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Professional Development center
Professional Development Topics
Multicultural Resources
Multicultural resources support Area I and Area II of Young Adults Deserve the Best: Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth.
Professional Associations and Organizations
The Virginia Hamilton Conference is the longest-running event in the United States to focus exclusively on multicultural literature for children and young adults. Honoring author Virginia Hamilton, the conference reflects a commitment to promoting cultural awareness and affirming cultural pride while addressing the array of issues that surround the concept of culture. The conference is held each April at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.
The American Library Association Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) serves the Association by supporting and promoting literacy and equity of information access initiatives for traditionally underserved populations. These populations include new and non-readers, people geographically isolated, people with disabilities, rural and urban poor people, and people generally discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, language and social class.
The American Library Association Office for Diversity is an active liaison with membership that consults, facilitates, and trains on diversity issues that impact the profession, the workplace, and the quality of service and information delivery such as recruitment, retention, personal/professional leadership, organizational change, capacity building, and skill building for effective communications within library organizations and with library users. The Office for Diversity serves as a key resource and link to the professional issues that speak to diversity as a fundamental value and key action area of the association.
The Ethnic Services Roundtable of the New York Library Association provides a forum to share information on ethnic services through a cooperative network, to develop and promote ethnic collections, to design services for ethnic groups, and to provide up-to-date funding information available from public and private sources in support of ethnic programs. It also presents an annual award for outstanding achievement, advocacy and leadership in serving the community in areas of collection development, outreach services, developing creative multicultural materials and programs.
Founded in 1991 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance supports the efforts of K-12 teachers and other educators to promote respect for differences and appreciation of diversity. Teaching Tolerance serves as a clearinghouse of information about anti-bias programs and activities being implemented in schools across the country.
The founders of the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) envisioned an organization that would bring together individuals and groups with an interest in multicultural education from all levels of education, different academic disciplines and from diverse educational institutions and occupations. NAME today is an active, growing organization, with members from throughout the United States several other countries. Educators from preschool through higher education and representatives from business and communities comprise NAME's membership.
Online Resources
The University of Northern Iowa's Diversity and Multiculturalism Web page provides a directory of online resources about African Americans and Africans; Asian Americans and Asians; Hispanics/Latinos; individuals with disabilities; Native Americans; Men's Studies; Women's Studies; Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Studies; and diverse populations generally.
The Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education (EMME) is a free-access electronic magazine for scholars, classroom teachers and students. EMME is committed to providing a forum in which scholarly and practical ideas can be exchanged to improve the conceptualization of multicultural education and multicultural educational practices. EMME will publish quarterly scholarly papers, practitioner essays, instructional ideas, and reviews of multimedia resources pertaining to multicultural education, diversity, cultural pluralism, anthropology and education, global education and related subjects.
The University of Maryland's Diversity Database is a comprehensive index of multicultural and diversity resources. This database contains campus, local, national, and international academic material relating to age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion and sexual orientation.
The CLNET Diversity Page is a directory to multicultural resources available through the Internet. Guides are available to African American, Asian American, Latino, Native American, Women's, Gay/Lesbian, and Multicultural online resources.
Through the Multicultural Pavilion, author/educator Paul Gorski provides resources for educators, librarians, students, and activists to explore and discuss multicultural education; facilitate opportunities for educators to work toward self-awareness and development, and provide forums for educators to interact and collaborate toward a critical, transformative approach to multicultural education.
Bibliographies
Carla Hayden, ed. Venture into Cultures: A Resource Book of Multicultural Materials & Programs. American Library Association, 1992.
Eight chapters provide annotated bibliographies of various cultural perspectives and suggestions for using the titles discussed.
Ginny Moore Kruse and Kathleen T. Horning. Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults: A Selected Listing of Books 1980-1990 by and About People of Color. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 1991.
Discover 400 great books published in the United States and Canada for pre-kindergarten through grade 9 by or about Africans, Afro-Carribeans, African Americans, American Indians, Asians, Pacific Asians, Asian Americans, and Latinos.
Ginny Moore Kruse, Kathleen T. Horning and Megan Schliesman. Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults: A Selected Listing of Books 1991-1996 by and About People of Color. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 1997.
500 additional titles about history, people and places, seasons and celebrations, issues in today's world, and much more.
Lyn Miller-Lachmann, ed. Our Family, Our Friends, Our World: An Annotated Guide to Significant Multicultural Books for Children and Teenagers. R.R. Bowker, 1992.
An annotated guide to fiction and non-fiction on the history and culture of minority groups in the United States and Canada, and native cultures around the world. Bibliographies include books from preschool to high school level.
The New Press Guide to Multicultural Resources for Young Readers. New Press, 1997
With over one thousand reviews of multicultural children's books and related materials, organized by theme and reading level, The New Press Guide to Multicultural Resources for Young Readers offers a comprehensive, definitive resource guide to multicultural books for children. The reviews are organized using an innovative thematic approach designed to aid librarians, teachers and parents in integrating these works into existing reading lists and at home. In addition, the Guide includes essays on key issues in multicultural education, such as recent immigrant experiences, human rights, and building cross-cultural relationships.
Hazel Rochman. Against Borders: Promoting Books for a Multicultural World. American Library Association, 1993.
Rochman recommends books for grades six through adult. Librarians and educators will find the theme index, including the types of journeys across cultures, racial oppression, and the ethnic United States, useful.
