Module 9: Characteristics of Effective Library Services for African American Male Youth
Introduction
Most of the previous modules have addressed the themes identified in the summit report and are specifically related to changes that can be made to instruction, programming, and collections to make them more relevant for African American male youth. The report also features a summarizing table of characteristics of effective services in each of the major categories of library service that has been reproduced below for your convenience. The purpose of this table is to describe what an effective library looks and feels like and includes objectives for each category of service and a list of characteristics or traits these categories should demonstrate. This module also includes a breakdown of some of the resources available online to help you maximize the effectiveness of your library in each of these categories and an activity that will allow you to observe your library in more depth to identify areas for potential improvement.
Characteristics of Effective Library Services for African-American Male Youth
Hughes-Hassell et. al, 2012.
Hughes-Hassell et. al, 2012.
and Policy Makers |
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Objectives | To provide the necessary infrastructure for developing and delivering quality library services to African-American male youth |
To interact with African-American male youth as individuals, to set high expectations for them, and to develop their sense of agency |
To provide a welcoming place for African- American male youth to increase and express their literacy |
To nurture the resolve of African- American male youth, to help them reconcile their different identities, and to reimagine their place in the world |
To connect literacy to the real world and enable African- American male youth to act in their own communities |
Characteristics | Hire dedicated staff Provide adequate and Engage in research- Develop responsive Foster community Provide ongoing |
Culturally competent Caring Affirming Committed Accountable Courageous
|
Nurturing Respectful Responsive Comfortable Welcoming Flexible
|
Meaningful Relevant Legitimate Developmentally Enabling
|
Honor & promote voice Develop agency Increase engagement Set high Provide authentic & Foster community
|
Explore: Becoming More Effective
In this section, you will find a variety of web based resources that will help illustrate and guide you to developing the characteristics of effective library services for African American male youth identified in the table above.
ADMINISTRATORS AND POLICY MAKERS
Administrative Support for School Libraries by Anne Belott, Amanda Hitson, and Nicole Lehotsky: This website is a primer to help school librarians garner additional administrative support. School administrators are in many cases unaware of the depth of services and advantages their school's library can provide. The site provides several lists you might find useful including strategies for gaining administrative support, potential obstacles you might encounter, and resources for both librarians and school administrators to help both learn better ways to work together.
LIBRARIANS
20 (Self-)Critical Things I Will Do to Be a More Equitable Educator by Paul C. Gorski: To effectively serve young African American men, librarians need to develop cultural competence and adopt a social justice orientation. Mr. Gorski's list of 20 things he plans to do to become a more equitable educator is an excellent starting point that provides a number of ways thinking and action need to change in relation to diversity issues and gives concrete examples of ways to make these changes.
Personal Learning Networks: The value of establishing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) cannot be overestimated--particularly when you wish to learn more about techniques and resources to make your library more effective for specific population groups including young African American males. Below are some resource suggestions you may want to add to your PLN:
Twitter Feeds to Follow:
LIBRARY SPACE
ImaginOn, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library: As part of a collaborarion between the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and the Children's Theatre of Charlotte, ImagineOn has a great number of features that make it a great library space for African American male youth. The collaboration allows the program to provide specific library spaces designed for teens and children, media labs for creating music and videos, and access to theatre programming including theatre related classes. Teen agency is also highly promoted through the media lab and ImaginOn's volunteer internship opportunities.
YOUmedia, Chicago Public Library: The "mentor librarians" for teens at the Chicago Public Library in partnership with a number of community organizations have gone all out to create an amazing space for teens at the library's main branch. Divided into three main areas (referred to as Hanging Out, Geeking Out, and Messing Around), the space is obviously designed to be used for multiple purposes and these purposes are clearly identified for teens. A wide variety of seating options and technological resources are available for use in each of these areas, and the decor is meant to leave the users with a feeling of ownership over the space.
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Teen Website: When we think about library space, it is important to consider the virtual "space" as well as the physical. The teen page of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is a fantastic example of what can be done with a library's virtual space. It is attractive, well organized, and decorated in a style that reflects the library's urban community. The site maintains a great balance between connecting users to the physical library (programming and resources) and serving as a resource itself by providing users with links to sites focused on a variety of topics including homework, life, books, and fun.
LIBRARY RESOURCES
Multicultural Book Review Blogs: This page of the summit's website provides links to five blogs that regularly review children's and young adult literature by and about people of color.
You may also want to refer back to Module 3: Authenticity and Relevance in Library Instruction, Programming, and Materials and Module 7: Using Powerful and Enabling Texts for more ideas and resources related to library materials.
LIBRARY PROGRAMS
For suggestions and resources relating to library programs for African American Male Youth, refer to the following modules:
ADMINISTRATORS AND POLICY MAKERS
Administrative Support for School Libraries by Anne Belott, Amanda Hitson, and Nicole Lehotsky: This website is a primer to help school librarians garner additional administrative support. School administrators are in many cases unaware of the depth of services and advantages their school's library can provide. The site provides several lists you might find useful including strategies for gaining administrative support, potential obstacles you might encounter, and resources for both librarians and school administrators to help both learn better ways to work together.
LIBRARIANS
20 (Self-)Critical Things I Will Do to Be a More Equitable Educator by Paul C. Gorski: To effectively serve young African American men, librarians need to develop cultural competence and adopt a social justice orientation. Mr. Gorski's list of 20 things he plans to do to become a more equitable educator is an excellent starting point that provides a number of ways thinking and action need to change in relation to diversity issues and gives concrete examples of ways to make these changes.
