By Toni Duval
The idea for this project started in February 2020 after hearing Deborah Dundas speak at the Canadian School Libraries Treasure Mountain Conference in Toronto, Ontario. Her article “Who do we see in kids’ books? Star survey puts numbers to the state of diversity” based on books published in 2018 made me wonder about the diversity of the books in my middle school library collection.
My original plan was to involve students in the data collection of my middle school library while taking my Teacher Librarian Specialist Additional Qualification (AQ) through the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO). The outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020 caused the closing of Peel District School Board (PDSB) schools. I put my course on hold to give my full attention to staff and students during Distance Learning. In June 2020 I collected data from students about books they would like to see in our collection, in anticipation of this project. In July 2020 I started the data collection on my own as a part of my inquiry project for the Teacher Librarian Specialist AQ.
Goals
- learn about the diversity of a middle school fiction library collection
- create a tool to audit my library collection that could be used as a resource in the future by other Teacher Librarians
- include student voice in future selections
- focus on diversity of authors or illustrators and main characters using specific criteria including racialized, Indigenous, LGBTQ+ and disabled voices
- use the data I collect to inform my purchasing decisions moving forward and perhaps provide data to publishers to push them to include more diversity in the authors they publish (data could also be used to secure extra funding to add to the collection)
View Toni’s Diversity Audit Presentation
(Created with Canva)
Diversity Audit – widespread sharing by Toni Duval – Beatty Fleming Sr PS (1503)
Toni Duval is a teacher with the Peel District School Board in Brampton, Ontario. She is a passionate advocate of the importance of school libraries and providing children with diverse Canadian literature. She is a FOLD Kids Planning Team Member and encourages everyone to check out thefoldcanada.org.