In this month's column by Manitowoc (WI) Public Library Youth Librarian Susie Menk, she is thinking about EDI and our holiday book collections. And she's wondering....what do you think?
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Libraries across the board are focusing on equity, diversity and inclusion. But how does that work when you are cataloging holidays? Our library separates holiday books (mostly picture books) out from our regular collection.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day, Easter—these are mostly Eurocentric holidays. What about holidays, festivals or celebrations from other cultures? Is it equitable to have stickers on the Eurocentric holidays and not on other books? What about Diwali or Kwanzaa or Ramadan?
I am thrilled that publishers are releasing more and more books that highlight festivals or holidays or celebrations from other cultures. But, my question is, where to catalog them? We have shelves full of Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween books, but where do I place the 4-5 books on Kwanzaa or Diwali? Should we give them their own category? Should we lump them together in general holidays? Is there a way to catalog them or put stickers on them to make them more visible to the public? Where do books like “Star Festival” by M. Hadley or “Chinese Kite Festival” by Rich Lo get placed? What about books that talk about Mid-Autumn Festival or Day of the Dead celebrations? Do these books go in the general picture book collection or do they deserve shelf space in a holiday or celebration section and receive equal recognition?
So I’m wondering….how does your library handle cataloging non-Eurocentric holiday books?
