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Building, Marketing, and Promoting Diverse Collections

Robin Bradford

October 18th 2022

Illinois Library Association

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Being Anti-Racist means…

  • “No one is born racist or antiracist; these result from the choices we make. Being antiracist results from a conscious decision to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily. These choices require ongoing self-awareness and self-reflection as we move through life. In the absence of making antiracist choices, we (un)consciously uphold aspects of white supremacy, white-dominant culture, and unequal institutions and society. Being racist or antiracist is not about who you are; it is about what you do.” 

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  • National Museum of African American History & Culture

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Windows, Mirrors, Sliding Glass Doors

  • “Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created and recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection, we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience.”

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  • Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop

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Listen and Think

Whose voice are we missing in the collection?

How do I increase those voices?

Not every problem has a correct answer

Some issues just need to be kept in mind, even if there is no immediate solution to them.

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Old stories

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New Life

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But what happens if it fails?

Allow for a disconnect – not everything will be a success.

Allow

Let the thing that is unsuccessful stand on its own.

Let

Don’t impute failure to everything that might share ethnic or cultural similarities

Don’t impute

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Mechanics

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The Ground Rules

You will never be caught up

You must be curious

You must be adaptable

You will make mistakes

It won’t get done unless you do it

Your job is to open the floodgates, not be a gatekeeper

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Discoverability

Where are you looking for materials?

    • Are you only looking at what is shown to you, or do you go out looking for other items?
    • Melanin in YA
    • We Need Diverse Books
    • LGBTQ Reads
    • #RomanceClass
    • Crime Writers of Color

You have to go look for the books

Sometimes, the best sites go away. Constant searching.

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Use the tools

  • Vendors want your money
  • Let them help you help yourself

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Another major vendor tool

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Did somebody say FREE?

  • Forward Reviews

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Sidebar about reviews…

  • Think about why you’re using them. Is it discoverability or gatekeeping?
  • Think about whether you’re using them equitably. Are there things you buy even without reviews?
  • Think about who is choosing what gets reviewed and whether that should be a bar to entry to the collection.
  • Think about who is doing the reviewing and whether that should be a bar to entry to the collection.
  • Think about who you’re buying for and whether a review, or lack thereof, should be a bar to the collection.

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Edelweiss as selection tool

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Edelweiss 2

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A quick word about purchasing

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The NEW OVERNIGHT SENSATION!

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But only after a lot of work

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I know it exists…

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But does it?

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Success!

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Promotion and Marketing

Or…I bought it, now what?

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We have the books, now what?

Don’t ignore the items you just added to the collection.

1

Remember them for displays and lists and every other way you market your collection.

2

Remember that books have many entry points, so it is much easier to celebrate them than we think.

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If your patrons love former police officers turned private investigators like the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series…

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They might also enjoy…

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Not just for Pride month

  • You don’t have to wait until June to feature books with LGBTQ+ characters and/or authors.
  • Yes, trans inclusive, non-binary author
  • Spaceships/Generational Ships
  • Echoes of Antebellum South/Slavery
  • Even some similarities to the show Snowpiercer.

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Generational Ship Stories

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Decolonize your thinking

Don’t limit your diverse books to subjects you think diverse people should be experts in.

Promote for the subject of the book the way you promote for author identity.

This doesn’t mean stop buying books about racism, sociology, civil rights, and BIPOC history.

This isn’t an Either/Or proposition, it’s a Both/And proposition.

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We absolutely still need

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Physics

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Personal Finance

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Sewing

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Adventure

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Yoga

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Read!

  • You clearly don’t have to read every book but reading widely is very beneficial.
  • If you’re not reading more books, read more things ABOUT books so you have more to know about and to offer – even if it’s something you don’t have in your collection.

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YOU are the valuable commodity

Books may be the picture, but you and your skills and knowledge are the frame.

Without you, none of this works on any level

Diverse books exist and have existed for years. YOU are the bridge that gets them in to patron hands. Buy them, read them, recommend them, and your patrons will do the same.

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Thank you!

Reach out with more questions

Email: robin.bradford@gmail.com

Twitter: @tuphlos