Librarians of Color In 2023

This month's topic involves days we look forward to. For me, July 2023 had been a date I anticipated.  The NCAAL conference was supposed to be held then. NCAAL, National Conference of African American Librarians, and JCLC, the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, usually alternate years. This rotation was interupted by Covid that cancelled the 2020 JCLC and 2021 NCAAL conferences.  Then, climate issues left the hotel headquarters for the 2022 JCLC flooded. So I have practically been licking my lips anticipating the 2023 NCAAL conference, scheduled for July 2023 in Indianapolis, a location close enough to my Midwest home to be within driving distance. 

Yippee! I will have another summer at a conference among librarians of color, people I consider my best buds.

Or so I thought.

It's true, I am not a librarian by profession, but I joined the American Library Association years ago. My happiest childhood memories include my school librarians, and the librarians at the Chicago Public libraries.  At a time when there was no seperate Middle Grade or Yound Adult categories, they let me roam the adult shelves even while in elementay school. If I wanted a book, they let me take it out. As an adult, I volunteered at a branch at my local library for years.  I have spoken at a number of librarian conferences, including the ALA, the American Library Association. 

During the 2018 JCLC conference, I served as one of the official conference recorder. That involved spending nearly a week in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Four of my articles were published on the conference blog.  While the high altitude made breathing a little difficult for thie midwesterner, the conference itself functioned as a breath of fresh air. Only about 6% of US librarians are black. That makes these conferences filled with librarians of color a sort of homecoming. It is as easy for POC to feel somewhat isolated while attending one of the major ALA conferences as it does at some of the major writers conferences I often attend.

I began my JCLC that experience at a preconference event, Beyond the Racial Stalemate where participants practiced listening and empathy skills. The sessions were so popular space had to be reserved in advance, and all sessions were filled. My report on that session is available  at https://www.jclcinc.org/conference/2018/beyond-the-racial-stalemate/

Most appropriately, my final session on Saturday was a workshop titled Community Building as Self Care, presented by We Here, an online community for library workers of color at https://www.wehere.space/. The very crowded session gave participants the chance to talk, create, and plan ways to improve the situation for librarians and archivists of color. 

As people entered the very crowded room, they were met with a sign that said explained:

The organizers began the session by treating the packed room to a meditation session. For five minutes, we worked on loving ourselves and looking at those who troubled us with love in our hearts for them. That beginning reminded participants to avoid a moan and groan sessions and ready do the real work tfor change.  

People broke into small groups to discuss a topic they cared about. Those choices included things like: 

I joined a group selected the topic of white fragility. Thanks to a preliminary meditation session, we knew better than to let ourselves descend into a moan and complain session. Mostly we struggled and searched for positive things to relate to our topic. We shaped strategies to handle relaed issues and keep them from dominating the workplace. These included  dialoging kindly, but firmly and boldly, informing they could take “all the time they wanted in the bathroom” to get over any fragile tears.

 
Another group described how some organizations went about recruiting people of color. Sometimes the effort involved hiring a recruiter (often a white recruiter). The result is often only 1 or 2 (or 0) POC expressing interest. Meanwhile, existing staff and para-professionals of color were ignored. They suggest efforts and funds move from recruiting people in school or providing internships that help one person at a time. Instead, take a look at existing staff members of color, individuals who are already interested in librarianship, and putting money and effort into helping them get degrees in library sciences.

Perhaps the best and simplest suggestions at the 2018 JCLC came from a group that focused on what it was like being the only librarian of color on staff. “Learn to say no.” And, “If something is not OK, say so." The  week of camaraderie and relaxing among peers from across the country and whose backgrounds span almost every country on the globe was one of the best conferences in my memory. I say that after also attending and presenting at conferences like ALA and various state library associations, as well as RWA and SCBWI.  .

I have been anticipatint this summer's conference for ages. Covid cancelled both the 2020 JCLC, and the 2021 NCAAL. Mother Nature stepped in and sent floods to close the hotel where the 2022 JCLC was scheduled to be held. By 2023, I felt overdue and eager.

Then controversy inside the Indianapolis Public Library board changed everything.  The full story is too long to be documented here. It involves years of both the staff and community members protesting the boards actions and inactions.  As a result, in January 2023, the NCAAL issued a statement saying: 

“The National Conference of African Americans Librarians (NCAAL) is a time for us to engage, communicate, reflect, and enjoy fellowship in a welcoming city. Due to actions of the Indianapolis Public Library Board of Trustees, BCALA members have determined that Indianapolis is an inhospitable location, and the conference will not be held there."

Now I have another year without the comeraderie these events bring. This time the cause is not an impartial disease or equally impartial climate change. I will miss the feeling of camaraderie and connection caused by these events that serve as both a homecoming and a reunion, even for a retiree like me.