Representation Matters: Embracing Diversity and Inclusion - SLANSW Summit

The School Library Association of NSW (SLANSW) held the first of its biannual summits for 2022 which was provided online on Saturday.

The focus was on embracing diversity and inclusion and attending on Saturday was a must given that in a secondary setting, students are indicating a preference for literature that reflects the world around them.

Two items stood out on Saturday

Firstly, I enjoyed listing to keynote speaker - Will Kostakis (Author), who provided a wonderful overview of his writing career, and the challenges that he has faced in writing literature as his novels such as The First Third and Sidekicks have been inspired by his experience growing up as gay. He had been told that he had to "de gay" the storyline for The First Third. I have read both of those titles and are very well written.

Secondly, Pooja Mathur (Teacher Librarian, The Kings School & ) presented a workshop that helped us to identify suitable literature that can be representative of all students within your school including authors. In our resource acquistion, we had to consider the impact the story may have on the reader and if it improves our understanding of an issue. Also how can we classify it. "Relationships" was recommended. Promotion of literature that is from the "Relationships" genre is straightforward and can be easily applied in my practice.

One matter raised during the day was the amount of censorship or concerns that have been raised about books and how they may "misrepresent" certain groups or issues in society.  Even great and bestseller books have been listed as doing so, even though the intention is to provide an insight into their world but also help society understand their needs and issues in a positive way. I would not be surprised if these concerns are being raised more by the "politically correct" or "woke" groups in our society in terms of outing the faults in books, and not realising the debate and discussion and positive change that has stemmed from the publication of the book.

I am currently a Metropolitan Representative on the School Library Association of NSW Management Committee.

A real sign of normality

On Monday, public health orders meant that cohorting groups by grade ended in New South Wales schools. For school libraries, it has meant the end of restricting access to students e.g. One year group utilses the library at lunch time on one day and another year group the following day.

I felt good that anyone who wishes to use the library, especially during break times can do so again. It has been challenging having to turn students away simply because they were not in that grade. Some students have not enjoyed this, because they love the library as a space to undertake private study or simply to escape the activity that occurs on the playground. 

The bigger challenge will be if the hordes return, which is common in many schools. Will students feel comfortable to visit the library when there are alot of their peers around?

Being in a secondary setting, I believe it is important to establish a rapport with the incoming Year 7 cohorts. We lost four weeks and it was their first four weeks of high school. This did not happen at this time last year. They are keen to make use of what the school has to offer, including their library. They are curious as well. They want to see what they can borrow and read. I will need to identify ways to bring them in, but I was encouraged by their turnout during their designated times in cohorting.