People All Over the World, Join Hands: Libraries and Inclusivity

Leo Sayer is before my time, but I do know this song from when my mom would embarrass me singing and dancing to it in front of my friends in high school (*I still have VERY vivid memories of this and totally realize I am my mother and have, myself, become the  embarrassing adult*). You might be wondering why I even put this GIF up or am randomly talking about some guy from the 70’s with a to-die-for fro. My reflection blog this week is going to be centered on the article by Christian Lauersen titled “Do You Want to Dance? Inclusion and Belonging in Libraries and Beyond” and specifically will  focus on the quote “Diversity is being invited to the party; Inclusion is being asked to dance.”

“Being invited or asked to dance assumes a one-way power relationship…You have to wait to be asked. You have to wait your turn (“How to make the leap from inclusion to belonging,” 2020).”

The first time I heard the quote “Diversity is being invited to the party; Inclusion is being asked to dance” was last year when I took Professor Lisa Houde’s Programming and Services for Children (Birth to Age 12) class. She mentioned this quote and also brought up the valid point that the phrase still doesn’t quite get the mark on how we, as librarians, can actively create real inclusivity and belonging in libraries. As a DEI keynote speaker and the originator of the famous quote, Verna Meyers is much more qualified to speak on overcoming biases and creating a more inclusive and better work environment for EVERYONE than myself, but I think there is more that can be accomplished towards diversity and inclusion by focusing on belonging; being “asked to dance” creates a power dynamic where the person asking has all the control while the powerless “other” has to wait their turn. In order for people to truly have a voice and sense of belonging, there needs to be an openness to diverse and unique ideas. I really like the quote found on the BTS blog website where it discusses the difference between belonging and being included: “Remember, the goal is to make sure all team members feel they belong, and not just that they are included. You want to support people in expressing their different points of view. You want team members to get up and dance and not wait to be asked” (“How to make the leap from inclusion to belonging,” 2020).

References

BTS. (2020, May). How to make the leap from inclusion to to belonging. https://bts.com/insights/how-to-make-the-leap-from-inclusion-to-belonging/

Lauersen, C. (2018, June 7). Do you want to dance? Inclusion and belonging in libraries and beyond. The Library Lab. https://christianlauersen.net/2018/06/07/inclusion-and-belonging-in-libraries-and-beyond/