Questions to Consider when Selecting Materials
- Ask ourselves the following questions about materials we select for purchase:
- What does this material communicate about its intended audience?
- Who are the anticipated users of this material?
- Is this material only about diverse communities, or is it truly for those communities?
- How can we go beyond traditional scholarly publishing venues to consider materials that reflect diverse ways of knowing and thinking?
- How can we avoid imposing a single white scholarly worldview on materials from different traditions with different ways of knowing? (heavy reliance on peer review as measure of validity, focus on empiricism vs alternative ways of knowing, alternative methodologies)
- How can we avoid emphasizing materials in English over other languages?
- How can we include materials either overlooked or marginalized by white structures of knowledge production, communication, and/or format?
- How do current collection development practices distance librarians from diverse users and collections? How can we engage diverse users in the collection development process?
- Are our selectors mostly white? How can we empower BIPOC librarians to make selection decisions while making sure to compensate them for this expertise?