ACRL, along with ALA’s Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services (ODLOS); the Public Library Association (PLA); and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), launched a Call for Volunteers in September 2019, and formed a Joint Task Force to develop a framework for cultural proficiencies in racial equity. The Building Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity framework will serve as a foundational resource to help public and academic libraries build inclusive cultures, within libraries and their broader communities, through guidelines on the development and implementation of organizational policies and professional practices that support diverse libraries with a diverse workforce. When a draft Framework is available, a public call for comments will be shared by all four organizations. The timeline will include requests for comments in spring 2021, with the final document expected in summer 2021. More info on the task force can be found in Library Journal.
The following standards were developed by the Racial and Ethnic Diversity Committee of ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries), based on the 2001 National Association of Social Workers Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice.1 The standards are intended to emphasize the need and obligation to serve and advocate for racial and ethnically diverse constituencies. As such, they are intended to apply to all libraries supporting academic programs at institutions of higher education.
Diversity is an essential component of any civil society. It is more than a moral imperative; it is a global necessity. Everyone can benefit from diversity, and diverse populations need to be supported so they can reach their full potential for themselves and their communities.
As visionary leaders open to change, new ideas, and global perspectives, ACRL is committed to diversity of people and ideas, as noted in its 2007 White Papers. With that regard, ACRL understands that if libraries are to continue being indispensable organizations in their campus communities, they must reflect the communities they serve and provide quality services to their increasingly diverse constituencies.
To achieve diversity in substance as well as in form, libraries have to open their arms to all perspectives and experiences. That requires competency in matters of cultural pluralism that are not intuitive and must be learned, like any other essential skill (Smith 2008, 143).
To this end, these standards provide a framework to support libraries in engaging the complexities of providing services to diverse populations, and recruiting and maintaining a diverse library workforce. The standards may also serve as a starting point from which libraries can develop local approaches and goals in the context of their organizations’ mission and situation.
1Copyrighted material reprinted with permission from the National Association of Social Workers, Inc.
Cultural competence: A congruent set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable a person or group to work effectively in cross-cultural situations; the process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each (National Association of Social Workers, 2001).
Culture: Customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization.
Diversity: State or fact of being diverse; different characteristics and experiences that define individuals.
Globalization: The process of integrating regions via communications and economics.
Multiethnic/multicultural: Existence of, and interest in, many cultures within a society rather than in only a mainstream culture.
Multiculturalism: The policy or practice of giving equal attention or representation to the cultural needs and contributions of all the groups in a society.
Outcome: An anticipated or desired result.
Standard 1. Cultural awareness of self and others
Librarians and library staff shall develop an understanding of their own personal and cultural values and beliefs as a first step in appreciating the importance of multicultural identities in the lives of the people they work with and serve.
Standard 2. Cross-cultural knowledge and skills
Librarians and library staff shall have and continue to develop specialized knowledge and understanding about the history, traditions, values, and artistic expressions of colleagues, co-workers, and major constituencies served.
Standard 3. Organizational and professional values
Librarians and library staff shall develop and support organizational and professional values dedicated to culturally competent service.
Standard 4. Development of collections, programs, and services
Librarians and library staff shall develop collections and provide programs and services that are inclusive of the needs of all persons in the community the library serves.
Standard 5. Service delivery
Librarians and library staff shall be knowledgeable about and skillful in the use and provision of information services available in the community and broader society, and shall be able to make appropriate referrals for their diverse constituencies.
Standard 6. Language diversity
Librarians and library staff shall support the preservation and promotion of linguistic diversity, and work to foster a climate of inclusion aimed at eliminating discrimination and oppression based on linguistic or other diversities.
Standard 7. Workforce diversity
Librarians and library staff shall support and advocate for recruitment, admissions, hiring, and retention efforts in libraries, library associations, and LIS programs to increase diversity and ensure continued diversity in the profession.
Standard 8. Organizational dynamics
Librarians and library staff shall participate in and facilitate the development of organizational dynamics that enable individuals, groups, and organizations to continually develop and exercise cultural competence.
Standard 9. Cross-cultural leadership
Library leaders shall influence, support, and encourage the creation of proactive processes that increase diversity skills; empower colleagues, co-workers, and constituents from diverse backgrounds; share information about diverse populations; and advocate for their concerns.
