![\"our-voices-badge_take-pledge\"](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Our-Voices-Badge_Take-Pledge-150x150.jpg\"){kind=icon}
<\/a>Take a look at Our Voices<\/a>, a new initiative launched just last month with the goal of helping libraries identify and purchase diverse materials for their collections. Our Voices is a joint effort between ALA\u2019s Office for Intellectual Freedom<\/a> (OIF) and the Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Most children\u2019s librarians today understand and support the critical need to provide diverse materials for our young patrons. In 2014, ALSC adopted a White Paper by Jamie Campbell Naidoo, PhD., \u201cThe Importance of Diversity in Library Programs and Materials Collections for Children<\/a>\u201d (April 5, 2014). In it, Naidoo explains that everything about how a person lives and interacts in the world is part of a person\u2019s culture, including ethnicity, race, ancestry, ability, sexual orientation, language fluency, citizenship status, religious preference, age, gender expression, education level, domicile and family composition. (Naidoo, p. 2). The concept of \u201cculture\u201d, then, is multi-faceted.\u00a0 When children see aspects of their own culture reflected in the materials they access, it helps them develop a positive self-image. In addition, encountering cultures other than one\u2019s own in library materials helps children to develop empathy and an appreciation for our diverse world.<\/p>\n Yet, culturally diverse materials can be difficult for libraries to procure in sufficient quantities. The number of diverse books and the percentage of \u201cdiverse\u201d authors available through mainstream publishers are both relatively low. (Refer to Lee & Low Books<\/a> for details.) \u00a0And, given that cultural diversity encompasses more than race and ethnicity, it is likely that some types of diverse materials, such as those concerning gender identity, may have a harder time making it onto library shelves under the best of circumstances. \u00a0Because of these discrepancies, a child\u2019s freedom to read diverse materials, in any of its myriad aspects, may be at risk.<\/p>\n According to Our Voices<\/a>, independent and self-published authors are producing quality, diverse materials, but, due to public and school libraries\u2019 heavy reliance on established publishing companies, their work goes unnoticed.\u00a0\u00a0 Our Voices<\/a> intends to identify those diverse content creators, develop collections of reviewed, diverse, quality content, and make those collections available to libraries.\u00a0 Initially, the project will be centered in Chicago, with plans to expand.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, to show support for Our Voices<\/a>, please \u201cTake the Pledge\u201d at http:\/\/ourvoiceschicago.ala.org\/the-pledge\/<\/a> to seek out, purchase and promote diverse materials and their authors.\u00a0 Be an advocate for a child\u2019s right to read diverse materials!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Betsy Brainerd is an Early Literacy Librarian for the Arapahoe Libraries in Centennial, Colorado and a member of the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Does your library have difficulty obtaining diverse materials for your children\u2019s collections? Don\u2019t even know where to look? Help is at hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[272,210,22,47,61,41,59],"tags":[253,189,513,333,832,1095,825,1096],"class_list":["post-14239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-intellectual-freedom-committee","category-books-2","category-childrens-literature","category-collection-development","category-diversity","category-intellectual-freedom","category-publishing-world","tag-advocacy","tag-books","tag-collection-development-2","tag-diversity-2","tag-intellectual-freedom","tag-jamie-campbell-naidoo","tag-publishing","tag-self-published"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}