[CALIBK12] building a diverse collection

[Broger Mackey, Lori]

Lisa, 
 
Books about various countries and their cultures, biographies, and social issues (300s) are a good way to start in nonfiction.  Fiction is usually a little easier to find.  Remember not only diverse cultures (as in non-anglo), but also groups that are traditionally underrepresented, such as gay, lesbian, and transgender.  Perhaps the Collective Brain of the list-serve can suggest titles.  Let us know the cultural groups included in your campus.  If your school is not very diverse, then general groups could be used.  I assumed, because you were speaking of WASC, that you are at a high school.  Is that correct, or do you serve more grades than just HS?
 
The attached "Defense of materials" was posted on the list-serve by Tim Gardes awhile back.  The GLTBQ bibliography was created by the former TL at my school (Meredith Reu) with a few additions.  ALA has an award for GLBT literature (Stonewall award).  The link is http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/glbtrt/stonewall/stonewallbook.cfm.  Also try Coretta Scott King award winners for literature about African Americans (http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/emiert/cskbookawards/index.cfm) and the Pura Bupre award winners that best represent the latino/latina culture(http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpremedal/index.cfm).  ALA even has an Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table you can look into.  
 
Best of luck,
Lori Broger-Mackey, TL
Cleveland HS, Reseda

________________________________

From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu on behalf of Lisa Gonzalez
Sent: Thu 5/14/2009 2:03 PM
To: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
Subject: [CALIBK12] building a diverse collection


Our school just finished our WASC accreditation process and one of our major recommendations was for the library to improve our collection in terms of its diversity and multi-cultural materials.  My administration is asking me to come up with specific criteria such as "What percentage of our resources should be multicultural?" and "How many multicultural books do we need to buy each year?"  I looked at the CSLA standards, specifically  2.1 ("Contains materials representing the community's diversity...") and 3.5 ("Contains resources that enlarge understanding of ethnic and cultural differences"), but the guidelines presented are for all books, not just multicultural books.  
 
I posed this question to Maria Petropulos, who was the chairperson for the CSLA Standards for School Library Media Resources.  She responded by saying that setting a percentage of "multicultural books" would mean I'd also have to give a percentage for other types of books like poetry, sci fi, etc.  She encouraged me to build a collection that " meets individual needs of the students at your school and represent all types of cultures so that students can learn about cultures different from their own" and to make sure to include resources that validate and raise the esteem of minority groups.  She also encouraged me to post the question on CALIBK12.  
 
So, can anyone share with me any wisdom or point me towards other resources that can help me satisfy my administration's requirements for a quantitative criteria?  I don't necessarily agree with putting a number on how many books are considered "diverse" or "multicultural," but for now, I do need to provide my administration with some sort of rough number.  
 
I appreciate any suggestions you can give.  Thank you in advance!
 
Lisa M. Gonzalez
Library Media Specialist
Valley Christian School
100 Skyway Drive
San Jose, CA 95111
(408) 513-2426
lgonzalez at vcs.net
http://blogs.vcs.net/library/
 
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