Standard 10. Professional education and continuous learning
Librarians and library staff shall advocate for and participate in educational and training programs that help advance cultural competence within the profession.
Standard 11. Research
Research shall be inclusive and respectful of non-Western thought and traditional knowledge reflecting the value of cultural ways of knowing.
Standard 1. Cultural awareness of self and others
Librarians and library staff shall develop an understanding of their own personal and cultural values and beliefs as a first step in appreciating the importance of multicultural identities in the lives of the people they work with and serve.
Interpretation
Cultural competence requires that librarians and library staff examine their own cultural backgrounds and identities to increase awareness of personal assumptions, values, and biases. The individual’s self-awareness of their own cultural identities is as fundamental to service as the informed assumptions about constituents’, colleagues’, and co-workers’ cultural backgrounds and experiences in the United States. This awareness of personal values, beliefs, and biases informs services to constituents; influences collection development, cataloging practices, program delivery, and library assessment; and influences relationships with colleagues and co-workers. Cultural competence includes knowing and acknowledging how fears, ignorance, and the “-isms” (racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, heterosexism, ageism, able-bodiedism, and classism) have influenced their attitudes, beliefs, and feelings.
Librarians and library staff need to be able to move from being culturally aware of their own heritage to becoming culturally aware of the heritage of others. They can value and celebrate differences in others rather than maintain an ethnocentric stance and can demonstrate comfort with differences between themselves and others. They have an awareness of personal and professional limitations that may warrant the referral of a constituent to another person, office, or center that can best meet their needs. Self-awareness also helps in understanding the process of cultural identity formation and helps guard against stereotyping. As one develops the diversity within one’s own group, one can be more open to the diversity within other groups. Cultural competence also requires librarians and library staff to appreciate how one needs to move from cultural awareness to cultural sensitivity before achieving cultural competence and to evaluate growth and development throughout these different levels of cultural competence in practice. Self-awareness becomes the basis for professional development and should be supported by supervisors, library administrators, and the organization.
Culturally competent librarians and library staff shall:
Standard 2. Cross-cultural knowledge and skills
Librarians and library staff shall have and continue to develop specialized knowledge and understanding about the history, traditions, values, and artistic expressions of colleagues, co-workers, and major constituent groups served.
Interpretation
Cultural competence is not static, and requires frequent relearning and unlearning about diversity. Librarians and library staff need to take every opportunity to expand their cultural knowledge and expertise by expanding their understanding of the following areas: the impact of culture on behavior, attitudes, and values; the help-seeking behaviors of diverse colleagues, co-workers, and constituent groups; the role of language, speech patterns, and communication styles of colleagues, co-workers, and various constituent groups in the communities served; the resources (agencies, people, informal helping networks, and research) that can be used on behalf of diverse colleagues, co-workers, and constituent groups. It is important to not presume a particular group has the same set of values or beliefs as one’s own.
Culturally competent librarians and library staff shall:
Standard 3. Organizational and professional values
Librarians and library staff shall develop and support organizational and professional values dedicated to culturally competent practice.
Interpretation
Organizational and professional values are the norms and guidelines that shape expectations for acceptable behavior and provide standards for both individual and group action. Establishing organizational and professional values that reflect cultural competence is an essential step in putting those values into practice.
Cultural competency can thrive within an organization only if a guiding framework for its development is thoroughly developed and clearly communicated to organization members. Because cultural competence is a critical component of user-focused service in particular, it is essential that its importance within the profession is evident across all organizational levels of a library. Thus cultural competency standards must be incorporated into each area of library infrastructure, from public service to policymaking, administration, and managerial practice.
For administrators, developing such framework entails multiple strategies, including, but not limited to:
Regular assessment of cultural competence goals, moreover, is an essential factor in their ongoing relevancy and effectiveness. Informed decisions regarding culturally sensitive services can be made through consistent review of competence standards within the context of organizational values as a whole. Because cultural competency standards are only as good as their effects can be measured, it is important that the profession put into place opportunities for training in diversity recognition and outcomes-based evaluation of culturally sensitive practice.