Selected Readings
Frances Ann Day. Multicultural Voices in Contemporary Literature: A Resource for Teachers. Updated and Revised Edition. Heinemann, 1999.
Frances Ann Day celebrates the lives of multicultural authors and illustrators, helping educators bring students and authors together in a way that promotes stimulating reading, imaginative writing, and cultural sensitivity. There are five appendixes containing assessment plans, additional activities, lists of birthdays, a calendar of multicultural events, and information on additional resources. This guide is highly versatile, enabling readers to adapt the material to fit their individual teaching and learning styles, curriculum requirements, and educational goals. Educators, librarians, and parents alike will find the book an inspiring and useful resource.
Karen E. Downing, Barbara MacAdam and Darlene P. Nichols. Reaching a Multicultural Student Community. Greenwood, 1993.
Changing student demographics demand that colleges and universities meet the special needs of a new population, and libraries will play an increasingly important role in facing these challenges of the future. The volume includes an overview of the unique challenges facing academic institutions and libraries today in serving a diverse student population, suggestions on working effectively in the current academic environment, and practical guidelines for specific program design, implementation, and evaluation. Topics considered include performing a community analysis, the politics of program development, budgeting, personnel management, and program evaluation. Model program materials are included to assist librarians in establishing similar programs, and a bibliography provides a list of additional information sources.
Paul Gorski. Multicultural Education and the Internet: Intersections and Integrations. McGraw-Hill, 2000.
This book focuses on the Internet's ability to help facilitate multicultural ideals of inclusive, interactive, and collaborative teaching and learning. The first section covers practical strategies for using the Internet to supplement multicultural teaching practices and will list existing Internet resources with annotations. The second section provides detailed chapter-length lists of Internet resources such as ESL and bilingual sites, subject-specific multicultural sites, lesson plan sites, online journals, and more. Screen shots, site explanations from site creators, and short case essays by teachers who have used the Internet successfully in multicultural teaching practice expand each chapter.
Madeleine Hoss. "Using the School Library/Media Center to Celebrate Diversity of Traditions Via Bridging Cultures." Paper presented at the 27th Annual Conference, International Association of School Librarianship. Ramut-Gan, Israel, 1998.
The school library is a powerful resource in promoting an understanding of cultural differences and in celebrating diversity in different forms. In response to our ever-changing and diverse society, it is important that the school librarian together with classroom and area teachers become effective disseminators of cultural knowledge and values. Collaboration with key people in the school is vital to the success of any library multicultural program. This article describes successful and innovative projects and programs implemented at Metcalf Laboratory School that celebrate diversity and which involve collaboration with classroom teachers, parents, administration, and other community resources. These programs are interdisciplinary and promote inquiry and research among students.
Lauri Johnson, Sally Smith, and Laurie Johnson. Dealing with Diversity Through Multicultural Fiction: Library-Classroom Partnerships. American Library Association, 1993. Discusses Project Equal, which works to create empathy and equity through a literature-based thematic approach to multiculturalism. Includes staff training and long-term results of the project.
M. Daphne Kutzer, ed. Writers of Multicultural Fiction for Young Adults: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Multicultural fiction is an essential part of the American literary landscape. This reference helps scholars, teachers, and librarians choose significant texts from both the past and present, and provides guidance in approaching multicultural issues as they are discussed in fiction for young adults. Included are entries for 51 writers, some of whom have nearly been forgotten, others who are just emerging. Each entry provides biographical, critical, and bibliographical information, while a general bibliography of works on multicultural literature concludes the book.
Merri V. Lindgren, ed. The Multicolored Mirror: Cultural Substance in Literature for Children and Young Adults. CCBC/Highsmith Press, c1991.
Proceedings from a University of Wisconsin conference on multicultural literature held in 1989 includes essays by George Ancona, Rudine Sims Bishop, Tom Feelings, Dr. Virginia Henderson, Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, Cheryl and Wade Hudson, Walter Dean Myers, Doris Seale, and Phoebe Yeh.
MultiCultural Review is a quarterly trade journal and book review for educators and librarians at all levels. In addition to regular columns, announcements, and news, it contains five or six feature articles in each issue. These feature articles may be one of the following types: 1) discussions of current issues related to multiculturalism in the United States; 2) bibliographic essays or bibliographies on current issues related to multiculturalism; 3) ethnographic articles on specific groups; 4) bibliographic articles on specific groups, highlighting children's and/or adult books; 5) articles on non-profit resources (audio, video, software, online sources) that present diverse cultures; and 6) practical articles on multicultural pedagogy or librarianship.
Alice Robbin. "We the People: One Nation, a Multicultural Society." Library Trends v. 49 no 1 p.6. (Summer 2000).
This article is a statistical profile of our nation at the end of the millennium. It examines selected economic and social indicators of our multiracial and multiethnic society that describe the journey our nation has taken and the distance that remains to achieve the goals of equity and equality of opportunity.
Rosemary Ruhig Du Mont, Lois Buttlar and William Caynon. Multiculturalism in Libraries.
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994.
A diverse nation from its beginnings, the United States is increasingly faced with the challenge of absorbing new immigrant groups and creating a tolerance for a plurality of cultures. As agencies known to preserve cultural heritage, libraries and their collections must be truly representative of the pluralistic populations they serve. This book overviews cultural diversity in libraries and helps redefine the nature of the library in a multicultural society.
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