Problems in Multicultural Collection Development And Some Remedies Presentation By Max Macias

Three Major Challenges Review Resources Suffer from invisibility in publishing world Small Press Limited print runs Not covered in Most reference review journals Expensive Might have to buy from other country.

Review Resources Journals do not cover diverse titles well. Study of 148 classic African-American works Choice Review=76% of titles Library Journal=13% Reference Users Services Quarterly=3%  African-American Reference books are 3x more likely to receive mixed reviews than their general reference counterparts.  Bibliographers tend to replicate biases of general society (Warner 2001)

Review Resources 2 Review resources are important because librarians use these materials to select items for their collections. So, if the reviews are not comprehensive, then the librarians will not be making informed judgments about their purchases.

Invisibility in Publishing Industry Partly the result of racism in larger society Minorities don’t produce the amount of published works that general American culture does. Don’t have the resources, or time to write or publish. Less publishers are available to ‘specialized markets.’ (Warner 2001)

Invisibility in Publishing Industry 2 Approval Plans Library fills out profile for vendor Vendor sends publications to library based on profile and vendor inventory. Good for mainstream publications Diverse materials has history marginalization  Published by small independent presses  Non-profits  Self-published

Invisibility in Publishing Industry 3 Approval Plans 2 Don’t do a good job of covering these types of publications. These publications are usually small print runs Takes resources to research and purchase  Staff time locating material  May be more expensive

Invisibility in Publishing Industry 4 International resources One may have to reach out to international publishers for materials. Good material, but high costs  Often smaller print runs because of smaller markets  Takes staff time

Library Diversification “If libraries truly wish to diversify their collections they must widen their searching to accepting titles that do not always resemble [traditional] scholarly materials.”

Cataloging challenges Biased subject headings LC term for Asians was ‘Yellow Peril’ until yrs after first challenged Subject headings depend on cultural reference points  Western, white, male, heterosexual, middle class still considered the normal view.

Conclusions Suggestions recommended by researchers Consult communities to ask and see how they name and describe themselves. “Librarians, particularly management must be willing to make time and money resources available for to improve diversification.” Increase minorities in Info-library science programs.

Conclusions % of grads were white. Rethink collection development philosophies Increase languages in all areas Responsible to develop at least basic coll. Multi-cultural/lingual staff Systematic, sustainably funded programs

Bilbliography Josey, E. J., (2000). Diversity in libraries, address delivered at the Chesterfield County Public Library Staff Day, Chesterfield, Virginia, December 8, Retrieved on 7/20/07 from: Gilbert, E. (Spring 1999) Diversity and Collection Development [Electronic version]. Library Philosophy and Practice vol. 1, no. 2 (Spring 1999). Retrieved July 20, 2007, from Warner, J. N. (2001). Moving Beyond Whiteness in North American Academic Libraries [Electronic version]. Libri, 2001, vol. 51, pp