The Altadena Libraries believe that Black lives matter. In the wake of the tragic murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, George Floyd, and countless other victims of violence and systemic racism, the Altadena Libraries stand with our Black community and allies.
The world of libraries has its own specific history of racism and exclusion, and while many modern libraries are working to dismantle the barriers and inequities enforced for years by our predecessors, there is still work to be done. In the Altadena Libraries, there is work to be done. Phrases like, “Libraries are for everyone,” are often used in libraries as a response to concerns about inclusion, and an emphasis on embracing passive diversity as a goal can sidestep the nuances of the impact of systemic racism in our daily work. It is time for that to change.
Libraries are institutions that celebrate learning, and we are learning and responding, acknowledging that the work we do needs to be led by the voices of the Black community and people of color who have been fighting against racism for centuries. We recognize our failure to publicly address the dire need for this work in the past and are committed to utilizing our institutional values of learning to do better moving forward. In our own community, our libraries have been shaped by and benefited from the invaluable contributions of individuals like Bob Lucas, the namesake of our Lincoln Avenue location, and countless others who have dedicated their lives to championing equity in our community for the betterment of all. Together we ask ourselves how our work can honor the legacy and continued efforts of leaders who paved the way.
In our recent strategic planning process, our team chose the aspirational values of equity and empathy to guide our work in creating library spaces that are inclusive and responsive to the needs of our unique community. Our staff Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Team is forming an action plan to incorporate these values, transform our organizational culture, implement anti-racism practices in our system, and ensure that our words of solidarity are actionable. These early steps include, but are not limited to:
- Recruiting candidates for our current Board of Trustees vacancy to ensure that our Board is representative of the community it serves.
- Developing deeper relationships with communities of color and opening a dialogue about how our libraries can do better.
- Committing to continually providing accessible anti-racism resources.
- Facilitating regular, mandated EDI trainings for staff and developing a more open dialogue about race and equity among leadership and staff, with a focus on implicit bias and cultural humility.
- Performing a review of all District policies and procedures with an anti-racist lens, including District recruitment and hiring practices.
- Forming a strategy to “decolonize” our collections, including training our librarians on purchasing materials with intention, not just awareness.
Embracing a culture of anti-racism goes beyond just saying the words; it means making an ongoing commitment to learning, listening, adjusting, inevitably making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes. While we cannot ensure that we will approach this work perfectly, we can ensure that this work will be prioritized, ongoing, and inclusive of community voices. Altadena is a community made more beautiful by its diversity, and in the midst of this challenging period in our country’s history, we stand with people of color in our community against racism and renew our commitment to connecting people with ideas for an Altadena where all are learning, growing, and thriving together.
– The Altadena Library District Team
The Friends of the Altadena Library and the Altadena Library Foundation also released a statement in support. Read their statement here.
We want to prioritize community voices in the work of our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Team. This work of dismantling systems of oppression in our organization will focus not only on racism, as mentioned above, but also sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, and ableism.
If you are a member of a group that experiences oppression and are interested in joining our efforts, we are grateful and welcome your involvement. Please email edi@altadenalibrary.org and we will keep you updated as our plans progress.
We know that books about anti-racism are selling out everywhere, so below are some titles in the Altadena Library collection to get you started in case you want to learn more. We are actively seeking more books about this topic to add to our collection, and we appreciate your patience as we grow the list of our available resources. More coming soon!
For Adults:
For Teens:
For Children: