Dear Colleagues-
Today, we are excited to announce that the Project READY
(Reimagining Equity and Access for Diverse Youth) online racial equity
curriculum is live and accessible at http://ready.web.unc.edu/getting-started-curriculum-guide/
A historic milestone was quietly reached in the American
public school system during the 2014-2015 school year: for the first time in
history, youth of color made up the majority of students attending U.S. public
schools. Creating inclusive and equitable school and public library programs
for Black youth, Indigenous youth, and Youth of Color (BIYOC) requires
knowledge about topics such as race and racism, implicit bias and
microaggressions, cultural competence and culturally sustaining pedagogy, and
equity and social justice. Research shows, however, that few library and
information science (LIS) master’s programs include these topics in their
curriculum. A recent survey focused specifically on early career youth services
librarians found that only 26.8% of respondents said that social justice was
included in a substantive way in their master’s curriculum; 37.2% said that
cultural competency was substantively included, and 41.8% said that equity and
inclusion was substantively included. Related to these findings, a majority
(54.08%) of respondents said that their master’s programs did not prepare them
well for working with youth of color and other marginalized youth.
In 2016, The School of Information and Library Science at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the School of Library and
Information Sciences at North Carolina Central University, and the Wake County
(NC) Public School System (WCPSS) were awarded a three-year Continuing
Education Project grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
(IMLS) to develop Project READY to address this existing gap in professional development
opportunities for youth services library staff.
The curriculum aims to:
* introduce youth services library staff to
research in areas such as race and racism, critical theory, and culturally
responsive or sustaining pedagogy.
* establish a shared understanding of
foundational concepts and issues related to race, racism, and racial equity.
* encourage self-reflection related to race
and racial identity for both BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and
white library staff in public and school libraries.
* amplify the work of practitioners and
scholars who are providing inclusive and culturally responsive services for
youth of color and Indigenous youth.
* provide concrete strategies for creating
and/or improving library programs and services for Black youth, Indigenous
youth, and children and teens of color.
The curriculum consists of 27 modules, designed to be
worked through by individuals or small groups. Modules are organized into three
sequential sections. The first section (Foundations) focuses on basic concepts
and issues that are fundamental to understanding race and racism and their
impact on library services. The second section (Transforming Practice) explores
how these foundational concepts relate to and can be applied in library
environments. Finally, the third section (Continuing the Journey) explores how
library professionals can sustain racial equity work and grow personally and
professionally in this area after completing the curriculum.
The curriculum represents the work of 40 researchers,
practitioners, administrators, and policymakers, and youth from a variety of
racial and cultural backgrounds. It is grounded in the work of scholars of
color and Indigenous scholars who have thought and written about issues related
to institutional and individual racism, equity, inclusion, and social justice.
We hope this curriculum will benefit and inform the work
of the many organizations and individuals that are working to improve the
quality of life and educational opportunities for BIYOC.
We will be promoting the curriculum on the exhibit hall
at ALA’s annual conference in Washington, DC – Booth 2650. We invite you to
stop by and preview Project READY!
Sincerely,
Sandra Hughes-Hassell, PhD.
Professor
She/Her/Hers
Casey H. Rawson, PhD
Teaching Assistant Professor
She/Her/Hers
Kimberly Hirsh, MAT, MSLS
PhD Student
She/Her/Hers
Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Ph.D.
Professor
YALSA Immediate Past President, 2018-2019
School of Information and Library Science
100 Manning Hall, CB #3360
The University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
919-843-5276 <tel:919-843-5276>
smhughes@email.unc.edu<mailto:smhughes@email.unc.edu>
<mailto:smhughes@email.unc.edu>
Twitter: @bridge2lit
Pronouns: she/her/hers
