University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The We Need Diverse Books Campaign and Critical Race Theory: Charlemae Rollins and the Call for Diverse Children's Books

Mabbott, Cass

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/103579

Description

Title
The We Need Diverse Books Campaign and Critical Race Theory: Charlemae Rollins and the Call for Diverse Children's Books
Author(s)
Mabbott, Cass
Issue Date
2017
Keyword(s)
  • Critical race theory
  • We Need Diverse Books
Abstract
This paper explores the ways in which critical race theory (CRT) is used in the We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) campaign, which targets children's literature. WNDB has uniquely connected with its community from the beginning. By examining the campaign through the lens of CRT, the paper contributes points of action for library and information science (LIS) professionals to help support WNDB's momentum. It wishes to incite a sense of urgency in LIS professionals to better understand and utilize the depth of CRT's power to create a more equitable society for the community of youth that LIS practitioners serve. The push for diverse children's books is not a new one and has been championed by many for decades. One of these champions was Charlemae Rollins, an African American children's librarian at the Hall Branch Library, the first Chicago Public Library branch to open in an African American neighborhood, in 1932. However, only recently has the diverse-books issue achieved traction, thanks in part to the efforts of WNDB. LIS scholars and practitioners must ensure that this traction continues.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press. The School of Information Sciences at Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Series/Report Name or Number
Library Trends 65 (4). Spring 2017
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/103579
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2017.0015
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2017 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections

Library Trends 65 (4) Spring 2017: Spanning the Information Sciences : A Celebration Marking Seventy Years of the Doctoral Program in the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign PRIMARY
Library Trends 65 (4) Spring 2017: Spanning the Information Sciences : A Celebration Marking Seventy Years of the Doctoral Program in the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Edited by Alistair Black and Emily J.M. Knox.