Diversity in the Library: A Way of Life

Looking for a way to spice up the next library staff meeting? Cue up this video, sit back, and let the fireworks begin. A noble, but somewhat lame, attempt to educate librarians about the wide variety of ethnic, cultural, socio-economic, and religious backgrounds found across today's public library user base, Diversity in the Library seems to suggest that most of us still imagine the typical library user as being a white genteel little old lady. In the main scenario that sets the stage for the diversity lectures to come, a white genteel little old lady sitting at a computer is disturbed by three African-American teenage males next to her who are whooping it up over something on their screen. After the WGLOL approaches the library counter to complain, a staff member (who must have been somewhat hearing-impaired not to have noticed the commotion) tells the teenagers that library policy allows for only one person at a terminal. Needless to say, this answer pleases no one and we are then led in to a discussion of what went wrong. Well, excuse me, but doesn't individual behavior often change when people enter a special environment, be it a bank, a restaurant, a funeral home, or a museum? Why should library staff have to seem apologetic for asking people to be considerate of others? Unfortunately, "diversity" is a somewhat misleading term (the video is really more about our assumptions) when applied to some of the dramatic reenactments here, such as the one in which a librarian asking a patron if she can be of help is completely ignored by the patron who is digging through her purse for her library card. When the librarian repeats the question and follows it, unfortunately, with a concerned "do you speak English?", she gets her head snapped off by the customer who was too rude to answer politely the first time. Although a little unfocused, this would still serve as a springboard for some animated discussion about rights and responsibilities, especially if staff members were allowed to speak openly without threat of reprisal. A strong, optional purchase. Aud: P. (J. Carlson)