The library profession should be encouraged to take steps to ensure that cultural competence is a fundamental organizational value, and to foster research and scholarship on culturally competent practices among library professionals as a means of commitment to one another and the diverse communities served.
Standard 4. Development of collections, programs, and services
Librarians and library staff shall develop collections and provide programs and services that are inclusive of the needs of all persons in the community the library serves.
Interpretation
Widespread changes in the linguistic and cultural fabric of library populations, coupled with the increasing sophistication of information technology, both require and make possible new approaches to the development of library collections and the provision of inclusive community-wide services. Upholding a commitment to cultural competence requires ensuring equitable access to collections and library services that is mindful of these changes.
Librarians and library staff need to learn how to detect and prevent exclusion of diverse constituents from service opportunities and seek to create opportunities for constituents, matching their needs with culturally competent services or adapting services to better meet the culturally unique needs of constituents. Furthermore, they need to foster policies and procedures that help ensure access to collections that reflect varying cultural beliefs.
For those responsible for the development and management of library collections and/or the provision of library programs and services, this specifically involves:
Standard 5. Service delivery
Librarians and library staff shall be knowledgeable about and skillful in the use and provision of information services available in the community and broader society, and be able to make appropriate referrals for their diverse constituents.
Interpretation
Libraries need to promote cultural competence by supporting the evaluation of culturally competent service delivery models, and by setting standards for cultural competence within these settings. Culturally competent librarians and library staff need to be aware of and vigilant about the dynamics that result from cultural differences and similarities between and among librarians and library staff and constituents. This includes monitoring cultural competence among library employees through such means as supervision, in-service training, performance evaluations, and feedback from constituents.
Librarians and library staff must seek to create relevant and appropriate services for constituents, matching their needs with culturally competent service delivery systems, or adapting services to better meet the culturally unique needs of constituencies. They must develop and promote policies and procedures that help ensure access to services and resources that accommodate varying cultural beliefs. Furthermore, they need to detect and strive to prevent exclusion of diverse constituencies from accessing and using library services.
Direct practitioners, policymakers, or administrators shall:
Standard 6. Language diversity
Librarians and library staff shall support the preservation and promotion of linguistic diversity, and work to foster a climate of inclusion aimed at eliminating discrimination and oppression based on linguistic or other diversities.
Interpretation
Linguistic restrictions and prohibitions, such as the English-only concept, have been used throughout American history as the dominant culture’s method of dealing with perceived threats to linguistic, and thus cultural, homogeneity.
Demographics in the United States have changed dramatically in the last ten years, and will continue to transform society. This change has affected our interaction with each other as colleagues, co-workers, and as information service providers striving to serve our diverse populations and to collaborate in our multiethnic/multicultural library workplaces. Among all the parameters affecting these interactions, language diversity—the vocal, audible aspect of diversity—poses challenges to librarians, library staff, and library administrators.
Language as a means of communication encompasses all languages spoken by librarians, library staff and constituents, and also includes the needs of the disabled (sign language) and those with speech and/or hearing difficulties.
The following guidelines serve as incentives towards equity and understanding in interactions and communications with each other. Librarians and library staff shall seek to:
Standard 7. Workforce diversity
Librarians and library staff shall support and advocate for recruitment, admissions, hiring, and retention efforts in libraries, library associations, and LIS programs that increase diversity and ensure continued diversity in the profession.
Interpretation
Diversity in the workplace benefits the library’s constituents and the community, the library organization, and the community. In a diverse library workforce, library users can find someone to relate to, and get services that are sensitive to their needs and preferences. Diversity also improves staff performance and overall library success.
Diversity also benefits library and information schools, improving the quality of learning as students explore different perspectives and reduce prejudice, and fostering deeper thinking (Kim and Sin 2008).
Diversity is one of ALA’s five key action areas to ensure high-quality library services to all constituents. Within that mission is the need to recruit underrepresented groups and individuals with disabilities to the profession.
It is this diversity that contributes a deeper level of understanding and competence to our daily work. The American Library Association envisions a richly, diverse workforce providing a high level of service to the membership in an environment where respect, appreciation, equity and inclusion are core values (ALA 2003, 1).