Personal Learning Networks: The value of establishing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) cannot be overestimated--particularly when you wish to learn more about techniques and resources to make your library more effective for specific population groups including young African American males. Below are some resource suggestions you may want to add to your PLN:
- Teaching Tolerance: As part of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance is a haven of great resources, learning opportunities, and ideas related to various minority populations and the development of cultural competence. The site includes a blog featuring a variety of authors writing on a diverse collection of topics. The blog is often updated multiple times weekly and has an RSS feed you can add to your feed reader to stay regularly updated. In addition to the web resource, Teaching Tolerance has created a number of physical resources including a magazine and several films that are free to educators.
- Ready 4 Rigor: Literacy consultant Zaretta Hammond's blog focuses on preparing students for "rigor" through culturally responsive education and high expectations. Examples of interesting posts include "Using Call and Response to Deepen Thinking", "5 Things Not to Do During Black History Month", and "Strange Bedfellows: Hip-Hop, Vocabulary Development, and the Common Core".
Twitter Feeds to Follow:
- Ron Walker, Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color
- Alfred Tatum, University of Illinois-Chicago
- Southern Poverty Law Center
- Maureen Costello, Teaching Tolerance
- Rethinking Schools
- Teaching for Change
- Pedro Noguera, New York University
- Teaching Tolerance
- Ernest Morrell, Teachers College, Columbia University
- Council of the Great City Schools
- Urban Libraries Council
LIBRARY SPACE
ImaginOn, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library: As part of a collaborarion between the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and the Children's Theatre of Charlotte, ImagineOn has a great number of features that make it a great library space for African American male youth. The collaboration allows the program to provide specific library spaces designed for teens and children, media labs for creating music and videos, and access to theatre programming including theatre related classes. Teen agency is also highly promoted through the media lab and ImaginOn's volunteer internship opportunities.
YOUmedia, Chicago Public Library: The "mentor librarians" for teens at the Chicago Public Library in partnership with a number of community organizations have gone all out to create an amazing space for teens at the library's main branch. Divided into three main areas (referred to as Hanging Out, Geeking Out, and Messing Around), the space is obviously designed to be used for multiple purposes and these purposes are clearly identified for teens. A wide variety of seating options and technological resources are available for use in each of these areas, and the decor is meant to leave the users with a feeling of ownership over the space.
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Teen Website: When we think about library space, it is important to consider the virtual "space" as well as the physical. The teen page of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is a fantastic example of what can be done with a library's virtual space. It is attractive, well organized, and decorated in a style that reflects the library's urban community. The site maintains a great balance between connecting users to the physical library (programming and resources) and serving as a resource itself by providing users with links to sites focused on a variety of topics including homework, life, books, and fun.
LIBRARY RESOURCES
Multicultural Book Review Blogs: This page of the summit's website provides links to five blogs that regularly review children's and young adult literature by and about people of color.
You may also want to refer back to Module 3: Authenticity and Relevance in Library Instruction, Programming, and Materials and Module 7: Using Powerful and Enabling Texts for more ideas and resources related to library materials.
LIBRARY PROGRAMS
For suggestions and resources relating to library programs for African American Male Youth, refer to the following modules:
Activity: Culturally Responsive Library Walk
To help you assess your own library's effectiveness, Dr. Sandra Hughes-Hassell and I have developed a tool you can use to evaluate the cultural responsiveness of your library based on the Characteristics of Effective Library Services identified in the table above. The Culturally Responsive Library Walk is
designed to be a collaborative tool for administrators, librarians, and
teachers to assess the library’s responsiveness to the needs of the culturally
and linguistically diverse (CLD) students who attend the school. The goal of the Library Walk is to identify
strengths, to discover areas that need improvement, and to develop a path to achieve
a culturally responsive library program.
It is an observation and planning document that is informed by research
on culturally responsive pedagogy and is based on the philosophy of creating a
student-centered library program. It's also a great addition to the Characteristics table because it provides concrete examples to show how the characteristics look in action. Though the Walk was designed initially for school librarians, it can easily be adapted to assess public library programs as well.
You may be thinking that since you spend all of your time in your library, you already know its strengths and weaknesses. While that may be true, it is often also true that spending a lot of time in a place can make it easier for people to overlook the small things. To ensure you aren't missing anything, no matter how big or small, I highly recommend you conduct a Library Walk of your own. To download a PDF copy of the form, click here.
You may be thinking that since you spend all of your time in your library, you already know its strengths and weaknesses. While that may be true, it is often also true that spending a lot of time in a place can make it easier for people to overlook the small things. To ensure you aren't missing anything, no matter how big or small, I highly recommend you conduct a Library Walk of your own. To download a PDF copy of the form, click here.
Summary
The Characteristics of Effective Library Services table in the introduction identifies objectives and traits for five areas of library service to ensure the library is effectively meeting the needs of young African American male patrons. On the surface, many of these characteristics might appear to be common sense, but each should be considered thoughtfully to determine their real meanings and to ensure that your African American male students and patrons can easily see these characteristics in action. Through this module, you now have a collection of tools and web resources to help you meet these objectives and display the characteristics in yourself and your library. Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive, so if you have any suggestions for resources that could be added to the list, please send them to [email protected].