but you just don’t get it.”
This was not an easy article to write. I have struggled, rewritten, asked others to review, and rewritten again. But, as I prepare to retire after 40 years in the library profession, and after seeing many trends and issues ebb and flow, I offer my personal thoughts on diversity in the literary world that I, and perhaps others as well, have struggled with as a library professional
Figuring Out Where to Start, and How: One Library’s DEI Strategies
No full textDiversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) can fall into the category of big, deep thoughts. It can seem daunting to improve DEI at an institutional level. How do we go from abstract, and even overwhelming ideas, to tangible goals and objectives with timelines, budgets and workflows? At Sherwood Public Library, nestled in the southern end of Portland Metro and Washington County, we implemented specific DEI objectives in our strategic plan and in the Edge Assessment. With a staff of 11 FTE serving a community of 22,000 people, we found ways to make the right-sized goals that would stretch our collective and individual comfort zones, and still fit within our capacity for staff time and funds.
Sherwood’s demographics and diversity are changing, but not as fast as the rest of our region. In a city where 9 out of every 10 people are white and nearly everyone speaks English, we wanted to incorporate DEI objectives into our library as a way to open windows into other backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives--just as much as we wanted to provide mirrors for the diverse members of our own community. A DEI lens helped revitalize our library, increase usage, and improve relevance in profound ways--strengthening our collection development, programs and events, the facility, services, technology, staff and board development, and hiring practices
Clinical Practice in Education: Performance Assessment in the Third Space
Full text linkField placements in education should be a byproduct of strong partnerships between the university and K-12 school districts. Effective teacher preparation cannot exist without relationships being built between educator preparations programs (EPPs) and K-12 schools to provide purposeful settings for teacher candidates to learn through observation and practice of theory in action (Darling-Hammond, 2010). Time must be put into these relationships, as successful partnerships require careful preparation, outstanding implementation, and thorough follow through (Bullough, Draper, Smith, & Birrell, 2004; Powers, 2004). There should be a mutually agreed upon shared vision based on a passion for the issues at hand, a variety of roles based on the resources of each partner, a system for measuring outcomes, and consistently be looking to improve upon those outcomes (Catelli, Costello, & Padovano, 2000; Guillen & Zeichner, 2018; Lee, 2018; Tomanek, 2005).
Fieldwork in education is the essential time for teacher candidates to bridge the gap between their theoretical coursework and actual practice of teaching. The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE, 2018) Clinical Practice Commission believes that clinically-based work is the foundational component upon which a candidate’s success in the classroom is built. With the student population and behaviors becoming increasingly diverse, EPPs must design their curricula to include coherent field-based assignments, built with strong relationships to schools, to prepare candidates for complex classrooms.Creating this coherence within an EPP can be difficult due to departmental disconnects, instructional freedom, and hiring of adjunct faculty who may be as connected to the vision of the EPP, but candidates receiving tightly connected course and fieldwork leave the program better able to support student learning (Darling-Hammond, 2006)