The culturally competent organization shall:
Standard 8. Organizational dynamics
Librarians and library staff shall participate in and facilitate the development of organizational dynamics that enable individuals, groups and organizations to continually develop and exercise cultural competence.
Interpretation
Cultural competence can be conceptualized both at the individual and organizational levels. It is also important to view cultural competence in terms of the interplay between individuals and the organizations within which they work. The term organizational dynamics describes both the components of an organization—such as its structure, culture, strategies, change, and other processes, policies, and practices—and the organization’s pattern of activity, change, and growth as it responds to both internal and external forces. Individuals, and the groups with which they work, shape and influence the organizational dynamics. Organizational dynamics also shape and influence individual and group behavior and attitudes.
Organizational dynamics can impede or foster culturally competent behavior and attitudes.
Every academic library has an established culture for achieving organizational goals, performance expectations, and methods of communication. Within that culture reside formal and informal rules of interaction, frequently referred to as “values and norms,” that are established by the organization and its work groups. An organization’s culture influences the behavior of its employees and guides how they view and accept difference in style and opinion (Smith 2008, 143).
Libraries, library organizations, and their employees must make a deliberate choice to create and maintain organizational dynamics that foster culturally competent behavior and attitudes. This means making a commitment to continually practice cultural competence in day-to-day operations at all levels of the organization.
The culturally competent organization shall:
Standard 9. Cross-cultural leadership
Library leaders shall influence, support, and encourage the creation of proactive processes that increase diversity skills; empower colleagues, co-workers, and constituents from diverse backgrounds; share information about diverse populations; and advocate for their concerns.
Interpretation
Successful leaders will help to foster diversity skills among fellow leaders, library faculty and staff. Diversity skills are defined as sensitivity to diversity, multiethnic/multicultural leadership, acceptance and valuation, cultural competence, and ability to deal with ambiguity. Cross cultural leadership helps to fulfill the organizational mission (Northouse 2006, 3; Rank and Hutchison 2000).
Culturally competent leaders shall:
Culturally competent organizations shall:
Standard 10. Professional education and continuous learning
Librarians and library staff shall advocate for and participate in educational and training programs that help advance cultural competence within the profession.
Interpretation
Cultural competence is a vital link between the theoretical and practical knowledge base that defines librarianship. The practicing librarian should stay abreast of current educational trends and training methods needed to stay ahead of changes in professional practice, which includes the evolving needs of diverse populations. Diversity needs to be addressed in library education curricula and needs to be viewed as central to faculty and staff appointments and research agendas.
Several entities need to address educational and training programs:
Standard 11. Research
Research shall be inclusive and respectful of non-Western thought and traditional knowledge reflecting the value of cultural ways of knowing.
Interpretation
Cultural competence requires acknowledgment of Western cultural bias, and respectful inquiry of other systems of thought, including sources of traditional knowledge.
Categories of traditional knowledge could include: agricultural knowledge; scientific knowledge; technical knowledge; ecological knowledge; medicinal knowledge, including related medicines and remedies; biodiversity-related knowledge; “expressions of folklore” in the form of music, dance, song, handicrafts, designs, stories and artwork; elements of languages, such as names, geographical indications and symbols; and, movable cultural properties (ALA Traditional Cultural Expression Taskforce 2010).
Culturally competent researchers shall:
Culturally competent organizations shall:
Toni Anaya, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Maria Carpenter, Northeastern University
Trevor A. Dawes, Princeton University
DeLoice Holliday, Indiana University
Emily Love, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Scott Mandernack, Marquette University
Charlene Maxey-Harris, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Heleni Pedersoli, University of Maryland
Michele Saunders, University of Arizona
Rayette Sterling, Eastern Washington University
Patrick Tomlin, University of Vermont
Melanee Vicedo, OCLC Fellow 2010
Lesley Farmer, University of California-Long Beach, Editor
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The ACRL's Diversity Standards Toolkit provides ideas and guidelines for implementing ACRL's Diversity Standards: Cultural Competency for Academic Libraries. The toolkit was created in 2013 by Martha Parker from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Latrice Booker from Indiana University Northwest, Althea Lazzaro from the University of Washington-Bothel and Cascadia Community College, and Tarida Anantachai from Syracuse University.