NMRT (New Members Round Table)

Hello NMRT Members!

The Online Programs Committee encourages your input on this month's topic!

February is designated as Black History Month, which seeks to bring increased awareness of one of the historically marginalized heritages and cultures in the United States.  There are designated heritage months and identity recognitions throughout the year for other groups including Asian Amercian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, and Latinx Heritage Month in September.  

In my LIS program, I remember discussing the benefits of creating displays and programs celebrating historically marginalized heritages throughout the year, not just during designated months.  

How does your library approach heritage months?  Does your organization prefer to highlight certain heritages during appointed months, or do you find ways to celebrate diversity year round?

Please share your opinions and approaches!

------------------------------
Sylvie Daubar-San Juan
Gallery Director/Humanities Department Chairperson
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

Hello All!

I work at an academic library, so we follow the university's schedule for celebrating and recognizing heritage months. There are 6 main ones (3 per semester) that they recognize. At the library, we do physical displays for those 6 months, which include Black History, AAPI, and Latinx Heritage Month, but we include displays for other cultures/heritage months, such as Women's History Month and Arab American Heritage Month. 

I'm on our team for programming and outreach as well as our library's reference librarian.  As part of our library's growing initiatives for displays and cultural awareness, I have created LibGuides for each heritage month display. However, we decided to make the LibGuides available all year round, and we removed the word "month" from each. We believe our students and faculty should have access to resources year-round on marginalized groups. Due to space restrictions we cannot have more than 2 displays up at a time, but we promote our LibGuides and diverse resources as much as possible through our website, social media accounts, and working with other departments on our campus.

So far we have received positive feedback from our campus community on these changes, and we hope to bring more awareness to our resources by having events that correspond with our displays.

------------------------------
Erin Sommers
Reference and Outreach Librarian
California Lutheran University
------------------------------

Hi Erin!

It sounds like your library has found a balance of celebrating Heritage Months and making an effort to provide resources on cultural awareness year round.  I like the step of removing "month" from the LibGuides relating to marginalized and underrepresented groups.  

Thank you for sharing the steps taken by your library.

------------------------------
Sylvie Daubar-San Juan
Gallery Director/Humanities Department Chairperson
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 05, 2024 01:01 PM
From: Erin Sommers
Subject: Heritage Months and Identity Recognitions: Online Programs Discussion Forum February 2024

Hello All!

I work at an academic library, so we follow the university's schedule for celebrating and recognizing heritage months. There are 6 main ones (3 per semester) that they recognize. At the library, we do physical displays for those 6 months, which include Black History, AAPI, and Latinx Heritage Month, but we include displays for other cultures/heritage months, such as Women's History Month and Arab American Heritage Month. 

I'm on our team for programming and outreach as well as our library's reference librarian.  As part of our library's growing initiatives for displays and cultural awareness, I have created LibGuides for each heritage month display. However, we decided to make the LibGuides available all year round, and we removed the word "month" from each. We believe our students and faculty should have access to resources year-round on marginalized groups. Due to space restrictions we cannot have more than 2 displays up at a time, but we promote our LibGuides and diverse resources as much as possible through our website, social media accounts, and working with other departments on our campus.

So far we have received positive feedback from our campus community on these changes, and we hope to bring more awareness to our resources by having events that correspond with our displays.

------------------------------
Erin Sommers
Reference and Outreach Librarian
California Lutheran University
------------------------------

We have our libguides available year round too, but the librarians who made them keep the word month on them. I like the idea of removing it. I keep a book collection in our library catalog for each of these groups and use the word heritage instead of month.  (ex. Hispanic Heritage)  Most of the collections don't have all the books we have just more recent or notable ones.  Our Banned Books collection does have everything that has been listed on the ALA challenged lists.

------------------------------
Tari Simpson
She/her/hers
Senior Library Technician
Clovis Community College
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 05, 2024 01:01 PM
From: Erin Sommers
Subject: Heritage Months and Identity Recognitions: Online Programs Discussion Forum February 2024

Hello All!

I work at an academic library, so we follow the university's schedule for celebrating and recognizing heritage months. There are 6 main ones (3 per semester) that they recognize. At the library, we do physical displays for those 6 months, which include Black History, AAPI, and Latinx Heritage Month, but we include displays for other cultures/heritage months, such as Women's History Month and Arab American Heritage Month. 

I'm on our team for programming and outreach as well as our library's reference librarian.  As part of our library's growing initiatives for displays and cultural awareness, I have created LibGuides for each heritage month display. However, we decided to make the LibGuides available all year round, and we removed the word "month" from each. We believe our students and faculty should have access to resources year-round on marginalized groups. Due to space restrictions we cannot have more than 2 displays up at a time, but we promote our LibGuides and diverse resources as much as possible through our website, social media accounts, and working with other departments on our campus.

So far we have received positive feedback from our campus community on these changes, and we hope to bring more awareness to our resources by having events that correspond with our displays.

------------------------------
Erin Sommers
Reference and Outreach Librarian
California Lutheran University
------------------------------

In my branch library, we balance between focusing on displays for heritage months, but have programs and collection development that reflect and uplift our communities' diversity. In the past, when we have not put on heritage month displays because we did not want to celebrate a marginalized group once a month,  patrons asked why we weren't showcasing heritage during those months.  Now, our staff makes a point of not only having book displays and book lists, but we incorporate different cultures in programs throughout the year through diverse books in storytimes and engaging youth programs reflective of our community such as STEAM activities celebrating Black artists and scientists' accomplishments. I like the idea of creating LibGuides/book guides to have year around for different heritages and think it would be especially beneficial for my location.

Thank you, Tari and Julie, for sharing your experiences with Heritage Months.  Tari, I appreciated learning about the the labeling of the book collections with the word "Heritage" instead of "Month."  Julie, it sounds like your library has done a great job of balancing the patrons' expectations that there would be displays showcasing heritage during particular months with acknowledging different cultures through your programming year-round.  

------------------------------
Sylvie Daubar-San Juan
Gallery Director/Humanities Department Chairperson
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 16, 2024 04:20 AM
From: Julie Gabb
Subject: Heritage Months and Identity Recognitions: Online Programs Discussion Forum February 2024

In my branch library, we balance between focusing on displays for heritage months, but have programs and collection development that reflect and uplift our communities' diversity. In the past, when we have not put on heritage month displays because we did not want to celebrate a marginalized group once a month,  patrons asked why we weren't showcasing heritage during those months.  Now, our staff makes a point of not only having book displays and book lists, but we incorporate different cultures in programs throughout the year through diverse books in storytimes and engaging youth programs reflective of our community such as STEAM activities celebrating Black artists and scientists' accomplishments. I like the idea of creating LibGuides/book guides to have year around for different heritages and think it would be especially beneficial for my location.