A local information literacy group needed a presentation for its regular meeting, so I suggested an amazing public librarian friend who works with makerspaces. When I suggested it to the group, made up of mostly academic librarians (myself included), one person questioned if this public librarian understood the concept of information literacy and suggested they might not understand the difference between computer literacy and IL.
My library participated in the LLAMA Microaggressions webinar recently. I was already familiar with the term (I discovered it when I was trying to rationalize how my boss routinely treats me), but I didn’t realize how completely text book my reactions to this treatment has been. I’ve minimized interaction with this person, I’ve found support networks outside of my immediate work group and I’ve been searching for new jobs for the last 4 months.
The worst part about all of it is that my boss was in charge of the webinar for our library, had even advertised it in the staff newsletter and yet is still completely ignorant of her own behavior and how it has affected the people that work under her.
— Abby Johnson, children’s services/outreach manager at New Albany–Floyd County (Ind.) Public Library, in her article Diversity on My Mind
(via cbcdiversity)
Question from Twitter:
What do you wish you had known about microaggressions before you started library work? How did you deal with microaggressions starting out and what advice would you give others?
A librarian where I work wrote that they “became a migrant worker” after getting permission to telecommute.
Answered on ALATT
Answered on ALATT
Answered on ALATT
A man set up a giant antisemitic display by the front door of my library, with a collection of posters denying the Holocaust and accusing Jews of staging 9/11 and attempting world domination. I told my boss, who passed the message on to campus administration, but we were told the space in front of the library was public property and nothing was done. The library never took any action, even when he started coming weekly. I had to change my schedule to avoid passing him when it was there.
I’m not saying he didn’t have the right to free speech, but some solidarity would have been nice.
When the co-chair of your library’s diversity committee uses the words “pussy” and “bitch” and thinks it’s acceptable because he is gay.
I once joked that the library should give all Children’s Librarians free coffee because we run around so much. A coworker said, “Oh, they’d never do that here, they’re all Jews.”
I asked what she meant by that (though I already knew) and she said that they weren’t actual Jews, but they were all cheap.
I informed her that I was Jewish (hoping to get her to apologize), and she said that she could tell by looking at me.
It was OK, though, she said, because she has some Jewish friends, and they joke about this stuff all the time.
Today at lunch, my coworkers were discussing library staff members with mental health disorders. They mentioned how individuals suffering from mental illness are dangerous and probably shouldn’t be kept on at their jobs.
I suffer from a mental illness.